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)

The Malagashy national malaria control programme ('Programme National de Lutte contre le Paludisme', PNLP) has been developing, since 1996, an epidemiological early warning system for malaria epidemics in the Central Highlands with the support of the Italian Development Cooperation. The system is based on the monitoring of malaria morbidity (clinical diagnosis) in 536 peripheral health centres (CSB) of the Highlands. The intervention area corresponds to 27 districts of the Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa provinces (4.7 million inhabitants) and spans around 100,000 square km. For each CSB a monthly warning threshold, defined as the 1993-1996 monthly mean number of malaria cases plus two standard deviations, was established. Three levels of epidemic alert have been defined according to the number of times the cases of presumptive malaria surpassed the threshold and according to the reported presence of severe malaria cases. The surveillance system relies also on the monitoring, in district hospitals of the Highlands, of the Plasmodium falciparum infection rate among clinically diagnosed malaria cases. A total of 185,589 presumptive malaria cases, corresponding to a 42/1000 malaria incidence, were recorded in 1997 by the surveillance system. During the same year 184 alerts of 2nd degree were reported. During 1998 173,632 presumptive malaria cases corresponding to a 38/1000 incidence were reported and 207 alerts of 2nd degree were detected; 75 of these alerts were investigated with ad hoc surveys and 3 initial malaria epidemics identified and controlled. Out of 6884 presumptive malaria cases diagnosed in the district hospitals during 1997-1998, only 835 (12.1%) have been confirmed by microscopy (P. falciparum 81.7%, P. vivax 15.0%, P. malariae 2.5%, P. ovale 0.2%, mixed infections 0.6%); 22.4% of these infections were imported cases from coastal endemic areas. The efficiency of the system in monitoring the trend of malaria morbidity and in the rapid detection and response to malaria epidemics is still being evaluated.
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PMID:Control of epidemic malaria on the highlands of Madagascar. 1069 86

An important characteristic of malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells (IRBCs) is their ability to adhere to host endothelial cells and accumulate in various organs. Sequestration of IRBCs in the placenta, associated with excess perinatal and maternal mortality, is mediated in part by adhesion of parasites to the glycosaminoglycan chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) present on syncytiotrophoblasts lining the placental blood spaces. To define key structural features for parasite interactions, we isolated from CSA oligosaccharide fractions and established by electrospray mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography disaccharide composition analysis their differing chain length, sulfate content, and sulfation pattern. Testing these defined oligosaccharide fragments for their ability to inhibit IRBC adhesion to immobilized CSA revealed the importance of non-sulfated disaccharide units in combination with 4-O-sulfated disaccharides for interaction with IRBCs. Selective removal of 6-O-sulfates from oligo- and polysaccharides to increase the proportion of non-sulfated disaccharides enhanced activity, indicating that 6-O-sulfation interferes with the interaction of CSA with IRBCs. Dodecasaccharides with four or five 4-O-sulfated and two or one non-sulfated disaccharide units, respectively, comprise the minimum chain length for effective interaction with IRBCs. Comparison of the activities of CSA and CSB oligo- and polysaccharides with a similar sulfation pattern and content achieved from partial desulfation demonstrated that glucuronic acid rather than iduronic acid residues are important for IRBC binding.
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PMID:The structural motif in chondroitin sulfate for adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes comprises disaccharide units of 4-O-sulfated and non-sulfated N-acetylgalactosamine linked to glucuronic acid. 1195 86