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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This review of the immunological diagnosis of parasitic diseases defines the various indications, the means of collection and preparation, the various levels of specificity and the choice of parasitic antigen which should be used for immuno-diagnosis. The detection and assay of circulating antibodies relies on the techniques of immuno-precipitation (immunodiffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, electrosyneresis), indirect agglutination (latex and haemagglutination) or the use of labelled compounds (immunofluorescence, enzymo-immunoassay, radio-immunoassay). Their respective advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The detection and assay of circulating antigens involve the use of agglutination techniques (mycoses), radio-immunoassay or enzymo-immunoassay (protozooses and helminthiases). The authors review the applications of immunological diagnosis for the helminthiases (Trichinosis, Toxocarosis, Filariasis, Anguillosis, Ascaridiasis, Echinococcosis, Taeniasis and Cysticercosis, Distomatosis and Schistosomiasis), the protozoan infections (malaria, Toxoplasmosis, Amebiasis, Trypanosomiasis, Leishmaniasis) and the mycoses (Aspergillosis, Candidiasis, Cryptococcosis). They also discuss the prospects for the development of immunological diagnosis by identification, purification and standardization of parasitic antigens and the study of circulating antigens and idiotypic anti-parasitic antibodies. Finally, they outline the respective responsibilities of the biologist and the prescribing doctor for the proper use of immunological diagnosis of parasitic diseases.
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PMID:[Current methods of immunologic diagnosis in parasitology]. 636

MALARIA: This review summarises current knowledge of the epidemiological situation regarding parasitoses in French Guiana. Malaria is the most prevalent infection. The most common species is Plasmodium falciparum which is responsible for three quarters of all bouts of malaria. Plasmodium vivax is mostly present in endemic areas inhabited by Amerindian communities. Plasmodium malariae is rarer. CHAGAS' DISEASE, LEISHMAMIASIS AND TOXOPLASMOSIS: Four acute cases of cardiac Chagas' disease were observed between 1994 and 1996. These cases serve as a warning concerning the possible emergence of this type of parasitosis among the poor in Latin America. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is still highly endemic, with an incidence of about 2 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, which has remained essentially unchanged for 15 years. The identification of severe primary toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent individuals in recent years seems to be associated with an as yet poorly known, natural, Amazonian cycle. INTESTINAL PARASITOSES: Improvements in living conditions, hygiene and treatments are such that intestinal parasitoses, other than anguilluliasis, are no longer a major problem in the urban or coastal areas. The situation is very different in the central areas of the country and in the Amerindian and black half-cast communities, with high prevalences of ankylostomiasis (hookworm disease), anguilluliasis and amoebal disease (Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar). OTHERS: Lymphatic filariasis is no longer endemic; tropical schistosomiasis and distomiasis have never been endemic. Parasitic pests (cutaneous larva migrans and insect or dust-mite ectoparasites) are more spectacular than severe, and constitute a classic "exotic" component of the spectrum of diseases in French Guiana.
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PMID:[Human parasitoses in French Guiana]. 1173 74

The primary health care program in the Philippines today officially includes only the control of parasites which cause malaria and schistomiasis. Dr. Solon suggests that equal emphasis should be given to the control of all types of parasites. This paper presents excerpts from an interview with Dr. Solon. He expresses his opinion that in the past 20 years infant mortality has decreased markedly. In 1985, it was reduced to 58/1000 live births. He attributes this to a political will to support the health ministry in the implementation of its programs. The efforts to implement primary health care (PHC) has resulted in receiving the Kawaski Award given by Japan and the World Health Organization (WHO) to a country successfully implementing PHC. JOICFP has demonstrated the approaches used in the integration of family planning, nutrition and parasite control. Dr. Solon hopes that the integrated project would pave the way for the control of parasites other than schistostomiasis and malariasis. Less attention has been paid to the control of helminths such as ascaris, bookworm, trichuris t. and roundworm, which are common in the Philippines. Worms may cause deadly diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis. JOICFP has shown that in several project areas in the country, use of the right personnel, equipment and anthelmintics can result in controlling these parasites.
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PMID:Parasites of all types must be controlled. 1231 90

Fasciolosis, or liver fluke disease, caused by parasites of the genus Fasciola is emerging as an important disease in man, particularly in countries such as Bolivia, Peru and Egypt. Several outbreaks of this disease recently occurred in the Gilan province of Northern Iran and in 1999 alone over 10000 individuals were infected. Our laboratory recently developed an enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) test for diagnosing human fasciolosis in an endemic area of northern Bolivia. The assay was based on the detection of serum antibodies reactive with antigens secreted by the parasite. In the present report we examined the sensitivity and specificity of this ELISA to diagnose 176 patients residing in the Gilan province of Northern Iran. These individuals presented at health clinics with clinical symptoms of fasciolosis and were subsequently positively diagnosed by fecal analysis. The ELISA employed total molecules secreted by the parasites (excretory/secretory, ES, products) and a protease, termed cathepsin L1 (CL1), which was purified from this preparation, as antigen. In addition, the specificity of the assay was investigated using serum from Iranian individuals that were infected with hydatidosis, toxocariasis, amoebiasis, malaria and kalaazar. Using this assay, both CL1 and ES exhibited a sensitivity of 100% (all 176 patients tested positive) and a specificity of 100% and 98.9%, respectively. In conclusion, our standardized diagnostic ELISA for human fasciolosis based on the detection of IgG responses to parasite ES and CL1 would be a valuable tool to diagnosis human fasciolosis in Iran and could be employed in a large survey to determine the prevalence of the disease throughout this region.
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PMID:Diagnosis of human fasciolosis in the Gilan province of Northern Iran: application of cathepsin L-ELISA. 1245 25

Most tropical diseases imported by travelers can be treated quite effectively. Human endoparasites belong to the protozoa and worms. Protozoa can be seen as microparasites, characterized by short generation periods and high rates of reproduction within a host--consequently the diseases mainly are of short duration. Effective drugs are available for malaria, amebiasis and other intestinal protozoa as well as for leishmaniasis. Resistance, however, sometimes is a problem. Worms are macroparasites that generally do not reproduce within a host--teleologically speaking because otherwise they would rapidly damage their own basis of living. Accordingly, severe worm disease is rarely found in travelers. Levels of anthelminthic resistances so far are low. The most important worm disease in travelers is schistosomiasis, a disease that also can be treated effectively if diagnosed early.
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PMID:[Therapy of tropical diseases after returning from travel]. 1296 92

Recent studies in Africa and Asia indicate that different helminthic infections adversely affect the clinical outcome of malaria infections. This suggests that helminths can influence the acquisition of immunity against Plasmodium. Worms could constitute a confounding factor in the assessment of efficacy of malaria-control intervention, including vaccine prototypes in clinical trials. These observations have fundamental and practical consequences; if the deleterious effect of worms on malaria is confirmed, treatment of helminths would offer an affordable, strongly effective and novel means to roll back malaria. With this article, we hope to induce others to conduct similar studies in different regions.
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PMID:Worms can worsen malaria: towards a new means to roll back malaria? 1679 90

Worms or helminths have historically infected more than half the world's population, but were largely neglected by medical science and public health interventions because they were considered non-fatal and of minimal clinical significance. During the 1980s, several oral drugs that were originally developed for veterinary use were discovered to cure, in a single dose, most human helminth infections. This allowed the first systematic population-based studies of the morbid sequelae of chronic worm infection and their potential reversibility after treatment. Based on these studies, we now know that almost all infected children and many adults, particularly pregnant and lactating women, suffer adverse effects from worms, including growth stunting, anemia, decreased cognitive development, and poor birth outcomes as well as poor school and work performance. Worm-infected people also respond less well to vaccinations and are more susceptible to several co-conditions such as HIV and cirrhosis. Based on these findings, several vertically organized national control programs were initiated in developing countries against schistosomiasis and the soil-transmitted helminths (hookworm, ascariasis, and whipworm). In 2005, the impact of helminth infections was redefined in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). All worm infections amenable to population-based mass chemotherapy are thought today to cause 30 million DALYs worldwide or very close to the worldwide impact of tuberculosis (TB) or malaria. In addition, almost all worm-induced DALYs are potentially reversible or preventable with periodic treatment. In 2001, the World Health Assembly advocated for mass deworming to reach 75% of the at-risk school-aged children of the world, but by 2011 only 13% had been reached. The recent large donations of anti-helminth drugs by major pharmaceutical companies linked to the inclusion of the "neglected tropical diseases" into current priorities for AIDS/TB and malaria now represent the best hope for closing this gap.
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PMID:Deworming the world. 2387 34