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

Parasitic diseases are receiving increasing attention in developed countries in part because of their importance in travelers, immigrants, and immunocompromised persons. The main purpose of this review is to educate laboratorians, the primary readership, and health care workers, the secondary readership, about the potential hazards of handling specimens that contain viable parasites and about the diseases that can result. This is accomplished partly through discussion of the occupationally acquired cases of parasitic infections that have been reported, focusing for each case on the type of accident that resulted in infection, the length of the incubation period, the clinical manifestations that developed, and the means by which infection was detected. The article focuses on the cases of infection with the protozoa that cause leishmaniasis, malaria, toxoplasmosis, Chagas' disease (American trypanosomiasis), and African trypanosomiasis. Data about 164 such cases are discussed, as are data about cases caused by intestinal protozoa and by helminths. Of the 105 case-patients infected with blood and tissue protozoa who either recalled an accident or for whom the likely route of transmission could be presumed, 47 (44.8%) had percutaneous exposure via a contaminated needle or other sharp object. Some accidents were directly linked to poor laboratory practices (e.g., recapping a needle or working barehanded). To decrease the likelihood of accidental exposures, persons who could be exposed to pathogenic parasites must be thoroughly instructed in safety precautions before they begin to work and through ongoing training programs. Protocols should be provided for handling specimens that could contain viable organisms, using protective clothing and equipment, dealing with spills of infectious organisms, and responding to accidents. Special care should be exercised when using needles and other sharp objects.
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PMID:Laboratory-acquired parasitic infections from accidental exposures. 1158 80

Drug resistance is complicating the treatment of parasitic diseases. We review here the basic mechanisms of parasite resistance in malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and common helminthiases. Parasites resort to multiple biochemical means to achieve resistance and we have begun to isolate and characterize the genes/proteins implicated in resistance. Understanding drug resistance is essential for the control of parasitic diseases.
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PMID:Biochemical and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in parasites. 1170 41

Three major human diseases, malaria, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis, are caused by protozoan parasites that are transmitted by blood-sucking insects. These insects are not mere 'flying syringes' that mechanically transfer parasites from one mammal to the next. Instead, they provide a specific environment--albeit not a particularly hospitable one--in which the parasites differentiate, proliferate and migrate to the correct tissues to ensure transmission to the next mammalian host. Recent studies on the role of parasite surface molecules in insect vectors have delivered some surprises and could provide insights on ways to interrupt transmission.
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PMID:Dressed for success: the surface coats of insect-borne protozoan parasites. 1186 22

HIV and parasitic infections interact and affect each other mutually. Whereas HIV infection may alter the natural history of parasitic diseases, impede rapid diagnosis or reduce the efficacy of antiparasitic treatment, parasitoses may facilitate the infection with HIV as well as the progression from asymptomatic infection to AIDS. We review data on known interactions for malaria, leishmaniasis, Human African Trypanosomiasis, Chagas' disease, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and intestinal helminthiases. The common immunopathogenetic basis for the deleterious effects parasitic diseases may have on the natural history of HIV infection seems to be a particular type of chronic immune activation and a preferential activation of the T helper (Th)2 type of help. Control of parasitic diseases should complement the tools currently used in combating the HIV pandemic.
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PMID:HIV infection and tropical parasitic diseases - deleterious interactions in both directions? 1203 Oct 69

The protozoan diseases leishmaniasis, Chagas' disease and African trypanosomiasis are major health problems in many countries, particularly developing countries, and there are few drugs available to treat these diseases. Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) inhibitors have been used successfully in the treatment of a number of other diseases such as cancer, malaria and bacterial infections; however they have not been used for the treatment of these diseases. This article summarises studies on leishmanial and trypanosomal DHFR inhibitor development and evaluation. Possible mechanisms of resistance to DHFR inhibitors are also discussed.
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PMID:Inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase in Leishmania and trypanosomes. 1208 67

Four new naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, ancistrocongolines A-D (4-7) were isolated from Ancistrocladus congolensis, along with the known compound korupensamine A (8). Structural elucidation was achieved by chemical, spectroscopic, and chiroptical methods. Their biological activities against the pathogens of malaria, Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness were evaluated.
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PMID:Ancistrocongolines A-D, new naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids from ancistrocladus congolensis. 1219 10

In 1964, at independence, Zambia's economic future looked brighter than that of most other developing countries. Its copper production accounted for 8% of total world production, and only neighboring Zaire outpaced it in the production of cobalt. Its Central Province around Kabwe held rich deposits of both zinc and lead; uranium deposits also had been found, but their projected yield remained undetermined. Since 1974, the decline in the price of copper and the increase in the price of oil have played havoc with Zambia's balance of payments. Copper, which accounted for 40% of the gross national product (GNP) and 98% of all foreign exchange in 1964, shrank to 12% of the GNP in 1978 while still generating most of the foreign exchange. As a result, imports were cut back markedly from $1.5 billion in 1973 to $690 million in 1983. Although this trend is beginning to make a U-turn, Zambia's economic situation is grave. In 1984 the GNP continued to register negative growth and inflation stood at 25%. With its urbanization rate doubling from 21% in 1964 to 43% in 1985, Zambia is now the most urbanized country south of the Sahara. Zambia's 1985 population is estimated to be 6.8 million. Between 1963 and 1969, the average annual population growth rate was 2.5: it was 3.1% between 1969-80. The current birthrate of about 48/1000 is expected to decline only marginally in the next 15 years, but the death rate is declining more rapidly -- from 19/1000 in the late 1960s to 15/1000 in 1985. Life expectancy is expected to rise from the current 51 years to about 58 years. As a result of the high growth rate, Zambia's population is young, with a median age of about 16.3 years. Traditional African values stress the importance of large families. Zambia's total fertility rate was 6.9 in 1985. According to the World Bank, only 1% of married women of childbearing age in 1982 used contraceptives. Although tribal links are weakening, Zambia still counts 73 officially recognized tribes. Together, they speak about 40 different dialects. Zambia now apportions over 15% of its national budget to education. Despite some noticeable progress, the public health structure remains deficient. Principal health problems include malaria, tuberculosis, and, in Northern Province and Luapula Province, sleeping sickness and river blindness. About 2/3 of the labor force, an estimated 2.2 million persons in 1982, still work in agriculture. Female labor force participation is lower in Zambia than in many African nations.
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PMID:The Republic of Zambia. 1226 4

A UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) expert meeting has concluded that the means already exist with which to eliminate 4 of the 8 diseases which TDR originally identified as public health problems. Elimination in this case refers to reducing the number of cases of disease to a small and routinely manageable number. The diseases capable of being eliminated with existing tools are leprosy, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and Chagas disease. Leprosy can be eliminated through the use of multidrug therapy, onchocerciasis through the administration of ivermectin, lymphatic filariasis through the use of DEC and ivermectin, and Chagas disease through the rational use of insecticides and the control of blood banks. Malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and African trypanosomiasis, however, must await better tools before their elimination can be attempted. TDR's role in identifying how to eliminate each of these diseases is described. Meeting attendees identified additional avenues of operational research upon which TDR should embark.
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PMID:Four TDR diseases can be "eliminated". 1229 16

The incidence of trypanosomiasis has increased in southern Sudan along the border of the Central African Republic; up to 30% of the population is infected in some areas. A study conducted by CARE and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has shown that the disease has spread to over 30,000 people in Tambura county alone; up to 4% of the local population is expected to die this year. According to the local coordinator for CARE, the pyramidal effect is great; when a tsetse fly bites a human, he or she becomes a host who is bitten by uninfected flies that then become carriers to other humans. The disease spreads exponentially. A tsetse fly can bite 3-4 humans/day, and there are thousands of flies in the area. A member of the CDC research team warns that the problem is regional; the annual incidence of the disease in the former Zaire is higher than at any time in the last 60 years, and the mortality associated with the disease is approaching that of AIDS. In a Ugandan outbreak in 1906, 4 million people died; at the turn of the century, trypanosomiasis was the greatest health threat in the tropics, greater even than malaria. Although tsetse fly control gradually reduced the incidence of the disease to less than 1% in the early 1980s, war and population displacement overturned these gains. CARE's director in southern Sudan warns that war and civil conflict are contributing to the reemergence of "super" diseases like sleeping sickness. The assessment team had to cease activities halfway through July 1997, when rebel soldiers commandeered the team's vehicles.
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PMID:Trypanosomiasis re-emerges under cover of war. 1232 Dec 40

In this paper, the etiological factors affecting infertility among the Azande tribe of Central Africa are reviewed. Of those factors reviewed, including venereal disease, leprosy, sleeping sickness, endemic goitre, nutrition, voluntary contraception, and malaria none is sufficient to account for a lowering in the fertility rate. The data collected is estimated to be accurate but very limited. The author, however, concludes that there is 1) a low child/adult ratio; 2) a marked female preponderance; and 3) a high infant and child mortality rate. Finally, the people of the tribe are reproducing themselves, though not so prolifically as their former preponderance in this region, or comparison with fertility levels in neighboring tribes, would lead one to expect.
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PMID:Dearth of children among the Azande: preliminary report. 1233 86


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