Case of the Week 687
This week ' s case is generously donated by Dr. Ioana Bujila of the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The patient is a 67 year old woman from Gabon. Blood was examined by direct mount and Giemsa-stained blood films, and the following were identified:These objects are approximately 228 micrometers in length.What is your diagnosis? Are there any additional laboratory analyses that are recommended in this case? (Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites)
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - June 27, 2022 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 687
Answer toParasite Case of the Week 687: Loa loaAs noted by Florida Fan, @JuanCGabaldon, Idzi P, Ulrike E. Zelck, Priyanka Gupta, and others, the video clearly shows this to be a sheathed microfilaria, and the Giemsa smear shows the column of nuclei extending all the way to the tip of the tail, thus allowing us to make an identification of Loa loa. The patient ' s travel history (Gabon) also fits with this identification. As Idzi P. mentioned, I like to teach my students that nuclei flow-a flow-a to the tip inLoa loa -a fun learning aid! Also check out thisbeautiful infographic by @cullen_lilley f...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - June 26, 2022 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Human Freedom Waning in Many Countries
This article originally appeared on theFraser Forum on January 2, 2020. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 10, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Tanja Por čnik Source Type: blogs
Travel-Related African Trypanosomiasis
During January 1970 to May 2017, 138 case reports of travel-related trypanosomiasis were published in the medical literature. In 49 cases (36%) the patients were identified as Europeans, and in 49 (37%) the disease was acquired in Tanzania. A chronology of these events follows below [1].
African Trypanosomiasis – A Chronology of Travel-Related Cases
Year Patient From Infected In Cases (#)
1970
Switzerland
multiple **
1
1970
United States
multiple
2
1975
Sweden
Gambia
1
1977
Switzerland
multiple
...
Source: GIDEON blog - May 18, 2017 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Epidemiology Graphs Source Type: blogs
Zika virus
The rapid spread of Zika virus through the Americas, together with the association of infection with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome, have propelled this previously ignored virus into the limelight. What is this virus and where did it come from?
History
Zika virus was first identified in 1947 in a sentinel monkey that was being used to monitor for the presence of yellow fever virus in the Zika Forest of Uganda. At this time cell lines were not available for studying viruses, so serum from the febrile monkey was inoculated intracerebrally into mice. All the mice became sick, and the virus isolated from their bra...
Source: virology blog - January 28, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Brazil congenital defect Dengue flavivirus Guillain-Barré microcephaly mosquito vaccine viral viruses yellow fever virus Zika zika virus Source Type: blogs
Where Do K-1 Visa Holders Come From?
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed last week in a gun battle with police after they committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Malik entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, known as the fiancé visa, accompanied by Farook. Their attack is the first perpetrated by somebody on the K-1 visa - igniting a debate over increasing visa security.
The government issued approximately 262,162 K-1 visas from 2005 to 2013 – 3177 or 1.21 percent of the total to Pakistani citizens.
Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) SECURE Act identifies 34 countries as particularly terror-prone. There were 32,363 K-1 visa, 12.34 pe...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
The Measure of a Physician: Albert Schweitzer
By RICHARD GUNDERMAN, MD
There are different ways to take the measure of a life. John Rockefeller, the richest person in the history of mankind, once asked a neighbor, “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends come in.” Television magnate Ted Turner once said, “I don’t want my tombstone to read, ‘He never owned a network.’” And musical artist Lady Gaga has described her quest as “mastering the art of fame.” But wealth, power, and fame are not life’s only metrics, and September 4 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century’s brightes...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 3, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: Physicians THCB Albert Schweitzer Care of Distress Richard Gunderman University of Strasbourg Source Type: blogs
An Ebolavirus vaccine in Africa
An Ebolavirus vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Guinea. This vaccine has been in development since 2004 and was made possible by advances in basic virology of the past 40 years.
The ability to produce the Ebolavirus vaccine, called rVSV-EBOV, originates in the 1970s with the discovery of the enzyme reverse ilnscriptase, the development of recombinant DNA technology, and the ability to rapidly and accurately determine the sequence of nucleic acids. These advances came together in 1981 when it was shown that cloned DNA copies of RNA viral genomes (a bacteriophage, a retrovirus, and poliovirus), ...
Source: virology blog - August 7, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information cluster-randomized trial Ebola ebolavirus Guinea live attenuated vaccine phase III trial rhabdovirus ring vaccination rVSV-EBOV vector vesicular stomatitis virus viral Source Type: blogs
Vaccinating Against Iron-Deficiency Anemia: A New Technology For Maternal And Child Health
When we think of killer diseases of global health importance, iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) is not something that immediately comes to mind. Yet the December 2014 publication of leading causes of death by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 reveals that IDA kills an estimated 183,400 people annually. To put this number in perspective, in the year 2013, IDA killed more people worldwide than ovarian cancer. In terms of years of life lost, IDA ranked higher than cervical cancer.
The fact that we compared IDA to two other well-known threats to the health of women is no accident. Because women of child-bearing age have low u...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 19, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Peter Hotez and Remko van Leeuwen Tags: All Categories Global Health Health Care Delivery Nonmedical Determinants Pharma Prevention Public Health Source Type: blogs
Nobel Laureates and Ebola virus quarantine
After the governors of New York and New Jersey decided that health workers who have returned from the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa should be subject to a 21-day quarantine, two Nobel laureates entered the fray. Bruce Beutler feels that the quarantine is the right thing to do, while Peter Doherty says it’s wrong. Which laureate is right?
The key issue in this debate is the assumption that someone who has been infected with Ebola virus, and does not display symptoms, is not contagious. Beutler doesn’t believe that there is enough evidence for this assumption: “People may have said that without symptoms you...
Source: virology blog - November 5, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Bruce Beutler contagious ebola virus ebolavirus health care worker incubation period Nobel laureate Peter Doherty quarantine viral Source Type: blogs
Poliovirus escapes antibodies
Antibodies (purple) bound to poliovirus. Image credit: Jason Roberts
Antigenic variation is a hallmark of influenza virus that allows the virus to evade host defenses. Consequently influenza vaccines need to be reformulated frequently to keep up with changing viruses. In contrast, antigenic variation is not a hallmark of poliovirus – the same poliovirus vaccines have been used for nearly 60 years to control infections by this virus. An exception is a poliovirus type 1 that caused a 2010 outbreak in the Republic of Congo.
The 2010 outbreak (445 paralytic cases) was unusual because the case fatality ratio of 47% was h...
Source: virology blog - August 29, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information antibody antigenic variation eradication neutralization antigenic site poliomyelitis poliovirus Sabin Salk vaccine viral Source Type: blogs
Hepatitis B viruses in bats
Hepatitis B virus (HBV, illustrated) is a substantial human pathogen. WHO estimates that there are now 240,000,000 individuals chronically infected with HBV worldwide, of which 25% will die from chronic liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. The hepatitis B virus vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection. Because there are no known animal reservoirs of the virus, it is believed that HBV could be globally eradicated. The recent finding of HBV in bats raises the possibility of zoonotic introduction of the virus.
Serum and liver samples from 3,080 bats from Panama, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, Germany, Papua New Guinea...
Source: virology blog - October 18, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information bat hepadnaviridae hepatitis b virus hepatocellular carcinoma liver viral zoonosis Source Type: blogs
Building Unity Farm - The Barn Swallows of Unity Farm
One of the side effects of creating the orchard at Unity farm was opening about 2 acres of airspace adjacent to our pasture. This has attracted many new species of birds which now dance and dive in the clearing between our woodland and marsh. Since adding the orchard we've seen a significant increase in our barn swallow population. Throughout the day, at least 5 adults dash at high speed around their own open air playground, eating mosquitos and enjoying their social community of birds.Our barn has two sliding doors which open to the male and female paddocks. The swallows retreat to the ...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - July 18, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Immigration Does Not Decrease Economic Freedom
Alex Nowrasteh
A common criticism of immigration reform (here, here, and here) is that it will decrease economic freedom in the United States, by increasing the voting pool for the Democratic Party. Leaving aside the issue of which party supports economic liberty, if any, it’s important to see what the actual impacts of immigration are on economic freedom in the United States and the world. The political effects of immigrants after they arrive are less certain than the economic benefits. Do immigrants decrease economic freedom in their new countries? The bottom line: fears of immigrants decreasin...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 8, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Narrative Matters: Wrestling With Obesity, Individually And Globally
In the Narrative Matters essay in the April Health Affairs issue, Laura Blinkhorn and Mascha Davis write about how working with an obese woman in a Gabon hospital led them to seek solutions to obesity and its related health problems in the developing world. "Public health campaigns, government regulation, and improved education are necessary to bring about real change," write Blinkhorn, a fourth-year medical student at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, and Davis, a registered dietician and public health professional who lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and works for Catholic Relief Services. (Source: Health Affairs Blog)
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: All Categories Global Health Obesity Personal Experience Source Type: blogs
