Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Emerging and reemerging infections are attracting greater attention from the public health and medical communities. Pathologists and other physicians are increasingly aware of the importance of the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology as a tool for diagnosis, surveillance, and research of emerging infections. In this communication, we describe the role that infectious disease pathologists have played during the last 2 years in broadening our understanding of selected emerging infections, including such examples as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, leptospirosis, microsporidiosis, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and cyclosporiasis. The significance of providing pathology services, especially the autopsy, to patients with potentially hazardous communicable diseases is discussed with the supposition that it is unethical to exclude or withhold health care from a patient based on his or her underlying disease or on risk factors for acquiring a disease. The increasing occurrence of infectious diseases imported into the United States and other nations, including human immunodeficiency virus-1 group O, dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, diphtheria and cholera in immigrants and travelers, and Ebola virus in nonhuman primates, emphasizes the necessity for pathologists of having competence with infectious disease pathology. It is critical that new generations of pathologists not only be trained in the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology, but that they also be willing participants in the diagnosis and investigation of infectious diseases. The lack of training programs for infectious disease pathologists, as well as the deficiency in infectious disease pathology support for ongoing and future epidemiologic investigations and research, has led to the broadening of pathology services and initiation of a dedicated section of Infectious Disease Pathology at one of the nation's premier public health institutions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga. Together with preexisting groups of medical and veterinary infectious disease pathologists at universities, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health, this new program will significantly strengthen the capability of the United States to respond to future challenges of emerging and reemerging infections, both in this country and abroad.
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PMID:Emerging and reemerging infections. Progress and challenges in the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology. 927 4

Several important developments have occurred in recent years in the chemotherapy for and prophylaxis of parasitic infections. Although mefloquine is clearly the most effective agent for prevention of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria, its use has been compromised by side effects, both real and imagined. Well-designed studies have shown that side effects occur no more frequently with low-dose mefloquine than with chloroquine. Use of mefloquine in pregnant women has not been associated with birth defects, but the incidence of stillbirths may be increased. Malarone is a new agent that combines atovaquone and proguanil, and it may be as effective as mefloquine; however, it is not yet available in the United States. Several newer agents have appeared in response to the development of multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum, especially in Southeast Asia. Halofantrine is available for the treatment of mild to moderate malaria due to P. falciparum and for P. vivax infections. Because of severe toxic effects, use of halofantrine should be restricted to only those unusual and rare situations in which other agents cannot be used. Artemisinin (an extract of the Chinese herbal remedy qinghaosu) and two derivatives, artesunate and artemether, are active against multidrug resistant P. falciparum and are widely used in Asia in oral, parenteral, and rectal forms. The antibacterial azithromycin in combination with atovaquone or quinine has now been reported to treat babesiosis effectively in experimental animals and in a few patients. Azithromycin in combination with paromomycin has also shown promise in the treatment of cryptosporidiosis (and toxoplasmosis when combined with pyrimethamine) in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Albendazole is currently the only systemic agent available for treatment of microsporidiosis, an infection primarily of patients with AIDS. In addition, albendazole and ivermectin have emerged as effective broad-spectrum antihelminthics, with albendazole becoming the drug of choice for hydatid disease (echinococcosis), neurocysticercosis, and most intestinal nematode infections (except strongyloidiasis and trichuriasis). Liposomal amphotericin B is the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis.
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PMID:Antiparasitic agents. 1056 Jun 6

Humans are hosts to nearly 300 species of parasitic worms and over 70 species of protozoa, some derived from our primate ancestors and some acquired from the animals we have domesticated or come in contact with during our relatively short history on Earth. Our knowledge of parasitic infections extends into antiquity, and descriptions of parasites and parasitic infections are found in the earliest writings and have been confirmed by the finding of parasites in archaeological material. The systematic study of parasites began with the rejection of the theory of spontaneous generation and the promulgation of the germ theory. Thereafter, the history of human parasitology proceeded along two lines, the discovery of a parasite and its subsequent association with disease and the recognition of a disease and the subsequent discovery that it was caused by a parasite. This review is concerned with the major helminth and protozoan infections of humans: ascariasis, trichinosis, strongyloidiasis, dracunculiasis, lymphatic filariasis, loasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, cestodiasis, paragonimiasis, clonorchiasis, opisthorchiasis, amoebiasis, giardiasis, African trypanosomiasis, South American trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, malaria, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, cyclosporiasis, and microsporidiosis.
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PMID:History of human parasitology. 1236 71

Immunosuppression associated with HIV infection or following transplantation increases susceptibility to central nervous system (CNS) infections. Because of increasing international travel, parasites that were previously limited to tropical regions pose an increasing infectious threat to populations at risk for acquiring opportunistic infection, especially people with HIV infection or individuals who have received a solid organ or bone marrow transplant. Although long-term immunosuppression caused by medications such as prednisone likely also increases the risk for acquiring infection and for developing CNS manifestations, little published information is available to support this hypothesis. In an earlier article published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, we described the neurologic manifestations of some of the more common parasitic CNS infections. This review will discuss the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of the following additional parasitic CNS infections: malaria, microsporidiosis, leishmaniasis, and African trypanosomiasis.
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PMID:Parasitic central nervous system infections in immunocompromised hosts: malaria, microsporidiosis, leishmaniasis, and African trypanosomiasis. 1675 33

Microsporidiosis often occurs in immunocompromised persons but may also occur in those who are immunocompetent. Infection by Microsporidia involves a variety of organs and systems, most notably, intestine, lung, kidney, brain, sinuses, muscle, and eyes. Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis are associated with gastroenteritis, and Enterocytozoon hellem and Encephalitozoon cuniculi are associated with keratoconjunctivitis. We report a case of chronic microsporidiosis in a 28-year-old woman missionary from Mozambique who came to our diagnostic laboratory with nausea, lower abdominal pain, and frequent bowel movements. Over two years, the patient was clinically assessed and treated for malaria and giardiasis without laboratory diagnosis while in Mozambique. Identification of the causative agent of her condition was not attempted during the course of her illness in Mozambique. Furthermore, adverse effects of malaria and giardiasis medications may have exacerbated the chronic illness in this patient and mimicked chronic microsporidiosis.
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PMID:Chronic microsporidial enteritis in a missionary from Mozambique. 2103 48

Protozoal infections, though endemic to certain regions, can be seen all around the world, because of the increase in travel and migration. In addition, immunosuppression associated with various conditions, particularly with HIV infection, favors the occurrence of more severe manifestations and failure to respond to treatments. The CNS may be the only affected system; when not, it is often the most severely affected. Despite information obtained from clinical, laboratory, and imaging procedures that help to narrow the differential diagnosis of intracranial infections, there are cases that need confirmation with biopsy or autopsy. Predominant presentations are meningoencephalitis (trypanosomiasis), encephalopathy (cerebral malaria), or as single or multiple pseudotumoral enhancing lesions (toxoplasmosis, reactivated Chagas' disease). The immune reconstitution disease, resulting from enhancement of pathogen-specific immune responses after HAART, has altered the typical presentation of toxoplasmosis and microsporidiosis. In this paper, a morphological approach for the diagnosis of protozoal infections affecting the CNS (amoebiasis, cerebral malaria, toxoplasmosis, trypanosomiasis, and microsporidiosis) is presented.
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PMID:A morphological approach to the diagnosis of protozoal infections of the central nervous system. 2178 81

Each year, hundreds of millions of people travel across international borders or even oceans, and up to 230 million may remain for long periods. Among these, 3-5 million settle permanently in their new homes, with about 1 million migrating permanently to the United States of America. This may result in transport of parasites and other pathogens, which might become established, infecting individuals in the new location. Beyond concern of disease spread, the health of migrants is of concern since the rigors, circumstances, and living conditions surrounding migrations may increase the vulnerability of migrants to infections. International adoptees and refugees are a small subset of these migrants but are of special significance inasmuch as adoptees may be more vulnerable to infection due to their immature immune status, and refugees may be more vulnerable due to substandard living conditions. Both originate from diverse regions, but often from environments of low hygiene and health care standards. This review examines recent examples of infections reported from adoptees and refugees entering the USA through 2010, highlighting the most common origin countries and the diseases most frequently involved, including Chagas disease, Balamuthia amebic meningoencephalitis, giardiasis, microsporidiosis, hepatitis, measles, pertussis, tuberculosis, malaria, intestinal helminths, and syphilis.
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PMID:Importation and Transmission of Parasitic and Other Infectious Diseases Associated with International Adoptees and Refugees Immigrating into the United States of America. 2658 30

Intracellular parasites from the genera Toxoplasma, Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Leishmania and from the phylum Microsporidia are, respectively, the causative agents of toxoplasmosis, malaria, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and microsporidiosis, illnesses that kill millions of people around the globe. Crossing the host cell plasma membrane (PM) is an obstacle these parasites must overcome to establish themselves intracellularly and so cause diseases. The mechanisms of cell invasion are quite diverse and include (1) formation of moving junctions that drive parasites into host cells, as for the protozoans Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium spp., (2) subversion of endocytic pathways used by the host cell to repair PM, as for Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania, (3) induction of phagocytosis as for Leishmania or (4) endocytosis of parasites induced by specialized structures, such as the polar tubes present in microsporidian species. Understanding the early steps of cell entry is essential for the development of vaccines and drugs for the prevention or treatment of these diseases, and thus enormous research efforts have been made to unveil their underlying biological mechanisms. This Review will focus on these mechanisms and the factors involved, with an emphasis on the recent insights into the cell biology of invasion by these pathogens.
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PMID:Cell invasion by intracellular parasites - the many roads to infection. 3207 31