via allAfrica.com: Africa: New Rapid Diagnostic Test for Worm Infection Provides Substantial Improvement Over Current Standard According to New African Field Study.

Mysore K, Flannery EM, Tomchaney M, Severson DW, Duman-Scheel M (2013) Disruption of Aedes aegypti Olfactory System Development through Chitosan/siRNA Nanoparticle Targeting of semaphorin-1a. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7(5): e2215. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002215 The following new articles are publishing in PLOS NTDs this week: There is not yet a vaccine for schistosomiasis and treatment presently relies on a single drug, praziquantel, which has shown cases of reduced efficacy in certain areas, raising serious concerns about the need to develop a new therapy. In this paper, Dr. Mathieu Vanderstraete and colleagues have investigated the possibility of fighting Schistosoma mansoni by targeting key receptors involved in the parasite’s glucose uptake, metabolism and reproduction

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This Week in PLOS NTDs and PLOS Pathogens: Targeting Schistosome Receptors;…

by Young-An Bae, Do-Whan Ahn, Eung-Goo Lee, Seon-Hee Kim, Guo-Bin Cai, Insug Kang, Woon-Mok Sohn, Yoon Kong Background Clonorchis sinensis causes chronic cumulative infections in the human hepatobiliary tract and is intimately associated with cholangiocarcinoma. Approximately 35 million people are infected and 600 million people are at risk of infections worldwide. C. sinensis excretory-secretory products (ESP) constitute the first-line effector system affecting the host-parasite interrelationship by interacting with bile fluids and ductal epithelium.

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Differential Activation of Diverse Glutathione Transferases of Clonorchis…

by Ronnie G. Gavilan, Maria L. Zamudio, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a foodborne pathogen that has become a public health concern at the global scale. The epidemiological significance of V. parahaemolyticus infections in Latin America received little attention until the winter of 1997 when cases related to the pandemic clone were detected in the region, changing the epidemic dynamics of this pathogen in Peru.

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Molecular Epidemiology and Genetic Variation of Pathogenic Vibrio…

by Florian Gehre, Jacob Otu, Kathryn DeRiemer, Paola Florez de Sessions, Martin L. Hibberd, Wim Mulders, Tumani Corrah, Bouke C. de Jong, Martin Antonio Background Human tuberculosis (TB) in West Africa is not only caused by M. tuberculosis but also by bacteria of the two lineages of M. africanum.

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Deciphering the Growth Behaviour of Mycobacterium africanum

by Zeleke Mekonnen, Selima Meka, Mio Ayana, Johannes Bogers, Jozef Vercruysse, Bruno Levecke Background In veterinary parasitology samples are often pooled for a rapid assessment of infection intensity and drug efficacy. Currently, studies evaluating this strategy in large-scale drug administration programs to control human soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm), are absent. Therefore, we developed and evaluated a pooling strategy to assess intensity of STH infections and drug efficacy. Methods/Principal Findings Stool samples from 840 children attending 14 primary schools in Jimma, Ethiopia were pooled (pool sizes of 10, 20, and 60) to evaluate the infection intensity of STHs.

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Comparison of Individual and Pooled Stool Samples for the Assessment of…

by G. Sybren de Hoog, Sarah A. Ahmed, Mohammad J. Najafzadeh, Deanna A. Sutton, Maryam Saradeghi Keisari, Ahmed H

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Phylogenetic Findings Suggest Possible New Habitat and Routes of Infection…

by Mathieu Vanderstraete, Nadège Gouignard, Katia Cailliau, Marion Morel, Julien Lancelot, Jean-François Bodart, Colette Dissous Background Chemotherapy of schistosomiasis relies on a single drug, Praziquantel (PZQ) and mass-use of this compound has led to emergence of resistant strains of Schistosoma mansoni, therefore pointing out the necessity to find alternative drugs. Through their essential functions in development and metabolism, receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) could represent valuable drug targets for novel anti-schistosome chemotherapies. Taking advantage of the similarity between the catalytic domains of S. mansoni insulin receptors (SmIR1 and SmIR2) and Venus Kinase Receptors (SmVKR1 and SmVKR2), we studied the possibility to fight schistosomes by targeting simultaneously the four receptors with a single drug.

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Dual Targeting of Insulin and Venus Kinase Receptors of Schistosoma mansoni…

by Lei Pan, Lijuan Zhang, Desheng Fan, Xiuchun Zhang, Hong Liu, Qunying Lu, Qiyi Xu Background Q fever is the most widespread zoonosis, and domestic animals are the most common sources of transmission. It is not only difficult to distinguish from other febrile diseases because of the lack of specific clinical manifestations in humans, but it is also difficult to identify the disease in C. burnetii-carrying animals because of the lack of identifiable features. Conventional serodiagnosis requires sera from the acute and convalescent stages of infection, which are unavailable at early diagnosis. Nested PCR and real-time PCR require equipment.

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Rapid, Simple and Sensitive Detection of Q Fever by Loop-Mediated…

by Arturo Centurion-Lara, Lorenzo Giacani, Charmie Godornes, Barbara J. Molini, Tara Brinck Reid, Sheila A. Lukehart Background The pathogenic non-cultivable treponemes include three subspecies of Treponema pallidum (pallidum, pertenue, endemicum), T. carateum, T. paraluiscuniculi, and the unclassified Fribourg-Blanc treponeme (Simian isolate)

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Fine Analysis of Genetic Diversity of the tpr Gene Family among Treponemal…

by Stephan Karl, Lucía Gutiérrez, Rafael Lucyk-Maurer, Roland Kerr, Renata R. F. Candido, Shu Q. Toh, Martin Saunders, Jeremy A. Shaw, Alexandra Suvorova, Andreas Hofmann, Michael J.

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The Iron Distribution and Magnetic Properties of Schistosome Eggshells:…

by Bo-Chi Lin, Li-Hsin Su, Shih-Che Weng, Yu-Jiao Pan, Nei-Li Chan, Tsai-Kun Li, Hsin-Chih Wang, Chin-Hung Sun The protozoan Giardia lamblia differentiates into infectious cysts within the human intestinal tract for disease transmission. Expression of the cyst wall protein (cwp) genes increases with similar kinetics during encystation. However, little is known how their gene regulation shares common mechanisms. DNA topoisomerases maintain normal topology of genomic DNA. They are necessary for cell proliferation and tissue development as they are involved in transcription, DNA replication, and chromosome condensation

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DNA Topoisomerase II Is Involved in Regulation of Cyst Wall Protein Genes…

by Keshava Mysore, Ellen M. Flannery, Michael Tomchaney, David W. Severson, Molly Duman-Scheel Despite the devastating impact of mosquito-borne illnesses on human health, surprisingly little is known about mosquito developmental biology, including development of the olfactory system, a tissue of vector importance. Analysis of mosquito olfactory developmental genetics has been hindered by a lack of means to target specific genes during the development of this sensory system. In this investigation, chitosan/siRNA nanoparticles were used to target semaphorin-1a (sema1a) during olfactory system development in the dengue and yellow fever vector mosquito Aedes aegypti.

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Disruption of Aedes aegypti Olfactory System Development through…

via allAfrica.com: Tanzania Steps Up War Against Neglected Diseases.

via Niger Offers Reward to Help Eradicate Guinea Worm.

by Seray Ozensoy Toz, Gulnaz Culha, Fadile Yıldız Zeyrek, Hatice Ertabaklar, M. Ziya Alkan, Aslı Tetik Vardarlı, Cumhur Gunduz, Yusuf Ozbel Human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by L. infantum and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by L. tropica and L.

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A Real-Time ITS1-PCR Based Method in the Diagnosis and Species…

by Mathilde Guerbois, Eugenia Volkova, Naomi L. Forrester, Shannan L. Rossi, Ilya Frolov, Scott C. Weaver The live-attenuated TC-83 strain is the only licensed veterinary vaccine available to protect equids against Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) and to protect humans indirectly by preventing equine amplification.

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IRES-driven Expression of the Capsid Protein of the Venezuelan Equine…

by Alejandro J. Krolewiecki, Patrick Lammie, Julie Jacobson, Albis-Francesco Gabrielli, Bruno Levecke, Eugenia Socias, Luis M. Arias, Nicanor Sosa, David Abraham, Ruben Cimino, Adriana Echazú, Favio Crudo, Jozef Vercruysse, Marco Albonico Strongyloides stercoralis infections have a worldwide distribution with a global burden in terms of prevalence and morbidity that is largely ignored. A public health response against soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections should broaden the strategy to include S.

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A Public Health Response against Strongyloides stercoralis: Time to Look at…

by Saja Asakrah, Wildaliz Nieves, Zaid Mahdi, Mallory Agard, Arnold H. Zea, Chad J. Roy, Lisa A. Morici Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative, facultative intracellular bacillus and the etiologic agent of melioidosis, a severe disease in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. Like other multidrug-resistant pathogens, the inherent antibiotic resistance of B.

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Post-Exposure Therapeutic Efficacy of COX-2 Inhibition against Burkholderia…

by Carolina Romero Machado, Elizabeth Stankiewicz Machado, Roger Denis Rohloff, Marina Azevedo, Dayse Pereira Campos, Robson Bruniera de Oliveira, Patrícia Brasil Background Dengue is a reportable disease in Brazil; however, pregnancy has been included in the application form of the Brazilian notification information system only after 2006. To estimate the severity of maternal dengue infection, the available data that were compiled from January 2007 to December 2008 by the official surveillance information system of the city of Rio de Janeiro were reviewed. Methods and Principal Findings During the study period, 151,604 cases of suspected dengue infection were reported. Five hundred sixty-one women in their reproductive age (15–49 years) presented with dengue infection; 99 (18.1%) pregnant and 447 (81.9%) non-pregnant women were analyzed. Dengue cases were categorized using the 1997 WHO classification system, and DHF/DSS were considered severe disease

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Is Pregnancy Associated with Severe Dengue? A Review of Data from the Rio…