Journal of neuroparasitology最新文献

Neuroimaging studies for persons in the National Collaborative Chicago-Based Congenital Toxoplasmosis Study (NCCCTS) with symptoms and signs referable to the spinal cord were reviewed. Three infants had symptomatic spinal cord lesions, another infant a Chiari malformation, and another infant a symptomatic peri-spinal cord lipoma. One patient had an unusual history of prolonged spinal cord symptoms presenting in middle age. Neuroimaging was used to establish her diagnosis and response to treatment. This 43 year-old woman with congenital toxoplasmosis developed progressive leg spasticity, weakness, numbness, difficulty walking, and decreased visual acuity and color vision without documented re-activation of her chorioretinal disease. At 52 years of age, spinal cord lesions in locations correlating with her symptoms and optic atrophy were diagnosed with 3 Tesla MRI scan. Treatment with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine decreased her neurologic symptoms, improved her neurologic examination, and resolved her enhancing spinal cord lesions seen on MRI.

HIV infection is widespread throughout the world and is especially prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Similarly, Plasmodium falciparum, the most common cause of severe malaria, affects large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. Although initial studies suggested that HIV and malaria had independent impact upon patient outcomes, recent studies have indicated a more significant interaction. Clinical studies have shown that people infected with HIV have more frequent and severe episodes of malaria, and parameters of HIV disease progression worsen in individuals during acute malaria episodes. However, the effect of HIV on development of cerebral malaria, a manifestation of P. falciparum infection that is frequently fatal, has not been characterized. We review clinical and basic science studies pertaining to HIV and malaria coinfection and cerebral malaria in particular in order to highlight the likely role HIV plays in exacerbating cerebral malaria pathogenesis.

When listing common clinical signs of the spectra of Leishmania-derived diseases, neurologic malfunctions are not commonly included. Despite this, there are multiple reported instances both in human and veterinary medicine where neurologic manifestations, whether central or peripheral, are described. In this review, we describe neurologic manifestations seen during infection with Leishmania spp. with some discussion of the implicit effect of inflammation on the blood brain barrier in both medical and veterinary cases. Taken together, the material discussed here suggests that in patients from Leishmania-endemic areas, when observing neurologic symptoms, causation secondary to infection with Leishmania spp. should be highly considered.

The tissue cyst wall of Toxoplasma gondii is a stage-specific structure that is produced by modification of the bradyzoite-containing parasitophorous vacuole. It is a limiting membrane structure and is critically important for cyst survival and transmission of infection. Studies on the structure and function of the cyst wall should provide new therapeutic strategies for the elimination or prevention of latency during T. gondii infection. The membrane proteins of the T. gondii cyst are an important target for studies of the biochemical and immunological function(s) of the cyst. However, the components of the cyst membrane have been poorly characterized due to the difficulty of purification of these membrane proteins. We developed a lectin DBA (Dolichos biflorus) coated magnetic bead isolation method to isolate T. gondii cyst wall proteins. Our data suggests that this method can isolate cyst wall proteins from both in vitro cell culture or in vivo mouse brain derived tissue cysts. Antibodies to these isolated protein preparations were shown to localize to the cyst wall.