Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042961 (volvulus)
 4,305 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The Beffa form of Simulium soubrense Vajime & Dunbar, a member of the S. sanctipauli sub-complex of the S. damnosum complex, was found breeding throughout rivers in the Togo-Benin Gap, as far north as 9 degrees 30'N. Its distribution changed with the season. In southern Togo there were seasonal fluctuations in the relative abundancies of the Beffa form and of S. damnosum/S.sirbanum. There was considerable temporal and regional variation in the frequencies of different colour morphs of adult flies. The flies in Benin tended to be darker. Infections with Onchocerca volvulus (Leuckart) appeared to be independent of the host's colour morph category. Larger flies harboured significantly more first stage Onchocerca larvae but no significant relations with fly size were found for second and third stage larvae.
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PMID:The Beffa form of Simulium soubrense of the S. damnosum complex in Togo and Benin. 297 17

A radiological diagnosis of gastric volvulus (GV) was made in 11 of 576 consecutive upper gastrointestinal series at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, over a two-year period. The clinical symptoms were thoracico-abdominal in three and abdominal in eight; these cases were evaluated as acute in three, acute upon chronic in two, and chronic in six. There was a significant delay in the diagnosis in all cases (except a neonate in the series), and no case was diagnosed on clinical grounds alone.THE PREDISPOSING FACTORS (EXCEPT THE CLINICAL MISDIAGNOSIS OF THE NEONATE) IN SIX OF THE SEVEN CASES THAT CAME TO SURGERY WERE: diaphragmatic hernia and perigastritis (left lung abscess, thoracic empyema), arteriomesenteric compression of the duodenum in pregnancy (peptic ulcer), splenomegaly (hepatosplenomegaly, ascites, esophageal varices), previous gastrojejunostomy (stomal ulcer, left subphrenic abscess) and two cases of intestinal malrotation with mesenteric abnormalities (small bowel obstruction in one and duodenal atresia in the other). In one idiopathic case, gastric outlet obstruction was clinically suspected prior to surgery. Thus, the putative rarity of GV in black Africans is not supported by this experience.Gastric volvulus is a clinico-radiologic entity that may present with a confusing thoracico-abdominal symptom complex. A greater awareness of the radiologic features is quintessential to an expeditious and usually successful surgical management that will avoid potentially serious complications. Negative surgical findings do not exclude GV as the underlying cause of acute abdomens necessitating emergency laparotomies.
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PMID:Volvulus of the stomach: an African series and a review. 356 Feb 44

A retrospective study of 115 patients who presented to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital with intestinal gangrene over a 5 year period is presented. Although hernia is the most common cause of bowel gangrene, more patients with volvulus end up with gangrenous bowel. Because Nigerian patients present with late intestinal obstruction, more dead bowel would have been expected than is currently noted. Is it possible that the African is resistant to intestinal strangulation?
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PMID:Gangrenous bowel. Benin experience. 730 20

A retrospective study of 316 patients with a diagnosis of intestinal obstruction admitted to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital over a 5 year period is presented. The overall mortality was 10.6 percent. Attention is called to the unacceptably high morbidity and mortality associated with volvulus in this and other series. Because the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in Africa is strangulation, a preventable complication of inguinal hernia, the clinician has a unique opportunity to significantly decrease the incidence of intestinal obstruction in Africa. Finally, our study confirms that the single most important antecedent of a grave prognosis in intestinal obstruction is late presentation of the patient.
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PMID:Mechanical bowel obstruction. Review of 316 cases in Benin City. 736 10

We studied the prevalence of human onchocerciasis in four geographically different regions of the southern part of Benin in West Africa. In a total of thirteen villages 1596 individuals were examined for clinical and parasitological signs of onchocerciasis. Prevalence of microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus in skin snips was 29% in region I (lower Oueme river), 64% in region II (Mono river), 56% in region III (upper Oueme river) and 70% in region IV (Okpara river). Based on endemicity criteria of the WHO regions II and IV were found to be hyperendemic, region III mesoendemic and region I hypoendemic for onchocerciasis. The community microfilarial load ranged from 4 mf/mg skin in the hypoendemic region to 10.5 mf/mg skin in the hyperendemic regions. The prevalence of nodules was 21% in region I, 30% in region II, 17% in region III and 41% in region IV. The overall prevalence of chronic onchocercal dermatitis was 12%. Of 689 individuals infected with O. volvulus 388 were treated with a single dose of ivermectin.
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PMID:Epidemiological studies of onchocerciasis in southern Benin. 836 68

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of a 150-bp tandem repeat of Onchocerca volvulus (O-150) combined with Southern-blot hybridization to species-specific DNA probes was employed for DNA detection. O-150 was amplified from parasites originating from Uganda, Benin, Cameroon, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Zaire and was successfully hybridized to digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotides. To investigate the sensitivity of the PCR, 2 skin biopsies were taken from each of 227 persons from Uganda with proven O. volvulus infections but with low microfilaria (mf) densities due to ivermectin treatment. One biopsy was tested by PCR and the other was digested using collagenase to assess the total number of mf. The PCR revealed 76.2% of the samples to be positive, and the collagenase method showed that 78.9% were positive, indicating similar sensitivity for the two methods. It is probable that for both techniques the biopsy must contain at least one live mf or fragments of a dead mf. In this study, no free or circulating O. volvulus DNA could be detected in skin biopsies by PCR.
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PMID:Sensitivity of a polymerase chain reaction-based assay to detect Onchocerca volvulus DNA in skin biopsies. 873 77

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with non-radioactive DNA hybridization was applied for the detection and characterization of a 150 bp tandem repeat of Onchocerca volvulus. DNA of worms from western Uganda was amplified and then probed with a digoxygenin-labelled oligonucleotide, specific for the forest form of O. volvulus and compared to samples from various African countries. Hybridization was only observed with PCR products from the forest in Liberia, south-eastern Ghana, Benin and southern Cameroon, but not with worms from Uganda or the savannah in Burkina Faso and northern Ghana. A nested PCR using primers derived form the forest form-specific DNA sequence confirmed these results. Morphometric studies revealed length differences between the microfilariae of Ugandan O. volvulus to those of West Africa, especially to those of the savannah in Burkina Faso. It is concluded that the forest/savannah classification of O. volvulus from West Africa is not suitable for Simulium neavei-transmitted O. volvulus from Uganda.
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PMID:Strain differentiation of Onchocerca volvulus from Uganda using DNA probes. 893 51

Infection by onchocerca volvulus, a parasitic worm, causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), a debilitating and often blinding disease endemic to tropical areas of Africa and Central and South America. The adult onchocerca volvulus invades the human host where it lives and reproduces for up to 14 years, creating millions of infant worms which cause itching, loss of skin color, rapid aging, and disfiguring skin disease in the host. Onchocerciasis often causes blindness in the human host by approximately age 35 years, and is the third leading cause of blindness in Africa. Onchocerca volvulus is transmitted among humans through the bite of blackflies which breed in fast-flowing rivers. The Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP) was formally launched in 1974 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Togo. Vector control is the central strategy of the OCP, consisting of weekly helicopter spraying of larvacide to prevent the blackfly from reproducing and transmitting the disease. In addition, Merck & Co. is providing drug therapy against the infant worms in the human host free of charge to 16 million people in endemic areas. Onchocerciasis has now almost been eradicated in the 7 original target countries. Also through the OCP, by 1996, more than 34 million people were protected against the disease, about 2 million who were seriously infected have fully recovered, and an estimated 600,000 people have been prevented from going blind. 12 million infants born since the launch of the OCP face no risk of contracting the disease, and approximately 25 million hectares of arable fertile riverine land has been opened for resettlement. Labor productivity has also increased.
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PMID:River blindness. Protection for 54 cents a year. 1234 35