Biomedical subjects

A Delafosse

Publications and source records attributed to A Delafosse.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium parvum infections in adult goats and their implications for neonatal kids.

During the kidding season between January and April 2003, 10 farms were selected and divided into two groups of five. The farms in group A had had serious diarrhoeal illness and losses in neonatal kids the previous year, and there were Cryptosporidium parvum infections in kids associated with diarrhoea during the survey. On the farms in group B, there was no history of diarrhoeal disease the previous year and neither C parvum oocysts nor diarrhoea were detected in neonatal kids during the survey. Faecal samples were collected once from 10 adult goats aged between one and seven years on each farm. To assess more accurately the pattern of output of oocysts of C parvum and cysts of Giardia duodenalis by periparturient adult goats, one farm was selected from each group, faecal samples were collected weekly before and after kidding from 12 goats on the farm in group A and from 10 goats on the farm in group B. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of G duodenalis cysts between the group A farms (14 per cent) and the group B farms (12 per cent), and the numbers of cysts excreted ranged from 143 to 400 cysts per gram of faeces (cpg) on the group A farms and 72 to 334 cpg on the group B farms. There was a significant difference (P=0.03) in the prevalence of C parvum oocysts at the group level between the group A farms (20 per cent) and the group B farms (6 per cent). All the adult goats excreted cysts and oocysts at some date around the kidding period; the number of animals excreting cysts of G duodenalis or oocysts of C parvum increased when they gave birth, and seven to 10 times more cysts and oocysts were shed in the three weeks around kidding than in the period more than three weeks from kidding (P<0.001).

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Potential source of human exposure to Mycobacterium bovis in Burkina Faso, in the context of the HIV epidemic.

OBJECTIVE: To identify potential sources of human Mycobacterium bovis infection in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. METHODS: A tuberculin survey among 174 cattle was performed. Mycobacteriologic identification in 64 samples of pooled milk, and in 199 tissue samples collected from the slaughterhouse of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, was also done. We retrospectively analyzed the distribution of tuberculosis (TB) cases on 1140 clinical records according to professional occupation and to ethnic group. The frequency of pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB was related to potential exposure and route of transmission of M. bovis from animals. RESULTS: Out of six herds (total 170 bovines), only one was free of any positive tuberculin test. Among 199 bovines which had been slaughtered over four consecutive nights, 38 (19%) had morphologic lesions suggestive of TB; 17 (45%) of those were positive for acid-fast bacilli by microscopic examination on one of their lesions, and 20 samples (53%) presented a positive culture for a pathogenic mycobacterium, including M. bovis and M. tuberculosis. In the retrospective analysis, Peuls more frequently had a pulmonary form of disease. This may be related to the route of transmission. CONCLUSIONS: Attention has to be paid to human TB of bovine origin in Burkina Faso. The identification of M. tuberculosis in milk and in tissue samples raises the question of the transmission of TB from humans to cattle.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1996

[Use of Trypanosoma antigen detection ELISA during an epidemiological follow-up in the Sideradougou, Burkina Faso].

Plasmas taken during a parasitological survey on bovine trypanosomosis were tested a posteriori with an antigen detection ELISA test. The objective was to evaluate the value of this test for epidemiological monitoring. The results were compared to those obtained using the usual parasitological technique (buffy coat examination). Of the 297 zebu cattle heads studied, 216 came from four villages in the pastoral zone of Sideradougou. A large eradication programme had led to the disappearance of tsetse in the area. Blood samples were taken during the rainy saison (September 1986), at the beginning (January 1987) and at the end (May 1987) of the dry season. The parasitological diagnosis was carried out in the field and plasmas were stored at -20 degrees C. The serological test was performed in August 1993. The incidence rates of bovine trypanosomosis obtained with antigen detection ELISA were low in the center of the zone. These rates decreased proportionally to the distance between the blood sampling area and the limit of the infested area. The results of the parasitological diagnosis were similar except for a village located on the border of the treated zone. The use of antigen detection ELISA confirmed the low incidence of trypanosomosis in the center of the area of Sideradougou following the eradication campaign. It also enables to obtain finer parasitological results pointing out the trypanosome persistence in peripheric zones, more exposed to reinfestations.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

[Absence of interaction between Trypanosoma theileri infections with the diagnosis of animal trypanosomiasis by detection of circulating antigens].

This work presents data gathered at the CIRDES (Centre international de Recherche-Développement sur l'Elevage en Zone subhumide) during epidemiological monitoring. The prevalence levels of Trypanosoma vivax, Trypanosoma congolense and Trypansoma brucei obtained using antigen-detection ELISA were compared in non-infected animals and in animals infected with Trypanosoma theileri. The aim was to investigate whether there were any serological cross-reactions between T. theileri and the pathogenic trypanosomes. The results show that there was no interaction by Trypanosoma theileri with the diagnosis of the pathogenic trypanosomes using antigen-detection ELISA.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

[Isolation of pathogenic Mycobacterium strains in cattle slaughtered in the abattoir of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso].

The major cause of meat rejection at the slaughterhouse of Bobo-Dioulasso is bovine tuberculosis. The objective of this work was to confirm the postmortem diagnosis pronounced at the slaughterhouse using laboratory methods (direct examination following Ziehl-Hielsen staining and isolation of Mycobacterium strains following culture in a Loewenstein-Jensen medium. During the study, 39 pathogenic Mycobacterium strains (38 Mycobacterium bovis and 1 Mycobacterium tuberculosis) out of 100 sampled out suspicious strains, were studied. No Mycobacteria typical of M. farcinogenes was found on direct examination. We were then able to differentiate between bovine tuberculosis and bovine farcy. The results confirm the well-founded decision in the slaughterhouse to discard the meat on the grounds of tuberculosis. The majority of cattle is located in villages around Bobo-Dioulasso and its is therefore highly likely that the disease is enzootic in the area with a fairly high level of infection in animals.

Abattoirs↗

PubMed1986

[Balint syndrome as a result of a biparietal infarct. Neuropsychological analysis].

A case of Balint syndrome with bilateral parietal infarction is presented. Analysis shows the tight intrication of visual inattention and psychic gaze palsy. The deficit of visuo-manual adjustment is characterized by a fixed divergence between the target and the point where the patient places his hand, either in ballistic movements (classical optic ataxia), either in pursuit movements; for this reason, a simple disconnexion should not explain the classic optic ataxia. The discretion of aphasia allows the individualization of an anterograde and partially retrograde amnesia.

Agnosia↗

PubMed1984

[Post-traumatic retrograde amnesia].

A case of post traumatic retrograde amnesia is described. The patient presented after an initial coma a global amnesia, but the fixation deficit rapidly disappeared, and a severe retrograde amnesia dating back to childhood experience and learning remained the main symptom. Amnesia for remote events was associated with didactic memory deficit and, at a lesser degree, with a verbal memory deficit. Recovery of fixation allowed a progressive relearning. This pattern of impairment was recently related to mesencephalic lesions, but we think that the role of temporal lobe involvement cannot be neglected.

Adult↗

PubMed1981

[Oculocephalomotor disorders and bilateral thalamo-subthalamic infarction (author's transl)].

A 33-year-old woman on oral contraceptives suddenly developed neurological disorders characterised by decreased alertness, absence of motor and verbal spontaneity, anterograde amnesia with difficulties in verbal and visual learning. She also presented paralysis of upwards and downwards ocular movements affecting mainly saccadic movements while convergence was normal. An initial almost total absence of spontaneous head movements and later an impossibility to carry out downwards movements of the head. This apparently represents a syndrome still not reported in human pathology. The clinical course was favourable. CT scan suggested the presence of a paramedian infarct of the region supplied by the thalamosubthalamic artery of the type II b of Percheron. An analogy is suggested between these disorders of oculocephalomotor behaviour and those observed by Denny-Brown in experimental bilateral retrorubric lesions. The possibility of a lesion in the internal thalamic nucleis and the adjacent subthalamic region is considered.

Adult↗