Assay for lipid peroxides in animal tissues by thiobarbituric acid reaction

Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE) are severe helminthic zoonoses. Echinococcus multilocularis (causative agent of AE) is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere where it is typically maintained in a wild animal cycle including canids as definitive hosts and rodents as intermediate hosts. The species Echinococcus granulosus, Echinococcus ortleppi, Echinococcus canadensis and Echinococcus intermedius are the causative agents of CE with a worldwide distribution and a highly variable human disease burden in the different endemic areas depending upon human behavioural risk factors, the diversity and ecology of animal host assemblages and the genetic diversity within Echinococcus species which differ in their zoonotic potential and pathogenicity. Both AE and CE are regarded as neglected zoonoses, with a higher overall burden of disease for CE due to its global distribution and high regional prevalence, but a higher pathogenicity and case fatality rate for AE, especially in Asia. Over the past two decades, numerous studies have addressed the epidemiology and distribution of these Echinococcus species worldwide, resulting in better-defined boundaries of the endemic areas. This chapter presents the global distribution of Echinococcus species and human AE and CE in maps and summarizes the global data on host assemblages, transmission, prevalence in animal definitive hosts, incidence in people and molecular epidemiology.

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Global Distribution of Alveolar and Cystic Echinococcosis.

SUMMARY Dirofilariasis represents a zoonotic mosaic, which includes two main filarial species (Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens) that have adapted to canine, feline, and human hosts with distinct biological and clinical implications. At the same time, both D. immitis and D. repens are themselves hosts to symbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia, the study of which has resulted in a profound shift in the understanding of filarial biology, the mechanisms of the pathologies that they produce in their hosts, and issues related to dirofilariasis treatment. Moreover, because dirofilariasis is a vector-borne transmitted disease, their distribution and infection rates have undergone significant modifications influenced by global climate change. Despite advances in our knowledge of D. immitis and D. repens and the pathologies that they inflict on different hosts, there are still many unknown aspects of dirofilariasis. This review is focused on human and animal dirofilariasis, including the basic morphology, biology, protein composition, and metabolism of Dirofilaria species; the climate and human behavioral factors that influence distribution dynamics; the disease pathology; the host-parasite relationship; the mechanisms involved in parasite survival; the immune response and pathogenesis; and the clinical management of human and animal infections.

Human and Animal Dirofilariasis: the Emergence of a Zoonotic Mosaic

Background: Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is known to be common in certain rural communities in China whilst it is generally rare and sporadic elsewhere. The objective of this study was to provide a first estimate of the global incidence of this disease by country. The second objective was to estimate the global disease burden using age and gender stratified incidences and estimated life expectancy with the disease from previous results of survival analysis. Disability weights were suggested from previous burden studies on echinococcosis. Methodology/Principal Findings: We undertook a detailed review of published literature and data from other sources. We were unable to make a standardised systematic review as the quality of the data was highly variable from different countries and hence if we had used uniform inclusion criteria many endemic areas lacking data would not have been included. Therefore we used evidence based stochastic techniques to model uncertainty and other modelling and estimating techniques, particularly in regions where data quality was poor. We were able to make an estimate of the annual global incidence of disease and annual disease burden using standard techniques for calculation of DALYs. Our studies suggest that there are approximately 18,235 (CIs 11,900–28,200) new cases of AE per annum globally with 16,629 (91%) occurring in China and 1,606 outside China. Most of these cases are in regions where there is little treatment available and therefore will be fatal cases. Based on using disability weights for hepatic carcinoma and estimated age and gender specific incidence we were able to calculate that AE results in a median of 666,434 DALYs per annum (CIs 331,000-1.3 million). Conclusions/Significance: The global burden of AE is comparable to several diseases in the neglected tropical disease cluster and is likely to be one of the most important diseases in certain communities in rural China on the Tibetan plateau.

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The global burden of alveolar echinococcosis.

Despite years of study, the pathogenic role of Blastocytis hominis is still controversial. Genotypic differences between the asymptomatic and symptomatic isolates should assist in determining the pathogenicity of Blastocystis. In this study, we genotyped 32 Blastocystis isolates obtained from 12 asymptomatic healthy individuals and 20 symptomatic patients pain by polymerase chain reaction using known seven kinds of sequence tagged site primers in this study. When we compared genotype of Blastocystis isolates between the symptomatic and asymptomatic patient group, we found that subtype3 is the most dominant genotype in asymptomatic individual (9/12) and subtype1 determined all of symptomatic patients (20/20).

Identification of Blastocystis hominis isolates from asymptomatic and symptomatic patients by PCR.

Blastocystis hominis is a common intestinal parasite observed in fecal examination. On the other hand, the transmission of this parasite is certainly unknown. The transmission of B. hominis can be realized by animal contact and the contamination by water and food with excreted cysts from the reservoir hosts. B. hominis isolated from 25 humans, their pets, and tap water was identified by polymerase chain reaction using sequenced tag site primers in this study. B. hominis isolates obtained from humans and pets were identified as subtype1, subtype2, and subtype3 while B. hominis isolates obtained from tap water were also identified as subtype1. The B. hominis isolates obtained from humans in this study were defined as the same as the subtypes of the B. hominis isolates obtained from the pets, of which these people keep at their homes, and the tap water. These findings reveal that the source of B. hominis infection could be pets and tap water.

Evaluation of the transmission mode of B. hominis by using PCR method

Background: In southern Turkey, Leishmania tropica and L. infantum are both the causative agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL), respectively. However, L. majorand L. donovani were known to exist after the influx of Syrian refugees. Methods: Between the years of July 2003 and July 2013, a total of 167 smears and 113 bone marrow samples weretakenfromCLandVL-suspectedcases,respectively.Sampleswereanalysedthroughreal-timePCRandITS1 DNA sequencing. Results: One hundred and seven 64% (107/167) smears and 56% (63/113) bone marrow samples were positive for leishmaniasis according to the real-time PCR. Three different Leishmania species were found in the 107 CL cases by real-time PCR: 42% (45/107) L. tropica, 36.5% (39/107) L. infantum and 21.5% (23/107) L. major .I n addition, three different Leishmania species were identified in the 63 VL cases: 60.3% (38/63) L. infantum, 30.2% (19/63) L. donovani and 9.5% (6/63) L. tropica using real-time PCR. The results of real-time PCR were confirmed with Leishmania ITS1 DNA sequencing. Conclusions: This study revealed that in southern Turkey, L. majorand L. donovani were the aetiological agents of CL and VL, respectively. It was assumed that emergence of L. major and L. donovani was due to influx of Syrian refugees, as well as the effects of global warming.

The emergence of Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani in southern Turkey.

Cryptosporidium spp. is an important parasitic protozoan causing diarrhea in developing and developed countries. The agent causes severe life-threatening diarrhea especially in immunocompromised hosts. Diagnosis of the Cryptosporidium oocyst in stool samples by conventional microscopy is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a copro-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test in detecting Cryptosporidium spp. from fecal specimens. For this aim, microscopy and specific antigen detection methods were compared to determine Cryptosporidium spp. In addition, specific antigen by ELISA method in stool was investigated in order to find out whether or not it contributes to the diagnosis of Cryptosporidium spp. One hundred and fifty-four stool specimens taken from patients whose ages ranged from 0 to 86 with diarrhea applied to Department of Parasitology, Balcali Hospital of Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey were used. All samples were examined for Cryptosporidium spp. antigen by ELISA and oocysts via gold standard modified acid-fast staining, between October 2008 and July 2009. Eight (5.19%) specimens were found to be positive by modified acid-fast staining method and 37 (24.03%) specimens by copro-antigen ELISA method were found to be positive. The sensitivity and specificity for copro-antigen ELISA were 100% and 80.1%, respectively. The results of copro-antigen ELISA indicate that the simple, rapid, reliable, and standardized immunoassay test is sensitive and specific for routine diagnosis and may be useful for large-scale epidemiological studies of cryptosporidiosis.

Investigation of Cryptosporidium spp. antigen by ELISA method in stool specimens obtained from patients with diarrhea.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by the metacestode form of Echinococcus granulosus is a major public health problem especially in animal-raising regions of the world. In the present study, CE cases were determined during 2001-2005 by investigating different hospital and health directorship documents and Health Ministry documents, retrospectively. Our results show that there were 2534 (13.13%) cases in the Marmara region; 2114 (16.94%), in the Aegean region; 2578 (16.09%), Mediterranean region; 5404 (38.57%), in the Middle Anatolian region; 428 (5.70%), in the Black Sea region; 844 (6.80%), in the eastern Anatolian region; and 887 (2.75%), in the southeastern Anatolian region making a total of 14,789 CE cases. Finally, it has been determined that the patients were hospitalized for a total of 149,464 days.

Ismail Soner Koltas

Papers

Identification of Blastocystis hominis isolates from asymptomatic and symptomatic patients by PCR.

Evaluation of the transmission mode of B. hominis by using PCR method

The emergence of Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani in southern Turkey.

Investigation of Cryptosporidium spp. antigen by ELISA method in stool specimens obtained from patients with diarrhea.

[Cystic echinococcosis in Turkey from 2001-2005].