Tropical Parasitology最新文献

Parasitic diseases, including malaria, leishmaniasis, and trypanosomiasis, continue to plague populations worldwide, particularly in resource-limited settings and disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. It has limited the use of conventional health-care delivery and disease control approaches and necessitated exploring innovative strategies. In this direction, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool with immense promise in parasitic disease control, offering the potential for enhanced diagnostics, precision drug discovery, predictive modeling, and personalized treatment. Predictive AI algorithms have assisted in understanding parasite transmission patterns and outbreaks by analyzing vast amounts of epidemiological data, environmental factors, and population demographics. This has strengthened public health interventions, resource allocation, and outbreak preparedness strategies, enabling proactive measures to mitigate disease spread. In diagnostics, AI-enabled accurate and rapid identification of parasites by analyzing microscopic images. This capability is particularly valuable in remote regions with limited access to diagnostic facilities. AI-driven computational methods have also assisted in drug discovery for parasitic diseases by identifying novel drug targets and predicting the efficacy and safety of potential drug candidates. This approach has streamlined drug development, leading to more effective and targeted therapies. This article reviews these current developments and their transformative impacts on the health-care sector. It also assessed the hurdles that require attention before these transformations can be realized in real-life scenarios.

Rhinosporidiosis is a rarely encountered granulomatous infection caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi affecting both humans and animals. Although the disease has been reported worldwide, it is mainly endemic in tropical and subtropical countries. In the Indian subcontinent, it is endemic in some parts like Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, eastern Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. It is a chronic granulomatous disease with varied controversial taxonomical history, but recently based on genetic sequencing and the nature of aquatics, it was later identified as an aquatic eukaryote. The mucous membranes are frequently impacted in humans, with a typical manifestation being the presence of a polypoidal mass. The occurrence of Rhinosporidiosis in nonendemic regions is uncommon. We report one such case of a young male with recurrent Rhinosporidiosis from India.

Cryptosporidium is an apicomplexan parasite that causes gastrointestinal disease in a wide variety of hosts and is associated with waterborne outbreaks. Nonetheless, the parasite is underdiagnosed. Cryptosporidium has been proposed as an etiological cause of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in several studies. However, the exact mechanism of pathogenesis is unknown, and no direct link has been discovered. This review will discuss several parasite-induced modifications, such as immunological, microbiome, and metabolite modifications, as well as their interactions. To summarize, Cryptosporidium causes low inflammation, dysbiosis, and unbalanced metabolism, which leads to a lack of homeostasis in the intestine in a comparable pattern to postinfectious IBS.

A 35 year old farmer presented with an erythematous serpiginous rash on dorsal aspect of left foot with intense pruritus and a feeling of something moving slowly in the rash. The photo of the rash is presented below and the case is discussed further.

This case report presents a perplexing case of Plasmodium malariae breakthrough infection despite prophylaxis with appropriate antimalarial prophylactic regimen of mefloquine in a compliant patient. A 78-year-old missionary who travels each year to the African subcontinent for multiple weeks to months, over 25 years, adheres to stringent antimalarial prophylaxis with Mefloquine as prescribed, starting prior to the trip and continuing after the return to the U.S.A. She gave no prior history of malaria during her 25 years of travel to Africa and back. Since she had no prior history of malaria and due to her excellent compliance with antimalarial regiment, despite her presentation which were suggestive of malaria, neither the patient nor her providers recognized the onset of malaria in this case. Infectious diseases physicians approached this case with an open mind, investigated appropriately, requested appropriate tests, found the presence of malarial parasite, identified as P. malariae species thereafter. She was started on antimalarial treatment in a timely fashion and showed an excellent response. This intriguing recovery of malarial parasite and response to treatment despite the patient being on antimalarial prophylaxis raised the possibility of mefloquine failure as an antimalarial prophylactic agent against P. malariae species.

Background: Various genotypes of Echinococcus granulosus have been studied in high-disease-risk areas and identified as causative agents of cystic echinococcosis (CE). This study was performed to examine and identify the molecular hydatid cyst in the dissected human specimens in paraffin tissue, and the dissected animal cyst was characterized using the DNA polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1).

Materials and methods: To determine the molecular properties of E. granulosus, 20 hydatid cyst samples (including 6 sheep samples, 9 camel samples, and 10 human paraffin samples) were collected from Zahedan and Zabol cities. After DNA extraction, molecular PCR was performed, and RFLP was evaluated. In this study, the Taq1 endonuclease cleavage enzyme was used.

Results: The patterns of DNA bands found in the isolates from human CE and animal bladder cysts were the same, as indicated by the results of ribosomal DNA-ITS1 amplification from E. granulosus. Two nested primer pairs were used. The rough size of the enhanced ITS1 piece was 444 and 391 base pairs (bp), individually. After cutting the PCR product with the Taq1 enzyme, the patterns of the fragments revealed that the samples had two identical RFLP patterns. The aftereffects of this study showed that the parasite genotypes confined to sheep, camels, and people had hereditary changes.

Conclusion: The transcendent type of E. granulosus sensu lato in the area is E. granulosus sensu stricto, which featured the meaning of the sheep/canine cycle in human transmission. Albeit the band profile in the camel is now and again like the sheep strain, RLFP can be recognized utilizing the PCR strategy, and two differentiating band profiles using the chemical were found in this review.

Context: Resistance to antimalarial drugs is one of the major challenges for malaria elimination. In India, artemisinin combination therapy (artesunate-sulfadoxin pyrimethamine) was introduced in place of chloroquine (CQ) for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in 2010. Periodical monitoring of polymorphisms in antimalarial drug resistance marker genes will be useful for assessing drug pressure, mapping and monitoring of drug resistance status; and will be helpful for searching alternative treatments.

Objectives: This study was conducted to study the polymorphisms in antimalarial drug resistance marker genes among clinical Plasmodium falciparum isolates collected from Kolkata after 10 years of artemisinin-based combination therapie (ACT) implementation.

Materials and methods: Blood samples were collected from P. falciparum mono-infected patients and polymorphisms in P. falciparum CQ resistance transporter (pfcrt), P. falciparum multidrug resistance (pfmdr-1), P. falciparum dihydrofolate reductase (pfdhfr), P. falciparum dihydropteroate synthetase (pfdhps), pfATPase6 and pfK-13 propeller genes were analysed by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing.

Results: In pfcrt gene, C72S, and K76T mutation was recorded in 100% isolates and no mutations was detected in any of the targeted codons of pfmdr-1 gene. A double mutant pfcrt haplotype SVMNT and wildtype haplotype NYD in pfmdr-1 were prevalent in 100% of study isolates. Triple mutant pfdhfr-pfdhps haplotype ANRNI-SGKAA was recorded. No polymorphism in pfK13 gene was documented in any of the isolates.

Conclusions: Observed wild codon N86 along with Y184 and D1246 of pfmdr-1 gene might be an indication of the reappearance of CQ sensitivity. The absence of quadruple and quintuple haplotypes in pfdhfr-pfdhps gene along with the wild haplotype of pfK13 is evidence of ACT effectivity. Hence, similar studies with large sample size are highly suggested for monitoring the drug resistance status of P. falciparum.

Muscle hydatidosis is rare accounting only for 3%-5% of cases. Until now, only one case of muscular hydatidosis involving the infraspinatus muscle has been recorded. Hereby, we present a case report of primary hydatidosis of infraspinatus muscle in a 32-year-old woman from Central India who presented with painful soft-tissue swelling. Ultrasonography appearance was consistent with that of hydatid cyst; while serology was negative, pericystectomy was performed, and the diagnosis was confirmed. The patient was followed up for a period of 6 months, and no recurrence was noted. Hydatid cysts should be considered in the differential diagnosis of soft-tissue swellings, particularly in endemic regions.