Environmental Relationships and Anthrax Epidemiology: Field Experiences of Host Resistance as Opposed to Dose-Dependent Experiments
This article concentrates on the arguments for host resistance. Host resistance is virtually impossible to measure objectively in the field. To provide a subjective measure of host resistance during anthrax outbreaks, we suggest the use of the opinions of livestock owners and or their veterinary practitioners and or field workers during investigations of anthrax outbreaks. When veterinary personal work in the field they are much like field biologists. In some ways field biologists better appreciate environmental factors, population ecology and other perspectives that are of use to epidemiologists. The more diverse the info...
Source: Acta Tropica - February 3, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Robert S Gainer Martin E Hugh-Jones Domenico Galante Source Type: research
Clotrimazole causes membrane depolarization and induces sub G < sub > 0 < /sub > cell cycle arrest in Leishmania donovani
In this study we have explored the possibility of repurposing clotrimazole as an antileishmanial drug. We have assessed its efficacy on the parasites and attempted to understand its mode of action. We found that it has a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 35.75 ± 1.06 μM, 12.75 ± 0.35 μM and 73 ± 1.41 μM in promastigotes, intracellular amastigotes and macrophages, respectively. Clotrimazole is 5.73 times more selective for the intracellular amastigotes as compared to the mammalian cell. Effect of clotrimazole was reduced by ergosterol supplementation. It leads to impaired parasite morphology. It alters p...
Source: Acta Tropica - February 2, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Anindita Paul Pradyot Kumar Roy Neerupudi Kishore Babu Sushma Singh Source Type: research
Molecular and next-generation sequencing analysis of tick-borne pathogens of Rhipicephalus ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in cattle and dogs
Acta Trop. 2024 Feb 1;252:107138. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107138. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTTicks are small and adaptable arachnid ectoparasites and global carriers of various pathogens that threaten both human and animal health. They are present in many parts of China. A total of 858 ticks were collected from various regions and hosts, then subjected to species identification based on morphological and molecular characteristics, as described in the authors' previous study. Eighty-three individual tick samples were selected for screening pathogens based on metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and polym...
Source: Acta Tropica - February 2, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Jitrawadee Intirach Xin Lv Nataya Sutthanont Benchi Cai Danita Champakaew Tao Chen Qian Han Zhiyue Lv Source Type: research
First molecular detection and characterization of Enterocytozoon bieneusi different genotypes in human patients from Italy
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 29;252:107136. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107136. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEnterocytozoon bieneusi is one of the 17 microsporidian species pathogenic to humans in low and high-income countries, inducing both symptomatic and asymptomatic intestinal infections, independently of the immunological condition of the infected individual. Faecal-oral transmission occurs in a broad hosts range, including several animal species, but the parasite's zoonotic potential remains still unclear. Few studies are available in Italy regarding E. bieneusi presence in humans and no data on its genetic variability a...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 31, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Isabel Guadano-Procesi Federica Berrilli David Di Cave Source Type: research
Antimicrobial, toxicological, and antigenic characteristics of three scorpion venoms from Colombia: Centruroides margaritatus, Tityus pachyurus and Tityus n. sp. aff. metuendus
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 28;252:107134. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107134. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe venom fractions of three buthid scorpion species from Colombia, C. margaritatus, T. pachyurus and T. n. sp. aff. metuendus, were examined for antimicrobial and toxicity toward mice and insects. The three venoms were separated into individual fractions using RP-HPLC, resulting in 85 fractions from C. margaritatus, 106 from T. pachyurus, and 70 from T. n. sp. aff. metuendus. The major fractions from the three scorpion venoms, which were eluted between 35 and 50 min, were tested for antimicrobial activity and toxicity....
Source: Acta Tropica - January 29, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Leydy Lorena Mendoza-Tobar Herlinda Clement Ivan Arenas Jimmy Alexander Guerrero-Vargas Lorena Hernandez-Orihuela Samuel Cardoso-Arenas Juan Carlos Sepulveda-Arias Gerardo Corzo Source Type: research
Effect of environmental variables on the incidence of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Brazil and Colombia
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 26;252:107131. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107131. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTVisceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is the most severe of the three forms of Leishmaniasis. In the Americas, Brazil and Colombia present more than 90 % of the cases in the region. Our aim in this research was to estimate the association of the incidence rate of Visceral Leishmaniasis with the following environmental variables: the percentage of area suitable for the vector Lutzomyia longipalpis, the episodes of La Niña and El Niño, the Brazilian and Colombian biomes. Epidemiological data were obtained from the Brazilian Notif...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 28, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Juan David Guti érrez Mariano Altamiranda-Saavedra Juli án Ávila-Jiménez Iris Amati Martins Fl ávia Virginio Source Type: research
Intranasal delivery of LaAg vaccine improves immunity of aged mice against visceral Leishmaniasis
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 26;252:107125. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107125. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThere are no approved vaccines yet for human visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the most severe form of the leishmaniasis clinical manifestations that is fatal in over 95 % of untreated cases. It is well-accepted that immunological changes during aging have deleterious impact on the efficacy of vaccines and response to infections. In this work, we compared the response of young and aged mice to intranasal vaccination with killed Leishmania amazonensis promastigote antigens (LaAg) that were then challenged with L. infantum inf...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 27, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Caio Loureiro Salgado Andr és Felipe Mendéz Corea Luciana Polaco Covre Alessandra Marcia da Fonseca-Martins Aloisio Falqueto Herbert Leonel de Matos Guedes Bartira Rossi-Bergmann Daniel Cl áudio Oliviera Gomes Source Type: research
A bipolar intuitionistic fuzzy decision-making model for selection of effective diagnosis method of tuberculosis
CONCLUSION: The proposed bipolar intuitionistic fuzzy sets, combined with the PROMETHEE-ARAS techniques, proved to be a valuable tool for assessing effective TB diagnosing methods.PMID:38280637 | DOI:10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107132 (Source: Acta Tropica)
Source: Acta Tropica - January 27, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Ezhilarasan Natarajan Felix Augustin Ranganathan Saraswathy Samayan Narayanamoorthy Soheil Salahshour Ali Ahmadian Daekook Kang Source Type: research
Theileria annulata subtelomere-encoded variable secreted protein-TA05560 interacts with bovine RNA binding motif protein 39 (RBM39)
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 26;252:107133. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTTheileria annulata is the only eukaryotic pathogen able to transform bovine leukocytes, including B cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. T. annulata-transformed cells exhibit several cancer-like phenotypes, such as hyperproliferation, immortalization and dissemination. Although several parasite factors involved in bovine cell transformation have been explored, the roles of subtelomere-encoded variable secreted proteins (SVSPs) of the parasite in host-cell interactions are largely unknown. In the present study, the ta...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 27, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Quanying Ma Yuan Han Yong Fu Guixiang Teng Xiaoqiang Wang Junlong Liu Zhi Li Source Type: research
Modelling of tuberculosis dynamics incorporating indirect transmission of contaminated environment and infectivity of smear-negative individuals: a case study for Xinjiang, China
Acta Trop. 2024 Jan 24:107130. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107130. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTXinjiang has been one of the high incidence areas of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in China. Besides being infected by direct contacting with active PTB individuals (direct infection), the susceptible would be infected because of the exposure to the environment contaminated by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (indirect infection). Active PTB individuals include not only the smear-positive PTB (PTB+) but also the smear-negative PTB (PTB-) who are infectious due to their ability to release tiny Mycobacterium tuberculosis particles e...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 26, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Chunjie Gao Tao Zhang Ying Liao Yingdan Wang Haiyan Jiao Mengjuan Wu Qianqian Cui Kai Wang Lei Wang Source Type: research
Molecular detection and characterization of Bartonella spp. in small mammals in the Amazonia and Cerrado biomes, midwestern Brazil
Acta Trop. 2024 Mar;251:107129. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107129. Epub 2024 Jan 23.ABSTRACTAlthough Bartonella spp. have been worldwide described in rodents and bats, few studies have reported these agents in marsupials. The present work aimed to investigate the occurrence and genetic diversity of Bartonella in small mammals (rodents, marsupials, and bats) and associated ectoparasites in two ecoregions (Amazonia and Cerrado biomes) in midwestern Brazil. For this purpose, DNA samples from 378 specimens of small mammals (128 rodents, 111 marsupials, and 139 bats) and 41 fleas (Siphonaptera) were screened for the Barton...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 24, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Th ábata Dos Anjos Pacheco Renan Bressianini do Amaral Priscila Ikeda Maerle Oliveira Maia Daniel Ant ônio Braga Lee Thiago Borges Fernandes Semedo Ravena Fernanda Braga de Mendon ça Fernando Pedroni Maur ício Claudio Horta Rog ério Vieira Rossi Marc Source Type: research
Molecular discrimination of G1 and G3 genotypes of Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto obtained from human, cattle, and sheep using the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 marker
This study determined the genotype and haplotype differences using the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 gene in hydatid cyst samples. Human (n = 12), cattle (n = 28), and sheep (n = 31) hydatid cyst isolates were included. Seventy-one genomic DNA samples were successfully extracted, and a 759 bp mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 gene fragment was amplified by PCR. Following the sequence analysis, E. granulosus sensu stricto isolates were identified as G1 (n = 61) and G3 (n = 10). A total of 23 haplotypes were obtained from the 71 E. granulosus s.s. G1 and G3 samples. The main haplotype was Hap01 (60.56 %), which consi...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 23, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Figen Celik Muhammed Ahmed Selcuk Seyma Gunyakti Kilinc Harun Kaya Kesik Haroon Ahmed Ying Wang Sami Simsek Jianping Cao Source Type: research
Generation of IgG antibodies against Strongyloides stercoralis in mice via immunization with recombinant antigens A133 and Ss-IR
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of recombinant proteins, A133 and Ss-IR, as potential vaccine candidates against strongyloidiasis by investigating the humoral and cellular immune responses in immunized mice. Respective antigens were adjuvanted with Complete Freund's Adjuvant (prime) and Incomplete Freund's Adjuvant (boost) and administered intraperitoneally (prime) and subcutaneously (boost) to female BALB/c mice. For antigen-only doses, only antigens were injected without adjuvants. Altogether, 1 prime dose, 4 booster doses, and 2 antigen-only doses were administered successively. ELISAs were conducted to assess...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 21, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Matthew Tze Jian Wong Nor Suhada Anuar Rahmah Noordin Gee Jun Tye Source Type: research
Toxoplasma gondii: Seroprevalence and association with childhood brain tumors in Egypt
CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that T. gondii infection may be a risk factor for childhood brain tumors and emphasize the need for further research in this area. The study also highlights the potential implications of control of T. gondii infection for prevention and treatment of childhood brain tumors.PMID:38242223 | DOI:10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107123 (Source: Acta Tropica)
Source: Acta Tropica - January 19, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Marwa M Hamouda Amany S El-Saied Ahmed Zaher Amr Farid Khalil Ayat A ElBlihy Nairmen Nabih Samar N El-Beshbishi Source Type: research
Analysis of liver fibrosis equations as a potential role of predictive models in Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of 14 hepatic fibrosis indices for distinguishing fatal cases and intensive care unit requirement (ICU) in CCHF. This study enrolled 194 patients with confirmed CCHF. Laboratory measurements were performed using auto analyzers. Indirect indicators of fibrosis were calculated for each patient based on previously described formulas. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (tdROC) curve analyses were employed to evaluate the predictive effects of hepatic fibrosis indices on both intensive care unit requirement and overall survival among patients. Regarding the tdRO...
Source: Acta Tropica - January 13, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Serkan Bolat Seyit Ali B üyüktuna Funda İpekten K übra Doğan G ökmen Zararsız Halef Okan Do ğan Source Type: research
