Articles

The unique resistance and resilience of the Nigerian West African Dwarf goat to gastrointestinal nematode infections

West African Dwarf (WAD) goats serve an important role in the rural village economy of West Africa, especially among small-holder livestock owners. They have been shown to be trypanotolerant and to resist infe...

Authors: Samuel N Chiejina and Jerzy M Behnke

Prevalence of head lice and hygiene practices among women over twelve years of age in Sindh, Balochistan, and North West Frontier Province: National Health Survey of Pakistan, 1990-1994

Head lice infestation is an infection of the scalp and skin which causes blood loss, discomfort, and social and psychological distress with the possibility of secondary bacterial infections occurring at scratc...

Authors: Sadia Mahmud, Gregory Pappas and Wilbur C Hadden

The role of proboscis of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi in host-seeking behavior

The proboscis is an essential head appendage in insects that processes gustatory code during food intake, particularly useful considering that blood-sucking arthropods routinely reach vessels under the host sk...

Authors: Emi Maekawa, Hiroka Aonuma, Bryce Nelson, Aya Yoshimura, Fumio Tokunaga, Shinya Fukumoto and Hirotaka Kanuka

Distribution of Leishmania major zymodemes in relation to populations of Phlebotomus papatasi sand flies

Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the main vector of Leishmania major Yakimoff & Schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the ...

Authors: Omar Hamarsheh

The combination of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae with the insecticide Imidacloprid increases virulence against the dengue vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Dengue fever transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, is one of the most rapidly spreading insect borne diseases, stimulating the search for alternatives to current control measures. The dengue vector A. aegypt...

Authors: Adriano R Paula, Aline T Carolino, Cátia O Paula and Richard I Samuels

Larval migration in PERL chambers as an in vitro model for percutaneous infection stimulates feeding in the canine hookworm Ancylostoma caninum

Ancylostoma caninum third-stage larvae are the non-feeding infective stage of this parasite and are able to infect potential hosts via different infection routes. Since percutaneous infection is one of the most i...

Authors: Daniela Franke, Christina Strube, Christian Epe, Claudia Welz and Thomas Schnieder

Age, season and spatio-temporal factors affecting the prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis and Taenia taeniaeformis in Arvicola terrestris

Taenia taeniaeformis and the related zoonotic cestode Echinococcus multilocularis both infect the water vole Arvicola terrestris. We investigated the effect of age, spatio-temporal and season-related factors on t...

Authors: Pierre Burlet, Peter Deplazes and Daniel Hegglin

Insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti populations from Ceará, Brazil

Organophosphates and pyrethroids are used widely in Brazil to control Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue viruses, under the auspices of the National Programme for Dengue Control. Resistance to these insecti...

Authors: Estelita Pereira Lima, Marcelo Henrique Santos Paiva, Ana Paula de Araújo, Éllyda Vanessa Gomes da Silva, Ulisses Mariano da Silva, Lúcia Nogueira de Oliveira, Antonio Euzébio G Santana, Clarisse Nogueira Barbosa, Clovis C de Paiva Neto, Marilia OF Goulart, Craig Stephen Wilding, Constância Flávia Junqueira Ayres and Maria Alice V de Melo Santos

Hemelipoglycoprotein from the ornate sheep tick, Dermacentor marginatus: structural and functional characterization

Tick carrier proteins are able to bind, transport, and store host-blood heme, and thus they function also as antioxidants. Nevertheless, the role of carrier proteins in ticks is not fully understood. Some of t...

Authors: Jarmila Dupejova, Jan Sterba, Marie Vancova and Libor Grubhoffer

Immunolocalization of TSOL18 and TSOL45-1A, the successful protective peptides against porcine cysticercosis, in Taenia solium oncospheres

Taenia solium life cycle includes humans as definitive hosts and pigs as intermediate hosts. One of the measures to stop the life cycle of this parasite is by vaccination of pigs. In experiments performed in pigs...

Authors: Joel Martinez-Ocaña, Mirza Romero-Valdovinos, Rina G de Kaminsky, Pablo Maravilla and Ana Flisser

Detection of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) from Diporeia spp. (Pontoporeiidae, Amphipoda) in the Laurentian Great Lakes, USA

The mode of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) transmission in the Great Lakes basin is largely unknown. In order to assess the potential role of macroinvertebrates in VHSV transmission, Diporeia spp., a g...

Authors: Mohamed Faisal and Andrew D Winters

Spatial mapping of gene expression in the salivary glands of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are the main vectors of dengue viruses to humans. Understanding their biology and interactions with the pathogen are prerequisites for development of dengue transmission control strategie...

Authors: Jennifer Juhn, Unsar Naeem-Ullah, Bruno Augusto Maciel Guedes, Asif Majid, Judy Coleman, Paulo Filemon Paolucci Pimenta, Waseem Akram, Anthony Amade James and Osvaldo Marinotti

Description of Hymenolepis microstoma (Nottingham strain): a classical tapeworm model for research in the genomic era

Hymenolepis microstoma (Dujardin, 1845) Blanchard, 1891, the mouse bile duct tapeworm, is a rodent/beetle-hosted laboratory model that has been used in research and teaching since its domestication in the 1950s. ...

Authors: Lucas J Cunningham and Peter D Olson

Pyrethroid resistance in southern African Anopheles funestus extends to Likoma Island in Lake Malawi

A mosquito survey was carried out on the island of Likoma in Lake Malawi with a view to collecting baseline data to determine the feasibility of implementing an integrated malaria vector control programme. No ...

Authors: RH Hunt, M Edwardes and M Coetzee

Geographical distribution of American cutaneous leishmaniasis and its phlebotomine vectors (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is a re-emerging disease in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is important to understand both the vector and disease distribution to help design control strategies. As a...

Authors: Paloma Helena Fernandes Shimabukuro, Túllio Romão Ribeiro da Silva, Frederico Octávio Ribeiro Fonseca, Luke Anthony Baton and Eunice Aparecida Bianchi Galati

High coverage of mass drug administration for lymphatic filariasis in rural and non-rural settings in the Western Area, Sierra Leone

Lymphatic filariasis elimination programs are based upon preventative chemotherapy annually in populations with prevalence more than or equal to 1%. The goal is to treat 80% of the eligible, at risk population...

Authors: Mary H Hodges, Samuel J Smith, Daniel Fussum, Joseph B Koroma, Abdul Conteh, Mustapha Sonnie, Santigie Sesay and Yaobi Zhang

Dynamics of digestive proteolytic system during blood feeding of the hard tick Ixodes ricinus

Ticks are vectors of a wide variety of pathogens causing severe diseases in humans and domestic animals. Intestinal digestion of the host blood is an essential process of tick physiology and also a limiting fa...

Authors: Zdeněk Franta, Helena Frantová, Jitka Konvičková, Martin Horn, Daniel Sojka, Michael Mareš and Petr Kopáček

The impact of the expansion of urban vegetable farming on malaria transmission in major cities of Benin

Urban agricultural practices are expanding in several cities of the Republic of Benin. This study aims to assess the impact of such practices on transmission of the malaria parasite in major cities of Benin.

Authors: Anges Yadouléton, Raphael N'Guessan, Hyacinthe Allagbé, Alex Asidi, Michel Boko, Razack Osse, Gil Padonou, Gazard Kindé and Martin Akogbéto

The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in Africa, Europe and the Middle East: occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis

This is the second in a series of three articles documenting the geographical distribution of 41 dominant vector species (DVS) of human malaria. The first paper addressed the DVS of the Americas and the third ...

Authors: Marianne E Sinka, Michael J Bangs, Sylvie Manguin, Maureen Coetzee, Charles M Mbogo, Janet Hemingway, Anand P Patil, Will H Temperley, Peter W Gething, Caroline W Kabaria, Robi M Okara, Thomas Van Boeckel, H Charles J Godfray, Ralph E Harbach and Simon I Hay

Impact of protozoan cell death on parasite-host interactions and pathogenesis

PCD in protozoan parasites has emerged as a fascinating field of parasite biology. This not only relates to the underlying mechanisms and their evolutionary implications but also to the impact on the parasite-...

Authors: Carsten GK Lüder, Jenny Campos-Salinas, Elena Gonzalez-Rey and Ger van Zandbergen

First detection of African Swine Fever Virus in Ornithodoros porcinus in Madagascar and new insights into tick distribution and taxonomy

African Swine Fever Virus has devastated more than the half of the domestic pig population in Madagascar since its introduction, probably in 1997-1998. One of the hypotheses to explain its persistence on the i...

Authors: Julie Ravaomanana, Vincent Michaud, Ferran Jori, Abel Andriatsimahavandy, François Roger, Emmanuel Albina and Laurence Vial

Evaluation of rK-39 strip test using urine for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in an endemic area in Bangladesh

Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) by demonstration of parasites in tissue smears obtained from bone marrow, spleen or lymph nodes is risky, painful, and difficult. The rK-39 strip test is widely used fo...

Authors: Md Gulam Musawwir Khan, Mohammad Shafiul Alam, Milka Patracia Podder, Makoto Itoh, Kazi M Jamil, Rashidul Haque and Yukiko Wagatsuma

Bovipain-2, the falcipain-2 ortholog, is expressed in intraerythrocytic stages of the tick-transmitted hemoparasite Babesia bovis

Cysteine proteases have been shown to be highly relevant for Apicomplexan parasites. In the case of Babesia bovis, a tick-transmitted hemoparasite of cattle, inhibitors of these enzymes were shown to hamper intra...

Authors: María Mesplet, Ignacio Echaide, Mariana Dominguez, Juan J Mosqueda, Carlos E Suarez, Leonhard Schnittger and Monica Florin-Christensen

Dubey, J.P. Toxoplasmosis of Animals and Humans

Authors: Joanne P Webster

The Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Bm86 gene plays a critical role in the fitness of ticks fed on cattle during acute Babesia bovis infection

Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is an economically important tick of cattle involved in the transmission of Babesia bovis, the etiological agent of bovine babesiosis. Commercial anti-tick vaccines based on th...

Authors: Reginaldo G Bastos, Massaro W Ueti, Donald P Knowles and Glen A Scoles

Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium species prevalent in Yemen based on 18 s rRNA

Malaria is an endemic disease in Yemen and is responsible for 4.9 deaths per 100,000 population per year and 43,000 disability adjusted life years lost. Although malaria in Yemen is caused mainly by Plasmodium fa...

Authors: Abdulsalam MQ Al-Mekhlafi, Mohammed AK Mahdy, Ahmed A Azazy and Mun Yik Fong

The nature and combination of subunits used in epitope-based Schistosoma japonicum vaccine formulations affect their efficacy

Schistosomiasis remains a major public health problem in endemic countries and is caused by infections with any one of three primary schistosome species. Although there are no vaccines available to date, this ...

Authors: Xuefeng Wang, Lei Zhang, Ying Chi, Jason Hoellwarth, Sha Zhou, Xiaoyun Wen, Lei He, Feng Liu, Calvin Wu and Chuan Su

Heme and blood-feeding parasites: friends or foes?

Hemoparasites, like malaria and schistosomes, are constantly faced with the challenges of storing and detoxifying large quantities of heme, released from their catabolism of host erythrocytes. Heme is an essen...

Authors: Shu Qin Toh, Amber Glanfield, Geoffrey N Gobert and Malcolm K Jones

Targeting essential pathways in trypanosomatids gives insights into protozoan mechanisms of cell death

Apoptosis is a normal component of the development and health of multicellular organisms. However, apoptosis is now considered a prerogative of unicellular organisms, including the trypanosomatids of the genera T...

Authors: Despina Smirlis, Michael Duszenko, Antonio Jiménez Ruiz, Effie Scoulica, Patrick Bastien, Nicolas Fasel and Ketty Soteriadou

Apoptosis induced by parasitic diseases

Fatalities caused by parasitic infections often occur as a result of tissue injury that results from a form of host-cell death known as apoptosis. However, instead of being pathogenic, parasite-induced apoptos...

Authors: Anne-Lise Bienvenu, Elena Gonzalez-Rey and Stephane Picot

Investigating the evolution of apoptosis in malaria parasites: the importance of ecology

Apoptosis is a precisely regulated process of cell death which occurs widely in multicellular organisms and is essential for normal development and immune defences. In recent years, interest has grown in the o...

Authors: Laura C Pollitt, Nick Colegrave, Shahid M Khan, Mohammed Sajid and Sarah E Reece

Apoptotic markers in protozoan parasites

The execution of the apoptotic death program in metazoans is characterized by a sequence of morphological and biochemical changes that include cell shrinkage, presentation of phosphatidylserine at the cell sur...

Authors: Antonio Jiménez-Ruiz, Juan Fernando Alzate, Ewan Thomas MacLeod, Carsten Günter Kurt Lüder, Nicolas Fasel and Hilary Hurd

Rhipicephalus microplus salivary gland molecules induce differential CD86 expression in murine macrophages

Tick parasitism is a major impediment for cattle production in many parts of the world. The southern cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, is an obligate hematophagous parasite of domestic and wild an...

Authors: Danett K Brake, Stephen K Wikel, Jason P Tidwell and Adalberto A Pérez de León

Anaplasma phagocytophilum in ticks in Slovenia

Ticks act as vectors of many pathogens of domestic animals and humans. Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Europe is transmitted by the ixodid tick vector Ixodes ricinus. A. phagocytophilum causes a disease with diverse...

Authors: Katja Strašek Smrdel, Mojca Serdt, Darja Duh, Nataša Knap and Tatjana Avšič Županc

Bm86 midgut protein sequence variation in South Texas cattle fever ticks

Cattle fever ticks, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and R. (B.) annulatus, vector bovine and equine babesiosis, and have significantly expanded beyond the permanent quarantine zone established in South Texas....

Authors: Jeanne M Freeman, Ronald B Davey, Lowell S Kappmeyer, Diane M Kammlah and Pia U Olafson

The 6^th Meeting of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis: A half-time review of lymphatic filariasis elimination and its integration with the control of other neglected tropical diseases

The 6^th Meeting of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF6) was held 1-3 June, 2010 in Seoul, Korea, with 150 participants from 38 countries. The year 2010 marks the midpoint between the fir...

Authors: David Addiss

Lipoprotein biosynthesis as a target for anti-Wolbachia treatment of filarial nematodes

Lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis are debilitating diseases caused by filarial nematodes. Disease pathogenesis is induced by inflammatory responses following the death of the parasite. Wolbachia endosymbion...

Authors: Kelly L Johnston, Bo Wu, Ana Guimarães, Louise Ford, Barton E Slatko and Mark J Taylor

Changing trends in intestinal parasitic infections among long-term-residents and settled immigrants in Qatar

The rapid socio-economic development in Qatar in the last two decades has encouraged a mass influx of immigrant workers, the majority of whom originate from countries with low socio-economic levels, inadequate...

Authors: Marawan A Abu-Madi, Jerzy M Behnke and Sanjay H Doiphode

Stunting and soil-transmitted-helminth infections among school-age pupils in rural areas of southern China

Stunting and soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections including ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm remain major public health problems in school-age pupils in developing countries. The objectives of this ...

Authors: Yu Shang, Lin-Hua Tang, Shui-Sen Zhou, Ying-Dan Chen, Yi-Chao Yang and Shao-Xiong Lin

Parasites in Mexican patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a case-control study

One hundred and fifteen patients with symptoms suggestive of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) according to Rome III criteria and 209 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms different from IBS (control) were iden...

Authors: Maria Elena Ramirez-Miranda, Rosaura Hernandez-Castellanos, Eduardo Lopez-Escamilla, David Moncada, Alfredo Rodriguez-Magallan, Carlos Pagaza-Melero, Alberto Gonzalez-Angulo, Ana Flisser, Simon Kawa-Karasik and Pablo Maravilla

Evidence of co-infection of chikungunya and densonucleosis viruses in C6/36 cell lines and laboratory infected Aedes aegypti (L.) mosquitoes

Densonucleosis viruses are the etiological agents of insect's disease. We have reported the isolation of densovirus from India and its distribution among the natural populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes across...

Authors: Aruna Sivaram, Pradip V Barde, Mangesh D Gokhale, Dinesh K Singh and Devendra T Mourya

Study of house-level risk factors associated in the transmission of Indian Kala-azar

In visceral leishmaniasis (VL), phlebotomine vectors are the main target to reduce for control measures. An attempt has been taken to delineate the association between Phlebotomous argentipes and housing characte...

Authors: Shreekant Kesari, Gouri Sankar Bhunia, Vijay Kumar, Algarswamy Jeyaram, Alok Ranjan and Pradeep Das

Biting behaviour of Simulium damnosum complex and Onchocerca volvulus infection along the Osun River, Southwest Nigeria

Studies on biting behaviours and infectivity status of insect vectors are pre-requisites in understanding the epidemiology of the vector- borne diseases and planning effective control measures. A longitudinal ...

Authors: Monsuru A Adeleke, Chiedu F Mafiana, Sammy O Sam-Wobo, Ganiyu O Olatunde, Uwem F Ekpo, Olaoluwa P Akinwale and Laurent Toe

Effects of inbreeding and genetic modification on Aedes aegypti larval competition and adult energy reserves

Genetic modification of mosquitoes offers a promising strategy for the prevention and control of mosquito-borne diseases. For such a strategy to be effective, it is critically important that engineered strains...

Authors: Constantianus JM Koenraadt, Matthias Kormaksson and Laura C Harrington

The use of insecticide-treated nets for reducing malaria morbidity among children aged 6-59 months, in an area of high malaria transmission in central Côte d'Ivoire

Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are an important tool for controlling malaria. Much attention has been devoted to determine both the effect of LLINs on the reduction of Plasmodium infection rate and on cli...

Authors: Benjamin G Koudou, Hala Ghattas, Clémence Essé, Christian Nsanzabana, Fabian Rohner, Jürg Utzinger, Brian E Faragher and Andres B Tschannen

Analysis and characterization of the genes encoding the Dicer and Argonaute proteins of Schistosoma japonicum

The Dicer and Argonaute(AGO) proteins within the small RNA regulatory pathways (SRRPs) play an indispensable role in regulation of gene expression. In this study, we analyzed two genes, Dicer and Argonaute, from

Authors: Rong Luo, Xiangyang Xue, Zhangxun Wang, Jun Sun, Ying Zou and Weiqing Pan

Potential negative impacts and low effectiveness in the use of African annual killifish in the biocontrol of aquatic mosquito larvae in temporary water bodies

Commentary and discussion on a recent paper promoting the use of Nothobranchius guentheri, a small African annual fish from the Island of Zanzibar as a tool to control mosquito larvae in temporary bodies of fresh...

Authors: Martin Reichard, Brian R Watters, Rudolf H Wildekamp, Rainer Sonnenberg, Béla Nagy, Matej Polačik, Stefano Valdesalici, Alessandro Cellerino, Barry J Cooper, Holger Hengstler, John Rosenstock and Ian Sainthouse

Field evaluation of pyriproxyfen and spinosad mixture for the control of insecticide resistant Aedes aegypti in Martinique (French West Indies)

The resistance of Ae. aegypti to insecticides is already widespread and continues to develop. It represents a serious problem for programmes aimed at the control and prevention of dengue in tropical countries. In...

Authors: Frédéric Darriet, Sébastien Marcombe, Manuel Etienne, André Yébakima, Philip Agnew, Marie-Michelle Yp-Tcha and Vincent Corbel

The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana reduces instantaneous blood feeding in wild multi-insecticide-resistant Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in Benin, West Africa

Mosquito-borne diseases are still a major health risk in many developing countries, and the emergence of multi-insecticide-resistant mosquitoes is threatening the future of vector control. Therefore, new tools...

Authors: Annabel FV Howard, Raphael N'Guessan, Constantianus JM Koenraadt, Alex Asidi, Marit Farenhorst, Martin Akogbéto, Matthew B Thomas, Bart GJ Knols and Willem Takken

Use of Multiple Displacement Amplification as Pre-polymerase Chain Reaction (Pre-PCR) to amplify genomic DNA of siphonapterids preserved for long periods in scientific collections

The recently developed Multiple Displacement Amplification technique (MDA) allows for the production of a large quantity of high quality genomic DNA from low amounts of the original DNA. The goal of this study...

Authors: Daniel M Avelar and Pedro M Linardi