Advances in Parasitology最新文献

Diagnosis of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock and companion animals has been neglected for years and there has been an historical underinvestment in the development and improvement of diagnostic tools, undermining the undoubted utility of surveillance and control programmes. However, a new impetus by the scientific community and the quickening pace of technological innovations, are promoting a renaissance of interest in developing diagnostic capacity for nematode infections in veterinary parasitology. A cross-cutting priority for diagnostic tools is the development of pen-side tests and associated decision support tools that rapidly inform on the levels of infection and morbidity. This includes development of scalable, parasite detection using artificial intelligence for automated counting of parasitic elements and research towards establishing biomarkers using innovative molecular and proteomic methods. The aim of this review is to assess the state-of-the-art in the diagnosis of helminth infections in livestock and companion animals and presents the current advances of diagnostic methods for intestinal parasites harnessing (i) automated methods for copromicroscopy based on artificial intelligence, (ii) immunodiagnosis, and (iii) molecular- and proteome-based approaches. Regardless of the method used, multiple factors need to be considered before diagnostics test results can be interpreted in terms of control decisions. Guidelines on how to apply diagnostics and how to interpret test results in different animal species are increasingly requested and some were recently made available in veterinary parasitology for the different domestic species.

Following initiation of China's National Malaria Elimination Action Plan (NMEAP) in 2010, China's 1-3-7 surveillance and response approach was developed and rolled out in China to facilitate the malaria control programme and accelerate the progress of malaria elimination. Innovative strategies and interventions have been developed and implemented in Jiangsu Province to facilitate case-based malaria surveillance and response. A total of 9879 malaria cases were reported in Jiangsu Province from 2001 to 2020. Since 2012, no indigenous malaria cases have been reported in Jiangsu Province. However, in recent years, there has been a substantial increase of imported cases from abroad. To continue improving the malaria surveillance and response system, Jiangsu Province has conducted population-based health education to improve the healthcare seeking behaviour of malaria patients, strengthened the capacity of health facilities to improve the performance of malaria diagnosis and treatment, and strengthened health workforce capacity to improve the implementation of 1-3-7 approach. Continually improving surveillance and response system can play a critical role in the early detection and rapid response of individual malaria cases and prevent the re-establishment of malaria.

To understand how malaria could be eliminated in the original hyperendmic area for malaria along international borders in Yunnan Province, malaria situation and control were described on the basis of seven phases. At last the experiences and lessons of the program that reduced border malaria from hyperendmicity to malaria-free status were summarized. Malaria control and elimination area were particularly difficult in the Yunnan border. The achievement can be attributed to high political commitment, strategic and technical innovations based on the actual locality, effective collaboration and communication with neighbouring countries to carry out cross border interventions. Other border areas might perform their own pilot interventions based on their local context, including malaria burden, governing system, health service structure contextualized based on their socioeconomic development and ecology, and then a local decision could be made according to their own trial results.

The last decades have brought important insight and updates in the diagnosis, management and immunopathology of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) and male genital schistosomiasis (MGS). Despite sharing a common parasitic aetiological agent, FGS and MGS have typically been studied separately. Infection with Schistosoma haematobium manifests with gender-specific clinical manifestations and consequences of infection, albeit having a similar pathogenesis within the human genital tract. Schistosoma haematobium is a known urinary bladder carcinogen, but its potential causative role in other types of neoplasia, such as cervical cancer, is not fully understood. Furthermore, the impact of praziquantel treatment on clinical outcomes remains largely underexplored, as is the interplay of FGS/MGS with relevant reproductive tract infections such as HIV and Human Papillomavirus. In non-endemic settings, travel and immigrant health clinics need better guidance to correctly identify and treat FGS and MGS. Our review outlines the latest advances and remaining knowledge gaps in FGS and MGS research. We aim to pave a way forward to formulate more effective control measures and discuss elimination targets. With a growing community awareness in health practitioners, scientists and epidemiologists, alongside the sufferers from these diseases, we aspire to witness a new generation of young women and men free from the downstream disabling manifestations of disease.

African protected areas strive to conserve the continent's great biodiversity with a targeted focus on the flagship 'Big Five' megafauna. Though often not considered, this biodiversity protection also extends to the lesser-known microbes and parasites that are maintained in these diverse ecosystems, often in a silent and endemically stable state. Climate and anthropogenic change, and associated diversity loss, however, are altering these dynamics leading to shifts in ecological interactions and pathogen spill over into new niches and hosts. As many African protected areas are bordered by game and livestock farms, as well as villages, they provide an ideal study system to assess infection dynamics at the human-livestock-wildlife interface. Here we review five zoonotic, multi-host diseases (bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, Rift Valley fever, schistosomiasis and cryptosporidiosis)-the 'Microscopic Five'-and discuss the biotic and abiotic drivers of parasite transmission using the iconic Kruger National Park, South Africa, as a case study. We identify knowledge gaps regarding the impact of the 'Microscopic Five' on wildlife within parks and highlight the need for more empirical data, particularly for neglected (schistosomiasis) and newly emerging (cryptosporidiosis) diseases, as well as zoonotic disease risk from the rising bush meat trade and game farm industry. As protected areas strive to become further embedded in the socio-economic systems that surround them, providing benefits to local communities, One Health approaches can help maintain the ecological integrity of ecosystems, while protecting local communities and economies from the negative impacts of disease.

Schistosomiasis is a poverty-associated tropical disease caused by blood dwelling trematodes that threaten approximately 10% of the world population. Praziquantel, the sole drug currently available for treatment, is insufficient to eliminate the disease and the clinical drug development pipeline is empty. Here, we review the characteristics of the patent Schistosoma mansoni mouse model used for in vivo antischistosomal drug discovery, highlighting differences in the experimental set-up across research groups and their potential influence on experimental results. We explore the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationship of selected drug candidates, showcasing opportunities to improve the drug profile to accelerate the transition from the early drug discovery phase to new clinical candidates.

The predominant clonal evolution (PCE) model of pathogenic microorganisms postulates that the impact of genetic recombination in those pathogens' natural populations is not enough to erase a persistent phylogenetic signal at all evolutionary scales from microevolution till geological times in the whole ecogeographical range of the species considered. We have tested this model with a set of representative parasitic protozoa, yeasts and bacteria in the light of the most recent genomic data. All surveyed species, including those that were considered as highly recombining, exhibit similar PCE patterns above and under the species level, from macro- to micro-evolutionary scales (Russian doll pattern), suggesting gradual evolution. To our knowledge, it is the first time that such a strong common evolutionary feature among very diverse pathogens has been evidenced. The implications of this model for basic biology and applied research are exposed. These implications include our knowledge on the pathogens' reproductive mode, their population structure, the possibility to type strain and to follow up epidemics (molecular epidemiology) and to revisit pathogens' taxonomy through a flexible use of the phylogenetic species concept (Cracraft, 1983).

Defence mechanisms of fish can be divided into specific and non-specific that act in concert and are often interdependent. Most fish in both wild and cultured populations are vulnerable to metazoan parasites. Endoparasitic helminths include several species of digeneans, cestodes, nematodes, and acanthocephalans. Although they may occur in large numbers, helminth infections rarely result in fish mortality. Conversely, some ectoparasites cause mass mortality in farmed fish. Given the importance of fish innate immunity, this review addresses non-specific defence mechanisms of fish against metazoan parasites, with emphasis on granulocyte responses involving mast cells, neutrophils, macrophages, rodlet cells, and mucous cells. Metazoan parasites are important disease agents that affect wild and farmed fish and can induce high economic loss and, as pathogen organisms, deserve considerable attention. The paper will provide our light and transmission electron microscopy data on metazoan parasites-fish innate immune and neuroendocrine systems. Insights about the structure and functions of the cell types listed above and a brief account of the effects and harms of each metazoan taxon to specific fish apparati/organs will be presented.