Thursday, January 14, 2016

NTD's in the news this week (1 Jan - 9 Jan 2016)

Devex
BRICS champion the fight to end neglected tropical diseases Mirta Roses Periago, special envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases and former director of the Pan American Health Organization “…The BRICS deserve credit for the progress they have made in fighting NTDs at home, and I am confident they will continue to…

Jerusalem Post
Israel’s special role in global health science and diplomacy Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and U.S. State Department science envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, and Zvi Bentwich, head of the Center for Emerging Diseases,…

New York Times
U.S. Becomes More Vulnerable to Tropical Diseases Like Zika “Tropical diseases — some of them never before seen in the United States — are marching northward as climate change lets mosquitoes and ticks expand their ranges. But that does not mean that epidemics will break out, scientists say. 

Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases’ “End the Neglect”: 
Upholding Germany’s Historic Commitment to Poverty-Related and Neglected Diseases Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, discuss Germany’s…

American trypanosomiasis / Chagas
Infection Control Today
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, in collaboration with the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, have identified a molecule expressed by ...

Bel Marra Health
A Chagas disease vaccine may be possible after a study identified how the disease evades the immune system. Chagas disease is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). 

Healio
A new imaging study presented at the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging identified the presence of heart abnormalities, despite a lack of symptoms, among Latin American migrants in Spain who have a confirmed diagnosis of Chagas' disease.

Pharmaceutical Processing
Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego have entered into a research collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen R&D), one of the Janssen ...

Times of San Diego
Scientists at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego announced Thursday they've entered into a research collaboration with a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson to identify medications that combat Chagas disease, ...

Houston Chronicle
Most public health officials consider Chagas disease transmission a relatively new and rare occurrence in the United States. But a recent search of online news archives suggests the so-called kissing bug that transmits the disease may have been active ...

Latinos Health
Coastal Bend health officials have recently retracted their report stating the discovery of a case of Chagas Disease in Texas. According to reports by Kris TV, a blood donation made last October tested positive for the parasite this Monday.

KRIS Corpus Christi News
Health officials in the Coastal Bend were concerned a potentially deadly disease you've probably never heard of is starting to show up here. On Tuesday, the City-County Health District has retracted it's report about a confirmed case of Chagas Disease ...

Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Christi-Nueces County Public Health District announced a possible case of Chagas' disease has been found but a second test is needed to confirm it. 

Buruli ulcer / Mycobacteria Ulcerans
National Science Foundation
...runet de Courssou had taken samples of the clay to Africa, where she documented its ability to cure Buruli ulcer, a flesh-eating skin disease, for patients in Ivory Coast. 

Dengue
GMA News
The Department of Health on Sunday said that more than a million Grade 4 pupils will receive dengue vaccines before the summer vacation this year. 

Dominican Today
They also provided medical and dental treatment for 8,041 people and delivered thousands of first aid kits, bleach bottles and mosquito nets to each of the homes that were visited by doctors, technical personnel and soldiers from the ministry's ...

Astro Awani
A total of 99 dengue cases have been reported in Terengganu since Jan 1 until Friday, an increase of 253.6 percent compared with only 28 dengue cases for the same period last year. 

Big Island Video News
HONAUNAU, Hawaii – BreeLyn Dupertuis came down with a severe case of dengue fever in early November. It took the 37-old Honaunau resident over a month to feel better. 

DunyaNews Pakistan
KARACHI (Dunya News) – The start of the New Year has seen Dengue on the rise again as 30 patients suffering from the disease have been confirmed in Karachi. 

Big Island Now
Hawai'i Department of Health officials kept the list of confirmed dengue fever cases at 210 Friday. Cases have increased by a total of eight since Monday, including the addition of two individuals infected under the age of 18. 

The Straits Times
A banner showing the number of dengue cases at hot spots in Tampines Avenue 4. Tampines is Singapore's biggest dengue cluster. The NEA advised people living in active dengue clusters - there are 115 now - to use repellents to reduce their risk of …

The Standard
THE Department of Health said on Friday they are preparing for the conduct of anti-dengue vaccination in March this year among the targeted 1,077,023 Grade 4 pupils in public schools in the three most populous regions of the country. 

Taipei Times
The Central Epidemic Command Center for dengue fever yesterday announced it is to cease operating due to the epidemic being stabilized and that normal prevention measures would be taken over by regular government agencies. 

The Tico Times
Each year an estimated 390 million people worldwide are infected with dengue fever. The potentially fatal, mosquito-borne illness is known for its mind-dulling affects and debilitating joint pain, and until recently there was no way to prevent ...

InterAksyon
BAGUIO CITY -- The Department of Health (DOH) Cordillera Regional Office advised that measures against dengue fever be implemented throughout the year after cases in the region increased by 300 percent compared with data in 2014. 

Viet Nam News
BINH DINH (VNS) — The Pasteur Nha Trang Institute in the central province of Binh Dinh has concluded that four recent deaths were caused by the dengue fever virus. The province reported 2,726 cases of dengue fever last year, causing five fatalities ...

The Straits Times
SINGAPORE - This is going to be a bad year for dengue, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has warned. Not only will the number of infections be high, the cases are expected to spike earlier than in previous years. 

Channel News Asia
In light of this, the minister called for volunteers to assemble at the Tampines West Community Club on Jan 17 at 2pm to help distribute mosquito repellent to residents in the affected areas, as well as help create awareness on the dengue situation.

KHON2
The state Dept. of Health confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 7, that there were 210 cases of dengue fever on Hawaii Island, up three from Wednesday, Jan. 6. Officials say 190 residents and 20 visitors were affected by the locally acquired disease.

The Express Tribune
RAWALPINDI: A committee formed by the Punjab Government to look into reasons for spread of dengue during the winter season has reportedly found a dengue mosquito larva from the house of a patient suffering from the viral fever in Dhoke Mustaqeem, ...

Hawaii Tribune Herald
A group raising money to fight a dengue fever outbreak in the South Kona fishing village of Milolii discovered that Wednesday, when it was awarded $5,000 from South Kona/Ka'u Councilwoman Maile David's contingency relief fund. 

Times of India
Though the government hospital authorities said that Wafifa's dengue test results were yet to arrive, symptoms like high fever and body pain accompanied a fall in platelet count made the doctors suspect that the baby had been suffering from dengue.

Big Island Video News
HAWAII ISLAND – The Hawaii Department of Health has identified 5 new cases of dengue fever, bringing the total number of infections to 207 since the outbreak was identified in September 2015. 

Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: Despite stronger preventive measures against dengue, the number of cases in Singapore's biggest cluster in Tampines rose by 10 in a single day to a total of 188 as of Tuesday (Jan 5), according to statistics from the National Environment ...

Big Island Now
After a five-day freeze in the dengue fever count, the Hawai'i Department of Health reported Wednesday that five new confirmed cases have been added to the overall count of Big Island dengue cases. As of Tuesday afternoon, that number was at 207.

The Straits Times
But these residents living in some of Singapore's worst dengue hot spots all share a constant worry about the risk of infection. Mr Segar Gopal, a 47-year-old who runs his own business and lives in a terraced house in Sing Avenue, a stone's throw away ...

Big Island Now
Presentations by several County of Hawai'i Departments are on the schedule for a Miloli'i Village “Fight the Bite” dengue fever community update meeting. 

NDTV
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded 336 dengue deaths - the highest ever -

China Post
TAIPEI -- Winter arrived late in 2015, making it especially hard to slow down the dengue fever outbreak in Kaohsiung, where the epidemic was concentrated the last two months of the year, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Tuesday.

Zee News
According to the ministry, 2015 had the highest number of dengue deaths ever recorded in the country, The Malaysian Star reported. A total of 336 people - an average of 28 a month - died from dengue last year compared to 215 in 2014, a rise of 56.3 ...

The Disease Daily
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue is the “fastest spreading vector disease” in the world (1). Approximately half of the worldwide population is now living in at-risk areas for contracting the illness and it is estimated that 400 ...

StudyNDTV
The researchers suggest that female mosquitoes lay eggs near flowers for a variety of possible reasons. 

Big Island Now
On Tuesday, the Hawai'i Department of Health announced that an additional nine cases of potential dengue were excluded from the overall count, bringing the total of negative cases to 782.

Wall Street Journal
SÃO PAULO—The mosquito-borne Zika virus continues to spread in Brazil, alarming health officials and raising fresh fears that more newborns will be afflicted with abnormal brain development from the disease. 

Taipei Times
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) on Monday proposed measures to protect the city, which was hit worst by its dengue fever epidemic last year, from future outbreaks, including setting up a national agency on dengue fever control and prevention.

Scientific American
When female Aedes Aegypti mosquito sups on the blood of its human victims it too often deposits the virus that causes dengue, causing as many as 400 million infections per year worldwide.

Big Island Now
A total of 20 visitors to the island have been infected with dengue fever. The additional 182 have been Big Island residents. The overall number of 202 confirmed dengue cases includes 38 individuals listed as children, or those under the age of 18.Dengue victim describes 'traumatic' illnessHonolulu Star-AdvertiserParks remain closed as …

Medical Xpress
Tiger mosquitoes are indigenous to Africa and Asia. However, they are increasingly being found around the Mediterranean and are bringing the dengue virus with them. Up to now, there's been no sure-fire antibody test for detecting this virus ...

Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: A total of 455 dengue cases were reported in the week ending Jan 2, 86 more than the week before, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in an update on its website. This is the highest number of cases in a week recorded in 2015.

Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – More than 1 million Filipino children in 3 regions with high incidence of dengue will be among the first recipients of anti-dengue vaccine in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said. 

Focus Taiwan News Channel
The public should know that a dengue fever epidemic is likely to occur in Taiwan every year, and they will not be small-scale outbreaks, Mao said at a forum on dengue fever prevention, which was organized by the Environmental Protection Administration ...

Newswise (press release)
Research from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, into better methods of predicting outbreaks of the mosquito-borne dengue virus was selected for presentation in September at the Eisenhower ...

The Star Online
KUALA TERENGGANU: The state Health Department has promised to come down hard on owners of houses and private lands which are found to be dengue hotspots. A maximum compound of RM500 would be imposed on them for failing to maintain their ...

Insidethegames.biz
Approval of a dengue vaccine has also been granted by Brazil's food and drug administration, Anvisa, to help tackle the outbreak further. It makes them the third nation after Mexico and the Philippines to approve the vaccine.

GMA News
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janet Garin on Monday announced that the dengue vaccine will enter the Philippine market next week. "Philippines is the only country where three phases of the clinical trial were done...

Honolulu Star-Advertiser
That was her take on mosquitoes before a bite infected her with dengue fever in November. She is still recovering. On Friday the state Department of Health reported that confirmed cases in the ongoing outbreak on the Big Island number 202, with 189 ...

Focus Taiwan News Channel
Among them were proposals to establish a national dengue fever control and prevention institute in southern Taiwan and revise regulations on epidemic disease control and prevention to that those with dengue fever can be forcibly kept at home, the mayor ...

Bangkok Post
The four other most prevalent serious illnesses were dengue haemorragic fever, food poisoning, influenza, and hand, foot and mouth disease. Dengue haemorragic fever caused 123,169 people to seek treatment and killed 116 people. 

Pakistan Today
Provincial Minister for Manpower and Human Resources Ashfaq Sarwar has ordered an inquiry after the first dengue case of 2016 was reported in Rawalpindi. 

Deccan Herald
Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan, on Sunday claimed indigenous vaccines against dengue and malaria are in an advanced stage of development. Addressing the 103rd session of the Indian Science Congress in Mysuru, the minister ...

Healio
Lovastatin was safe and well-tolerated in adult patients with dengue; however, the drug did not provide a beneficial impact on clinical symptoms of dengue or dengue viremia, according to recent findings.

Focus Taiwan News Channel
XinhuaTAIPEI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- New cases of dengue fever recorded daily in Taiwan has remained below 100 in the past two weeks, with 23 new cases reported on Saturday, announced the island's disease control agency Sunday. 

Hawaii Tribune-Herald (subscription)
Seven new confirmed cases of dengue fever have pushed Hawaii Island's total number past the 200 mark. As of Jan. 1, there have been 202 cases reported since the initial onset on Sept. 11, and 765 reported potential cases have been excluded based on ...

Syracuse.com
The volunteers, who will get a mild version of dengue, are part of a study at Upstate Medical University's Center for Global Health that's aimed at stopping the spread of the potentially deadly disease. 

InterAksyon
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Zamboanga City Health Office has recorded a 51-percent decline rate of dengue cases representing 2,870 incidences in 2015 compared to 2014. Dr. Rodelin Agbulos, city health officer, said his office has documented 2,734 dengue ...

Guinea worm / Dracunculiasis
WCTVATLANTA (AP)
Officials with The Carter Center in Atlanta say 22 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2015, down from 126 cases during the previous year. 

China Post
"South Sudan is on the verge of eliminating guinea worm disease," South Sudan Minister of Health Riek Gai Kok said in a statement, after workers recorded just five cases last year, a more than 90-percent drop from 2014, when 70 cases were recorded ...

Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan has almost eliminated the painful Guinea worm disease after only five cases were discovered in the country in 2015, the Ministry of Health and the Carter Center announced. 

Observer-Reporter
It still is in parts of Asia and Africa, where poor sanitation breeds malaria, cholera, guinea worm disease and diarrhea. While we typically don't have to worry about a sip of water leading to a visit from the Grim Reaper, the water systems in this ...

Outbreak News Today
Considered a neglected tropical disease, Guinea worm disease (Dracunculiasis) is contracted when people consume water contaminated with Guinea worm larvae.

Science /AAAS
Just as health officials were on the cusp of conquering Guinea worm disease, an outbreak in dogs may be spreading the worms back to humans in Chad, Nature reports.

Nature.com
Most cases of Guinea-worm disease in Chad have occurred in communities based along the Chari River. A decades-long push to make Guinea-worm disease the first parasitic infection to be wiped out is close to victory. 

Agence France-Presse
Flesh-burrowing worm nearly ‘eradicated from South Sudan’ “… ‘South Sudan is on the verge of eliminating guinea worm disease,’ South Sudan Minister of Health Riek Gai Kok said in a statement, after workers recorded just five cases last year, a more than 90 percent drop from 2014, when 70 cases were recorded —…

Nature
Dogs Thwart Effort to Eradicate Guinea Worm “…Researchers and officials strongly suspect that dogs are spreading [Guinea worm] to humans; now the race is on to understand how this might happen, as well as how dogs acquire the infection in the first place. 

Hansen’s Disease / Leprosy
New Vision
Countrywide, about 300 new Leprosy cases of whom about 10% children below fifteen years, are detected every year. The Northern, North Western, South Eastern and Eastern regions contribute more than 80% of all the Leprosy cases detected each year, ...

AllAfrica.com
Leprosy, a disease older than the Bible, is back in Malawi and has hit seven districts. Leonard Mawaya, program manager for the Department of Leprosy and Skin Diseases at the Ministry of Health, said the disease was restricted to Balaka in 2015 but has ...

The Hindu
However, his schooling came to an abrupt halt two years ago, when he was diagnosed with leprosy. Since then, physiotherapy and mild electric shocks became part of his daily regimen. The plaster on his left hand is changed every alternate day. “

Outbreak News Today
Hansen's disease, formerly known as leprosy, is caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae )bacteria. The infection has also been identified in nine-banded armadillos. 

Leishmaniasis:
Pharmaceutical Processing
Following introduction into mammalian hosts (including humans) by the bite of a sand fly, Leishmania parasites undergo extensive changes to adapt to survival and multiplication inside the new host cells and tissues. 

EurekAlert (press release)
Following introduction into mammalian hosts (including humans) by the bite of a sand fly, Leishmania parasites undergo extensive changes to adapt to survival and multiplication inside the new host cells and tissues. 

BioOptics World
In a pilot study, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine (San Diego, CA) and colleagues investigated the effectiveness of a laser therapy approach combining ablative fractional laser resurfacing with laser-assisted ...

Soil transmitted helminthiases
News.discovery.com
... spread intestinal parasites in the Roman Empire were whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) which are transmitted by the contamination of food with feces

Council Chronicle
The whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) is a round worm that causes trichuriasis. It is called whipworm because it resembles a whip. These intestinal parasites are transmitted when the food is contaminated by feces. 

Schistosomiasis
Health Liputan6.com
Kementerian Kesehatan menyebutkan keong pembawa penyakit schistosomiasis masih berkembang biak di dua daerah, yaitu Kecamatan Lindu dan Poso, Sulawesi Tengah. Meski jumlah kasusnya berkurang, upaya pencegahan terus dilakukan.

AllAfrica.com
A piece of kit that quickly multiplies the DNA of parasitic worms could detect infections by schistosome species more than six times faster than the most accurate existing method. 

Other Neglected Conditions
Snakebite
The Eagle Online
Commenting, the Permanent Secretary of the Plateau State Ministry of Health, Pharmacist Abel Hamila Guyatan, appealed to medical experts to do justice to the snakebite challenge, noting that the whole geographical Plateau State was a snake endemic area ...


BLOGS
Medgadget.com (blog)
QMR22-1505 A recent report published on the Drugs for Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis) Market presents an analytical overview of the Drugs for Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis) industry. 

Daily News | The National Newspaper (press release) (blog)
As there has never been any vaccine to prevent infection, a new drug called Dengvaxia was approved for use earlier last month in three countries namely Mexico, the Philippines, and Brazil, which documented about 1.4 million new cases of dengue in 2015.

End the Neglect
Peter J. Hotez and Neeraj Mistry 
The German Bundestag has an opportunity to make unprecedented commitments toward the treatment and prevention of the world’s most common poverty-related diseases — a group of debilitating infections known as the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). 


JOURNAL ARTICLES
by Perran A. Ross, Nancy M. Endersby, Ary A. Hoffmann 
The mosquito Aedes aegypti, the principal vector of dengue virus, has recently been infected experimentally with Wolbachia: intracellular bacteria that possess potential as dengue biological control agents. Wolbachia depend on their hosts for nutrients they are unable to synthesize themselves. 

by Raymond T. A. S. N’krumah, Brama Koné, Issaka Tiembre, Guéladio Cissé, Gerd Pluschke, Marcel Tanner, Jürg Utzinger  
Buruli ulcer (BU) is a cutaneous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. The exact mode of transmission remains elusive; yet, some studies identified environmental, socio-sanitary, and behavioral risk factors. 

by Paola Rosa Luz, Márcia I. Miyazaki, Nelson Chiminacio Neto, Marcela C. Padeski, Ana Cláudia M. Barros, Angelica B. W. Boldt, Iara J.
Messias-Reason 
Chagas disease (CD) is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, whose sugar moieties are recognized by mannan binding lectin (MBL), a soluble pattern-recognition molecule that activates the lectin pathway of complement.

by Florencia Belén González, Flavia Calmon-Hamaty, Synara Nô Seara Cordeiro, Rodrigo Fernández Bussy, Silvana Virginia Spinelli, Luciano D'Attilio, Oscar Bottasso, Wilson Savino, Vinícius Cotta-de-Almeida, Silvina Raquel Villar, Ana Rosa Pérez 
The dynamics of regulatory T cells in the course of Trypanosoma cruzi infection is still debated. 

by Allison Golden, Eric J. Stevens, Lindsay Yokobe, Dunia Faulx, Michael Kalnoky, Roger Peck, Melissa Valdez, Cathy Steel, Potochoziou Karabou, Méba Banla, Peter T. Soboslay, Kangi Adade, Afework H. Tekle, Vitaliano A. Cama, Peter U. Fischer, Thomas B. Nutman, Thomas R. Unnasch, Tala de los Santos, Gonzalo J. Domingo  
Serological assays for human IgG4 to the Onchocerca volvulus antigen O

by Jessica R. Spengler, Éric Bergeron, Pierre E. Rollin 
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a widely distributed, tick-borne viral disease. Humans are the only species known to develop illness after CCHF virus (CCHFV) infection, characterized by a nonspecific febrile illness that can progress to severe, often fatal, hemorrhagic disease.

by Daniel Yasur-Landau, Charles L. Jaffe, Lior David, Gad Baneth  
Visceral leishmaniasis caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum is a zoonotic, life threatening parasitic disease. Domestic dogs are the main peridomestic reservoir, and allopurinol is the most frequently used drug for the control of infection, alone or in combination with other drugs. Resistance of Leishmania strains…

by Gloria Morizot, Romain Jouffroy, Albert Faye, Paul Chabert, Katia Belhouari, Ruxandra Calin, Caroline Charlier, Patrick Miailhes, Jean-Yves Siriez, Oussama Mouri, Hélène Yera, Jacques Gilquin, Roland Tubiana, Fanny Lanternier, Marie-France Mamzer, Christophe Legendre, Dominique Peyramond, Eric Caumes, Olivier Lortholary, Pierre Buffet 
We report on 4 patients (1 immunocompetent, 3 immunosuppressed…

by Ariel José Berenstein, María Paula Magariños, Ariel Chernomoretz, Fernán Agüero 
Drug development for neglected diseases has been historically hampered due to lack of market incentives. The advent of public domain resources containing chemical information from high throughput screenings is changing the landscape of drug discovery for these diseases. 

by Sebastian Damerow, Carolin Hoppe, Giulia Bandini, Patricia Zarnovican, Falk F. R. Buettner, Carsten G. K. Lüder, Michael A. J. Ferguson, Françoise H. Routier

by Nicolas Biteau, Corinne Asencio, Julien Izotte, Benoit Rousseau, Muriel Fèvre, Davita Pillay, Théo Baltz 
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, transmitted by the tsetse fly, is the main causative agent of Human African trypanosomosis in West Africa and poses a significant health risk to 70 million people. Disease progression varies depending on host immunity, but usually begins with a haemo-lymphatic p…

by Hirotomo Kato, Abraham G. Cáceres, Yoshihisa Hashiguchi 
The natural infection of sand flies by Leishmania was examined in the Department of Huanuco of Peru, where cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by a hybrid of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis/L. (V.) peruviana is endemic. 

by Rajamanickam Anuradha, Saravanan Munisankar, Yukthi Bhootra, Jeeva Jagannathan, Chandrakumar Dolla, Paul Kumaran, Thomas B. Nutman, Subash Babu  
Th9 cells are a subset of CD4+ T cells that express the protoypical cytokine, IL-9. Th9 cells are known to effect protective immunity in animal models of intestinal helminth infections. 

by Sébastien Breurec, Noémie Vanel, Petulla Bata, Loïc Chartier, Alain Farra, Loïc Favennec, Thierry Franck, Tamara Giles-Vernick, Jean-Chrysostome Gody, Liem Binh Luong Nguyen, Manuella Onambélé, Clotaire Rafaï, Romy Razakandrainibe, Laura Tondeur, Vianney Tricou, Philippe Sansonetti, Muriel Vray  
In Sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. 

by Audrey Romano, Xunya Hou, Mathieu Sertorio, Hélia Dessein, Sandrine Cabantous, Pablo Oliveira, Jun Li, Sandrine Oyegue, Violaine Arnaud, Xinsong Luo, Martine Chavanieu, Odette Mariani, Xavier Sastre, Anne-Marie Dombey, Hongbin He, Yuesheng Li, Alain Dessein 
Schistosoma eggs cause chronic liver inflammation and a complex disease characterized by hepatic fibrosis (HF) and splenomegaly (SplM).

by Elisabet Vikeved, Anders Backlund, Cecilia Alsmark  The genome of Leishmania major harbours a comparably high proportion of genes of prokaryote origin, acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT). Some of these are present in closely related trypanosomatids, while some are detected in Leishmania only. We have evaluated the impact and destiny of LGT in genus Leishmania. 

by Felipe Raimondi Guidolin, Celso Pereira Caricati, José Roberto Marcelino, Wilmar Dias da Silva  Snake envenoming is a significant public health problem in underdeveloped and developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that 90,000–400,000 envenomations occur each year, resulting in 3,500–32,000 deaths. 

by Deborah Bittencourt Mothé Fraga, Luciano Vasconcellos Pacheco, Lairton Souza Borja, Pétala Gardênia da Silva Estrela Tuy, Leila Andrade Bastos, Manuela da Silva Solcà, Leila Denise Alves Ferreira Amorim, Patrícia Sampaio Tavares Veras 
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) has spread to many urban centers worldwide. Dogs are considered the main reservoir of VL, because canine cases often precede the occur…

by Tomoaki Bessho, Tetsuya Okada, Chihiro Kimura, Takahiro Shinohara, Ai Tomiyama, Akira Imamura, Mitsuru Kuwamura, Kazuhiko Nishimura, Ko Fujimori, Satoshi Shuto, Osamu Ishibashi, Bruno Kilunga Kubata, Takashi Inui
The metabolic pathway of purine nucleotides in parasitic protozoa is a potent drug target for treatment of parasitemia. Guanosine 5’-monophosphate reductase (GMPR), which catalyzes the…

by Maria-Jesus Pinazo, Elizabeth de Jesus Posada, Luis Izquierdo, Dolors Tassies, Alexandre-Ferreira Marques, Elisa de Lazzari, Edelweiss Aldasoro, Jose Muñoz, Alba Abras, Silvia Tebar, Montserrat Gallego, Igor Correia de Almeida, Joan-Carles Reverter, Joaquim Gascon
Thromboembolic events were described in patients with Chagas disease without cardiomyopathy. 

by Cristina Ballesteros, Lucienne Tritten, Maeghan O’Neill, Erica Burkman, Weam I. Zaky, Jianguo Xia, Andrew Moorhead, Steven A. Williams, Timothy G. Geary  
Filarial nematodes cause serious and debilitating infections in human populations of tropical countries, contributing to an entrenched cycle of poverty. Only one human filarial parasite, Brugia malayi, can be maintained in rodents in…

Molecular Identification of Zoonotic Tissue-Invasive Tapeworm Larvae Other than Taenia solium in Suspected Human Cysticercosis Cases.
Tappe, Berkholz, Mahlke, Lobeck, Nagel, Haeupler, Muntau, Racz, Poppert
J Clin Microbiol. 2016 Jan;54(1):172-4. doi: 10.1128/JCM.02171-15. Epub 2015 Oct 21.
Abstract
Rarely, zoonotic Taenia species other than Taenia solium cause human cysticercosis. The larval stages are morphologically often indistinguishable. We therefore investigated 12 samples of suspected human cysticercosis cases at the molecular level and surprisingly identified one Taenia crassiceps and one Taenia serialis (coenurosis) infection, which were caused by tapeworm larvae normally infecting rodents and sheep via eggs released from foxes and dogs.

The PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Staff
Correction | published 04 Jan 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004366

Ryan M Wallace, Hannah Reses, Richard Franka, Pierre Dilius, Natael Fenelon, Lillian Orciari, Melissa Etheart, Apollon Destine, Kelly Crowdis, Jesse D Blanton, Calvin Francisco, Fleurinord Ludder, Victor Del Rio Vilas, Joseph Haim, Max Millien
Correction | published 04 Jan 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004354

Cristina Ballesteros, Lucienne Tritten, Maeghan O’Neill, Erica Burkman, Weam I. Zaky, Jianguo Xia, Andrew Moorhead, Steven A. Williams, Timothy G. Geary
Research Article | published 04 Jan 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004311

Joao Toledo, Leyanna George, Eric Martinez, Adhara Lazaro, Wai Wai Han, Giovanini E. Coelho, Silvia Runge Ranzinger, Olaf Horstick
Research Article | published 04 Jan 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004284

Cortez de Sá J1, Almeida-Souza F2, Mondêgo-Oliveira R3, Oliveira Idos S4, Lamarck L5, Magalhães Ide F6, Ataídes-Lima AF7, Ferreira Hda S8, Abreu-Silva AL9,10.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2016 Jan 4;16(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12906-015-0973-0.


OTHER
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