Articles

Multi-source analysis reveals latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in range of Ixodes ricinus at its northern distribution limit

There is increasing evidence for a latitudinal and altitudinal shift in the distribution range of Ixodes ricinus. The reported incidence of tick-borne disease in humans is on the rise in many European countries a...

Authors: Solveig Jore, Hildegunn Viljugrein, Merete Hofshagen, Hege Brun-Hansen, Anja B Kristoffersen, Karin Nygård, Edgar Brun, Preben Ottesen, Bente K Sævik and Bjørnar Ytrehus

High quality RNA isolation from Aedes aegypti midguts using laser microdissection microscopy

Laser microdissection microscopy (LMM) has potential as a research tool because it allows precise excision of target tissues or cells from a complex biological specimen, and facilitates tissue-specific sample ...

Authors: Young S Hong, Seokyoung Kang, Manjong Han, Geoffrey N Gobert and Malcolm K Jones

The paratransgenic sand fly: A platform for control of Leishmania transmission

Leishmania donovani is transmitted by the bite of the sand fly, Phlebotomus argentipes. This parasite is the agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an endemic disease in Bihar, India, where prevention has relied m...

Authors: Ivy Hurwitz, Heidi Hillesland, Annabeth Fieck, Pradeep Das and Ravi Durvasula

Identification of malaria transmission and epidemic hotspots in the western Kenya highlands: its application to malaria epidemic prediction

Malaria in the western Kenya highlands is characterized by unstable and high transmission variability which results in epidemics during periods of suitable climatic conditions. The sensitivity of a site to mal...

Authors: Christine L Wanjala, John Waitumbi, Guofa Zhou and Andrew K Githeko

Monitoring resistance of Plasmdium vivax: Point mutations in dihydrofolate reductase gene in isolates from Central China

Malaria still represents a significant public health problem in China, and the cases dramatically increased in Central China after 2001. Antifolate resistance in Plasmodium vivax is caused by point mutations in g...

Authors: Fang Huang, Shuisen Zhou, Shaosen Zhang, Weidong Li and Hongwei Zhang

Insecticide susceptibility of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Central Africa

Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) are the main vectors of dengue (DENV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses worldwide. As there is still no vaccine or specific treatment for DENV and C...

Authors: Basile Kamgang, Sébastien Marcombe, Fabrice Chandre, Elysée Nchoutpouen, Philippe Nwane, Josiane Etang, Vincent Corbel and Christophe Paupy

Burridge MJ: Non-native and invasive ticks: Threats to human and animal health in the United States

Authors: Olivier AE Sparagano

Modeling horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the gut of the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius prolixus

Paratransgenesis is an approach to reducing arthropod vector competence using genetically modified symbionts. When applied to control of Chagas disease, the symbiont bacterium Rhodococcus rhodnii, resident in the...

Authors: Scott Matthews, Vadrevu SreeHari Rao and Ravi V Durvasula

Acoustic signals in the sand fly Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) intermedia (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Acoustic signals are part of the courtship of many insects and they often act as species-specific signals that are important in the reproductive isolation of closely related species. Here we report the courtsh...

Authors: Felipe M Vigoder, Nataly A Souza and Alexandre A Peixoto

Toxoplasma gondii infection and liver disease: a case-control study in a Northern Mexican population

Infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii may cause liver disease. However, the impact of the infection in patients suffering from liver disease is unknown. Therefore, through a case-control study d...

Authors: Cosme Alvarado-Esquivel, José Luis Torres-Berumen, Sergio Estrada-Martínez, Oliver Liesenfeld and Miguel Francisco Mercado-Suarez

An outbreak of bovine trypanosomiasis in the Blue Nile State, Sudan

In this paper, we report an outbreak of bovine trypanosomiasis in Kurmuk District, Blue Nile State, Sudan that involved an infection with four Trypanosoma species in cattle. The outbreak occurred in June 2010 whe...

Authors: Bashir Salim, Mohammed A Bakheit, Sir Elkhatim Salih, Joseph Kamau, Ichiro Nakamura, Ryo Nakao and Chihiro Sugimoto

Bioactivity of miltefosine against aquatic stages of Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematobium and their snail hosts, supported by scanning electron microscopy

Miltefosine, which is the first oral drug licensed for the treatment of leishmaniasis, was recently reported to be a promising lead compound for the synthesis of novel antischistosomal derivatives with potent ...

Authors: Maha M Eissa, Samia El Bardicy and Menerva Tadros

Larvicidal effects of Chinaberry (Melia azederach) powder on Anopheles arabiensis in Ethiopia

Synthetic insecticides are employed in the widely-used currently favored malaria control techniques involving indoor residual spraying and treated bednets. These methods have repeatedly proven to be highly eff...

Authors: Ryan E Trudel and Arne Bomblies

Coendangered hard-ticks: threatened or threatening?

The overwhelming majority of animal conservation projects are focused on vertebrates, despite most of the species on Earth being invertebrates. Estimates state that about half of all named species of invertebr...

Authors: Andrei Daniel Mihalca, Călin Mircea Gherman and Vasile Cozma

The distribution of potential West Nile virus vectors, Culex pipiens pipiens and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae), in Mexico City

Culex spp. mosquitoes are considered to be the most important vectors of West Nile virus (WNV) detected in at least 34 species of mosquitoes in the United States. In North America, Culex pipiens pipiens, Culex pi...

Authors: Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Bethany G Bolling, Gerardo Perez-Ramirez, Chester G Moore, Jorge P Martinez-Munoz, America A Padilla-Viveros, Minerva Camacho-Nuez, Alfonso Diaz-Perez, Barry J Beaty and Maria de Lourdes Munoz

The prevalence of canine Leishmania infantum infection in western China detected by PCR and serological tests

Canine leishmaniasis (CanL) is endemic in western China, resulting in important public health problem. It is essential to evaluate the prevalence of canine Leishmania infantum infection for designing control poli...

Authors: Jun-Yun Wang, Yu Ha, Chun-Hua Gao, Yong Wang, Yue-Tao Yang and Hai-Tang Chen

The best practice for preparation of samples from FTA^®cards for diagnosis of blood borne infections using African trypanosomes as a model system

Diagnosis of blood borne infectious diseases relies primarily on the detection of the causative agent in the blood sample. Molecular techniques offer sensitive and specific tools for this although considerable...

Authors: Heba A Ahmed, Ewan T MacLeod, Geoff Hide, Susan C Welburn and Kim Picozzi

Elsheikha HM and Khan NA: Essentials of Veterinary Parasitology

Authors: Domenico Otranto

Mitochondrial dysfunction in Trypanosoma cruzi: the role of Serratia marcescens prodigiosin in the alternative treatment of Chagas disease

Chagas disease is a health threat for many people, mostly those living in Latin America. One of the most important problems in treatment is the limitation of existing drugs. Prodigiosin, produced by Serratia marc...

Authors: Carlos Genes, Eduard Baquero, Fernando Echeverri, Juan D Maya and Omar Triana

Role of the repartition of wetland breeding sites on the spatial distribution of Anopheles and Culex, human disease vectors in Southern France

In this study, carried out in the Camargue region (France), we combined entomological data with geomatic and modelling tools to assess whether the location of breeding sites may explain the spatial distributio...

Authors: Priscilla Cailly, Thomas Balenghien, Pauline Ezanno, Didier Fontenille, Céline Toty and Annelise Tran

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pet dogs in Lanzhou, Northwest China

In recent years, surveys of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dogs have been reported worldwide, including China. However, little is known about the prevalence of T. gondii in pet dogs in Northwest China. In the pre...

Authors: Song-Ming Wu, Si-Yang Huang, Bao-Quan Fu, Guang-Yuan Liu, Jia-Xu Chen, Mu-Xin Chen, Zi-Guo Yuan, Dong-Hui Zhou, Ya-Biao Weng, Xing-Quan Zhu and De-He Ye

Functional characterization of two defensin isoforms of the hard tick Ixodes ricinus

The immune system of ticks is stimulated to produce many pharmacologically active molecules during feeding and especially during pathogen invasion. The family of cationic peptides - defensins - represents a sp...

Authors: Tereza Chrudimská, Jiřina Slaninová, Nataliia Rudenko, Daniel Růžek and Libor Grubhoffer

Melatonin reduces the severity of experimental amoebiasis

Melatonin has immunomodulatory effects but very little is known about its influence in protozoan infections, such as Entamoeba histolytica, which causes amoebiasis, a disease with significant morbidity and mortal...

Authors: Aline C França-Botelho, Juliana L França, Fabrício MS Oliveira, Eduardo L Franca, Adenilda C Honório-França, Marcelo V Caliari and Maria A Gomes

Absence of zoonotic Bartonella species in questing ticks: First detection of Bartonella clarridgeiae and Rickettsia felis in cat fleas in the Netherlands

Awareness for flea- and tick-borne infections has grown in recent years and the range of microorganisms associated with these ectoparasites is rising. Bartonella henselae, the causative agent of Cat Scratch Disea...

Authors: Ellen Tijsse-Klasen, Manoj Fonville, Fedor Gassner, Ard M Nijhof, Emil KE Hovius, Frans Jongejan, Willem Takken, Johan R Reimerink, Paul AM Overgaauw and Hein Sprong

Cotton pest management practices and the selection of pyrethroid resistance in Anopheles gambiae population in Northern Benin

Pyrethroid insecticides, carbamate and organophosphate are the classes of insecticides commonly used in agriculture for crop protection in Benin. Pyrethroids remain the only class of insecticides recommended b...

Authors: Anges Yadouleton, Thibaud Martin, Gil Padonou, Fabrice Chandre, Alex Asidi, Luc Djogbenou, Roch Dabiré, Rock Aïkpon, Michel Boko, Isabelle Glitho and Martin Akogbeto

Tick-borne encephalitis virus in dogs - is this an issue?

The last review on Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in dogs was published almost ten years ago. Since then, this zoonotic tick-borne arbovirus has been geographically spreading and emerging in many regions in Eur...

Authors: Martin Pfeffer and Gerhard Dobler

Canine leishmaniosis and its relationship to human visceral leishmaniasis in Eastern Uzbekistan

The Namangan Region in the Pap District, located in Eastern Uzbekistan is the main focus of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Uzbekistan. In total, 28 cases of human VL were registered during 2006-2008 in this re...

Authors: Dmitriy A Kovalenko, Shavkat A Razakov, Evgeny N Ponirovsky, Alon Warburg, Rokhat M Nasyrova, Valentina I Ponomareva, Aziza A Fatullaeva, Abdelmajeed Nasereddin, Eyal Klement, Mohammad Z Alam, Lionel F Schnur, Charles L Jaffe, Gabriele Schönian and Gad Baneth

Canine leishmaniasis: the key points for qPCR result interpretation

Diagnosis and follow up of CanL is difficult since the range of clinical signs is varied and seroprevalence is high in endemic areas. The aims of this study were: i) demonstrate the advantages of Leishmania qPCR ...

Authors: Verónica Martínez, Javier Quilez, Armand Sanchez, Xavier Roura, Olga Francino and Laura Altet

Quantification of Leishmania infantum DNA in females, eggs and larvae of Rhipicephalus sanguineus

Leishmania infantum is a widespread parasite that affects dogs and humans worldwide. It is transmitted primarily by phlebotomine sand flies, but recently there has been much discussion on the role of the brown do...

Authors: Filipe Dantas-Torres, Maria Stefania Latrofa and Domenico Otranto

Diagnosis of Hepatozoon canis in young dogs by cytology and PCR

Hepatozoon canis is a widespread tick-borne protozoan affecting dogs. The diagnosis of H. canis infection is usually performed by cytology of blood or buffy coat smears, but this method may not be sensitive. Our ...

Authors: Domenico Otranto, Filipe Dantas-Torres, Stefania Weigl, Maria Stefania Latrofa, Dorothee Stanneck, Donato Decaprariis, Gioia Capelli and Gad Baneth

Adhesion and host cell modulation: critical pathogenicity determinants of Bartonella henselae

Bartonella henselae, the agent of cat scratch disease and the vasculoproliferative disorders bacillary angiomatosis and peliosis hepatis, contains to date two groups of described pathogenicity factors: adhesins a...

Authors: Bettina Franz and Volkhard AJ Kempf

Major prospects for exploring canine vector borne diseases and novel intervention methods using 'omic technologies

Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are of major socioeconomic importance worldwide. Although many studies have provided insights into CVBDs, there has been limited exploration of fundamental molecular aspect...

Authors: Robin B Gasser, Cinzia Cantacessi, Bronwyn E Campbell, Andreas Hofmann and Domenico Otranto

Infectivity to Phlebotomus perniciosus of dogs naturally parasitized with Leishmania infantum after different treatments

In Europe most dogs with clinical leishmaniosis are treated with leishmanicides, typically antimonials combined with allopurinol and good clinical recovery is observed in a high number of these dogs. Through x...

Authors: Guadalupe Miró, Rosa Gálvez, Cristeta Fraile, Miguel A Descalzo and Ricardo Molina

Why is Southern African canine babesiosis so virulent? An evolutionary perspective

Canine babesiosis is a common, highly virulent disease in Southern Africa with even pups and juveniles being severely affected. This contrasts with bovine babesiosis, for example, where host, parasite and vect...

Authors: Barend L Penzhorn

Babesiosis due to the canine Babesia microti-like small piroplasm in dogs - first report from Portugal and possible vertical transmission

Canine babesiosis (or piroplasmosis) is endemic in northern Portugal, but molecularly confirmed cases of infection with small piroplasms have not been reported in the country. Three German shepherd dogs - a bi...

Authors: Paula Brilhante Simões, Luís Cardoso, Manuela Araújo, Yael Yisaschar-Mekuzas and Gad Baneth

One health: the importance of companion animal vector-borne diseases

The international prominence accorded the 'One Health' concept of co-ordinated activity of those involved in human and animal health is a modern incarnation of a long tradition of comparative medicine, with ro...

Authors: Michael J Day

The immunopathology of canine vector-borne diseases

The canine vector-borne infectious diseases (CVBDs) are an emerging problem in veterinary medicine and the zoonotic potential of many of these agents is a significant consideration for human health. The succes...

Authors: Michael J Day

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dairy goats in Shaanxi Province, Northwestern China

Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic pathogen causing significant human and animal health problems. Infection in dairy goats not only results in significant reproductive losses, but also represents an impor...

Authors: Guang-Hui Zhao, Miao-Tao Zhang, Li-Hui Lei, Chuan-Chuan Shang, Duo-Yao Cao, Ting-Ting Tian, Jie Li, Jun-Yan Xu, Yun-liang Yao, De-Kun Chen and Xing-Quan Zhu

Therapeutic efficacy of chloroquine for treatment of Plasmodium vivax malaria cases in Halaba district, South Ethiopia

Chloroquine is an anti-malarial drug being used to treat Plasmodium vivax malaria cases in Ethiopia. However, emergence of chloroquine resistant strains of the parasite has challenged the current efficacy of the ...

Authors: Tsige Ketema, Kefelegn Getahun and Ketema Bacha

Dynamics of distribution and efficacy of different spot-on permethrin formulations in dogs artificially infested with Dermacentor reticulatus

Varying reports concerning the duration and reliability of different permethrin preparations' efficacy can be found in the literature. The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamics of the distribution ...

Authors: Johanna Lüssenhop, Wolfgang Bäumer, Manfred Kietzmann, Thomas Schnieder and Sonja Wolken

Evolution of apoptosis-like programmed cell death in unicellular protozoan parasites

Apoptosis-like programmed cell death (PCD) has recently been described in multiple taxa of unicellular protists, including the protozoan parasites Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania. Apoptosis-like PCD in pro...

Authors: Szymon Kaczanowski, Mohammed Sajid and Sarah E Reece

A 5-year longitudinal study of schistosomiasis transmission in Shian village, the Anning River Valley, Sichuan Province, the Peoples' Republic of China

Schistosoma japonicum is a major public health concern in the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC), with over one million people infected and another 50 million living in areas at risk of infection. Based on ecologic...

Authors: Rong Zhu, Darren J Gray, Aaron P Thrift, Gail M Williams, Yi Zhang, Dong-Chuan Qiu, Feng Zheng, Yue-Sheng Li, Jiagang Guo, Hong-Qing Zhu, Wei-Ping Wu, Robert S Li and Donald P McManus

Trichinella inflammatory myopathy: host or parasite strategy?

The parasitic nematode Trichinella has a special relation with muscle, because of its unique intracellular localization in the skeletal muscle cell, completely devoted in morphology and biochemistry to become the...

Authors: Fabrizo Bruschi and Lorena Chiumiento

Zoonotic helminths affecting the human eye

Nowaday, zoonoses are an important cause of human parasitic diseases worldwide and a major threat to the socio-economic development, mainly in developing countries. Importantly, zoonotic helminths that affect ...

Authors: Domenico Otranto and Mark L Eberhard

Monitoring mosquitoes in urban Dar es Salaam: Evaluation of resting boxes, window exit traps, CDC light traps, Ifakara tent traps and human landing catches

Ifakara tent traps (ITT) are currently the only sufficiently sensitive, safe, affordable and practical method for routine monitoring host-seeking mosquito densities in Dar es Salaam. However, it is not clear w...

Authors: Nicodem J Govella, Prosper P Chaki, John M Mpangile and Gerry F Killeen

Gene discovery in Triatoma infestans

Triatoma infestans is the most relevant vector of Chagas disease in the southern cone of South America. Since its genome has not yet been studied, sequencing of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) is one of the most p...

Authors: María L Avila, Valeria Tekiel, Georgina Moretti, Soledad Nicosia, Jacqueline Bua, Estela M Lammel, María M Stroppa, Nelia M Gerez de Burgos and Daniel O Sánchez

Colonization of Grande Comore Island by a lineage of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks

Union of the Comoros suffered a severe East Coast Fever epidemic in 2004. Rhipicephalus appendiculatus was probably involved in pathogen transmission as this competent tick species, although previously absent fro...

Authors: Amina Yssouf, Erwan Lagadec, Annabelle Bakari, Coralie Foray, Frédéric Stachurski, Eric Cardinale, Olivier Plantard and Pablo Tortosa

Prevention and control of malaria and sleeping sickness in Africa: Where are we and where are we going?

The International Symposium on Malaria and Human African Trypanosomiasis: New Strategies for their Prevention & Control was held 7-8 October, 2010 in Cotonou, Benin with about 250 participants from 20 countries. ...

Authors: Vincent Corbel and Marie-Claire Henry

Oral dosing with papaya latex is an effective anthelmintic treatment for sheep infected with Haemonchus contortus

The cysteine proteinases in papaya latex have been shown to have potent anthelmintic properties in monogastric hosts such as rodents, pigs and humans, but this has not been demonstrated in ruminants.

Authors: David J Buttle, Jerzy M Behnke, Yvonne Bartley, Hany M Elsheikha, David J Bartley, Martin C Garnett, Alison A Donnan, Frank Jackson, Ann Lowe and Ian R Duce

Economic downturn results in tick-borne disease upsurge

The emergence of zoonoses is due both to changes in human activities and to changes in their natural wildlife cycles. One of the most significant vector-borne zoonoses in Europe, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE),...

Authors: Elinor R Godfrey and Sarah E Randolph