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Biomedical subjects

E Camus

Publications and source records attributed to E Camus.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The role of Amblyomma variegatum in the transmission of heartwater with special reference to Guadeloupe.

Heartwater has been diagnosed in Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, and Antigua; it induces important losses among goats and European or cross-bred cattle when local zebu creole are highly resistant to infection. Amblyomma variegatum is the vector of the disease in the Caribbean. The tick strain of Martinique, occurring in that island that has apparently been disease-free since 1948, has not lost its ability to experimentally transmit the disease. In Guadeloupe 97% of nymphs and nearly 100% of adults feed on cattle and goats. Some immature ticks (4.5%) feed on wildlife, including birds that may be involved in the spread of infected ticks. Only 1 to 4% of adult ticks are infected and only a proportion of infected ticks are really infective: 53%, 9%, and 50% of nymphs, males, and females, respectively. Nymphs play the major role in the transmission: they are more numerous than adults and engorge faster. Infected ticks have the same maximum longevity as noninfected ticks, that is, 18 months for nymphs and nearly 23 months for adults. Cowdria is not transmitted immediately after tick fixation but after a delay of 2-3 days for nymphs and 4 days for adults. The disease is more often fatal when transmitted by tick biting rather than by needle transmission. The daily infection rate that summarizes all the parameters is very low (0.14% and 0.20% for goats and cattle, respectively), resulting in an unstable epidemiological situation. The transmission of Cowdria by A. variegatum in Guadeloupe shows significant differences compared with the transmission by A. hebraeum in Africa.

Animals

Distribution of heartwater in the Caribbean determined on the basis of detection of antibodies to the conserved 32-kilodalton protein of Cowdria ruminantium.

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) was developed to detect immunoglobulin G antibodies to the major 32-kDa protein of Cowdria ruminantium. A total of 1,804 serum samples collected from cattle on 19 islands in the eastern Caribbean Basin were tested by this cELISA. A total of 133 serum samples from 10 islands (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, and St. Vincent) were found to be positive. The presence of antibodies to C. ruminantium in cattle on these islands was confirmed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting (immunoblotting). In earlier studies, C. ruminantium has been demonstrated only on Guadeloupe, Antigua, and Marie Galante. This study shows that the causative agent of heartwater is now firmly established in the Caribbean.

Animals

[Current status of bovine haemoparasitic diseases in Martinique (French West Indies)].

A serological survey using indirect immunofluorescence (IFAT) for bovine babesiosis (Babesia bovis and B. bigemina) and card test for anaplasmosis, indicates that these haemoparasites are widespread in Martinique. The high prevalences (62% for B. bovis, 52% for B. bigemina and 43% for Anaplasma marginale) lead to the hypothesis of an unstable epizootic situation for these three haemoparasitic diseases. However, the number of smears examined was too low to evaluate their clinical incidence. Both the American and Cuban card tests gave similar results in the detection of antibodies to A. marginale. Theileria mutans is described for the first time in Martinique. Trypanosomosis (Trypanosoma vivax) has disappeared from Martinique, on clinical and serological evidence.

Animals

[Asymptomatic carrier state in Creole goats and cattle after recovery from Cowdria infection in Guadeloupe].

Creole goats and cattle in Guadeloupe can be carriers of cowdriosis (heartwater: Cowdria ruminantium) after recovery for a period as long as 11 months in goats and 2 months in cattle. The carrier status was demonstrated by feeding Amblyomma variegatum nymphs on recovered animals and the resulting adult ticks on susceptible goats. Cowdria ruminantium was not detected permanently during the carrier status.

Animals

Ki-67 labeling in postmitotic cells defines different Ki-67 pathways within the 2c compartment.

Simultaneous quantification of DNA and Ki-67 proliferation-associated antigen was performed using fluorescence image cytometry. In the MCF-7 cell line, the Ki-67 antigen content increases during the cell cycle, and its intranuclear distribution pattern varies. Quantitative evolution of Ki-67 content as a function of nuclear area makes it possible to define several pathways followed by cells going through the 2c compartment. 1) In some cells, the amount of Ki-67 antigen remains constant during G1 (Ki-67 stable pathway), and a characteristic speckled pattern can be observed. 2) In the larger fraction of cells analyzed, there is a postmitotic decrease in the Ki-67 (Ki-67 decrease pathway) content. In this pathway, labeling is located in the nucleoplasm in small nuclei, is located in nucleoli in intermediate-sized nuclei, and is absent from larger nuclei (G0). A progressive increase in Ki-67 content (Ki-67 increase pathway) was observed from intermediate-sized nuclei to S phase nuclei. From these results, we hypothesize that the Ki-67 stable pathway is the G1 phase of newly formed cells going directly to S phase in local optimal conditions of growth and that Ki-67 decrease pathway and Ki-67 increase pathway correspond to cells whose progression to S phase is regulated by extracellular factors.

Animals

[Sites of fixation of Amblyomma variegatum ticks on their hosts in Guadeloupe (French west Indies)].

The examination of 458 domestic and wild hosts of the tick A. variegatum allowed to collect 8,581 larvae, 646 nymphs, 685 adults in 9 different animal species and to determine their preferential attachment sites. In another survey on 15 goats and 5 cattle, 12,345 larvae, 2,111 nymphs and 4,625 adults were counted on the anatomic sites. Immature ticks feed preferentially on the head, neck and limbs of birds, the limbs of mongoose and the limbs and ears of dogs, goats and cattle. Adults feed only on hosts of medium to large size and attach on ventral parts of the body, especially the groin, perineum, axillae and the dewlap of cattle. This tick species should be searched for on these sites when estimating its propagation in a threatened area or the evolution of its population during an eradication campaign. Moreover, the acaricide concentration on these sites must be optimal during systematic treatments.

Animals

An automatic method for bone histomorphometry: assessment with reference to usual static and dynamic parameters.

To perform a fast and reproducible analysis in bone histomorphometry, we developed an automatic method for calculating static and dynamic parameters. A color automatic image analyzer (SAMBA 200) was used to obtain the usual parameters of bone histomorphometry: bone volume (Cn-BV%TV), osteoid volume (Cn-OV%BV), and osteoid surface (Cn-OS%BS). A specialized algorithm was designed for calculation of the mineral apposition rate (MAR). Eroded surface (Cn-ES%BS) was read in a semiautomatic mode using a cursor. To validate this program, we input 30 samples from patients with bone disease (20 osteoporosis, 6 renal osteodystrophy, 2 osteomalacia, and 2 hyperparathyroidism) using manual and automatic modes. The results obtained showed a highly significant correlation with the usual manual method for all parameters: OS/BS, r = 0.93; OV/BV, r = 0.98; MAR, r = 0.90. With the automatic method, larger values were found for osteoid parameters and MAR and lower values for BV/TV. There were no statistical differences for OV/BV and MAR when compared to the reference manual method. This study establishes that automatic measurements of osteoid parameters and MAR can be performed by a fast analyzer with as good reproducibility and accuracy as the manual method.

Adolescent

[Experimental infection of the Guyanese zebu with Trypanosoma vivax].

The Guyanese strain of Trypanosoma vivax is pathogenic for the local Brahman zebu; the experimental infection of 19 one-year old cattle was followed by a moderate and transitory fever, a drop in packed cell volume (PCV) and a quick and marked weight loss of 10 to 17 kg one month after as compared to the 16 non-infected animals. Other symptoms were associated with the parasitaemia: diarrhoea, swollen haematic glands on the neck and the flank, lachrymation, weakness. Despite a trypanocidal treatment injected one month post-infection, one animal died and the weight losses of others were not compensated for three months later. The particular susceptibility of weaning animals is discussed as well as its implications in the control of trypanosomosis.

Animals

[Tamoxifen and endometrial adenocarcinoma].

The authors report a case of endometrial carcinoma treated with tamoxifen introduced after normal initial uterine curettage. Based on recent experimental and clinical data, the importance of a gynecological follow-up in anti-estrogen therapy is emphasized.

Adenocarcinoma

[Comparison between 3 antigens for the serodiagnosis of heartwater disease by indirect immunofluorescence].

A cell line of bovine endothelial cells (E5), infected with 3 different stocks of Cowdria ruminantium, was used as antigen in an indirect fluorescent antibody test for the serodiagnosis of heartwater. These antigens were compared to peritoneal macrophages from mice infected with the Kümm stock and to caprine neutrophils in primary cultures from goats infected with 4 different stocks of Cowdria. The use of endothelial cell cultures proved to be superior in all respects. The antigens can be produced in large quantities at a low cost, contrary to the other types. The reaction is easily and quickly read, compared to the laborious reading of neutrophil or macrophage antigens which often contain few and small colonies of Cowdria. Moreover, not all stocks are suitable for the preparation of neutrophil antigens, while macrophage antigen can only be obtained with the Kümm stock. Endothelial cell antigens also distinguish serotypes in C. ruminantium, but these differences seem to be less pronounced than those found with neutrophil antigens. Finally, the specificity of endothelial cell antigens appears to be better than that of Kümm antigen and comparable to that of neutrophil antigens. The use of Kümm antigen may have been responsible to a large extent for past unexplained positive serological results on certain Caribbean islands where it has not been possible to isolate Cowdria and where no clinical evidence of the disease has been found.

Animals

Amblyomma variegatum and associated diseases in the Caribbean: strategies for control and eradication in Guadeloupe.

Amblyomma variegatum, introduced into Guadelopue 150 years ago, has recently spread in the Lesser Antilles and threatens North America. Two important diseases are associated with the tick: heartwater and dermatophilosis. Heartwater occurs in Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante and Antigua; acute dermatophilosis exists almost everywhere the tick is present. Both are very pathogenic for upgraded or newly-infested cattle. After 15 years of A. variegatum control in Guadeloupe, a balance is established between a tick population maintained at a low level by spraying acaricides and an animal population either completely resistant to heartwater and dermatophilosis (creole cattle) or regularly treated against ticks (upgraded cattle). An eradication campaign against A. variegatum in Guadeloupe, to avoid the spread of the associated diseases, appears technically difficult but possible, economically profitable, but socially completely utopian. We suggest for Guadeloupe a reinforced control of the tick with a persistent acaricide, hoping that a general decrease of the tick infestation rate on cattle will eliminate heartwater and acute dermatophilosis.

Animal Husbandry

[The detection of rare cellular events using scanning cytometry].

Preliminary studies are presented on the detection of the rare event cell using the Samba 200 cell image analyzer. The simple models used permitted us to define the technical parameters of this detection. It appeared possible to detect as low as one cell per 3.10(6).

Densitometry

Heartwater serology: some problems with the interpretation of results.

Antibodies in the sera of domestic ruminants that have been infected with Ehrlichia bovis and other ehrlichial agents cross-react with the Kümm strain of Cowdria ruminantium used in the indirect fluorescent antibody test as antigen. These cross-reactions are also shown by the Elisa test in which the Ball 3 strain of the heartwater agent is used as antigen.

Animals

Danger of introducing heartwater onto the American mainland: potential role of indigenous and exotic Amblyomma ticks.

The existence of heartwater on 3 islands of the Central Lesser Antilles and the presence of an efficient vector originating from Africa, Amblyomma variegatum, on most of the islands of this region constitute a serious threat for livestock on the American mainland. The disease can be introduced there either by infected animals or infected ticks. The most likely way is probably the transportation of domestic animals which are heavily infested by ticks. Due to the low rate of infection of ticks in endemic areas and the low rate of infestation of wild animals by ticks, the risk of transportation by migratory birds (among which the cattle egret is the most important) seems negligible compared with domestic animals, especially ruminants and dogs. The establishment and spread of the disease on the mainland could result from indigenous American Amblyomma species, of which at least 2, Amblyomma cajennense and, more especially, Amblyomma maculatum, are experimental vectors. The biological and ecological features of these ticks conform to some extent with the characteristics necessary for them to act as vectors. They are widespread and sufficiently well adapted to ruminants to ensure the continuation of the epidemiological cycle. Disease could evolve in wild life (deer) or, as seems more likely, in livestock, of which the population density is very high on most of the mainland. However, the establishment of the disease is more likely to occur if the well adapted vector of heartwater, Amblyomma variegatum, is introduced as well. This exotic species would find environmental conditions favourable for its survival and spread in most of the tropical and subtropical Western Hemisphere. Protection of the American mainland and the disease-free islands of the area must be based on strict control of domestic animal movement in the Caribbean, on the decrease of the vector population by tick control campaigns and, if possible, on the eradication of Amblyomma variegatum from the focus of heartwater on the islands.

Animals

Diagnosis of heartwater in the live animal: experiences with goats in Guadeloupe.

A presumptive diagnosis of heartwater in the living animal can be based on clinical and epidemiologic observations. In Guadeloupe, heartwater can be confused with haemonchosis in goats or cerebral babesiosis in cattle. Confirmation of the clinical diagnosis by brain biopsy is useful in experimental infections but is hardly applicable in the field. Positive results were obtained from 92% of animals 16 to 18 days after experimental infection. In febrile animals the best results were obtained between the 3rd and 6th days of the thermal response. Diagnosis can also be supported by serological tests. These are useful for monitoring experimental infections and for checking recovered animals in the field. Nineteen goats out of 27 were negative on Day 1 of the febrile reaction but positive a week later. The remaining 8 goats were positive on Day 1 and had greatly increased antibody titres a week later. Confirmation of a diagnosis can also be achieved by subinoculating into susceptible animals either blood or suspensions of ticks collected from suspect animals and then homogenized. Ticks that have engorged on a suspect animal can be allowed to moult and then fed on a susceptible animal to test their infectivity. These methods are time consuming but useful for heartwater surveys.

Animals