Current status of parasitic diseases.
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Paper presents the data on the morbidity pattern of parasitic diseases in the USSR as well as on the trends in ascariasis, trichocephaliasis and hymenolepiasis infection rates. Problems of improving the prophylactic and antiepidemic measures are discussed with regard both to practical parasitology and investigations.
Recent advances in the development of molecular biological techniques have resulted in their supplementary application for improved diagnosis of tropical parasitic diseases. The main areas of interest are the production of recombinant antigens for immunodiagnosis, and the detection of parasites by hybridization of nucleic acids and by DNA amplification (PCR) in vitro.
Patients who travel to developing nations are those most likely to encounter parasitic diseases. Using a risk assessment approach and the resources introduced in this article, the primary care physician can prepare them for travel and continue their care on return. Immunizations and patient education are the major modes of prevention, coupled with chemoprophylaxis for malaria and traveler's diarrhea. Traveling pregnant women and young children need special precautions. A large body of preventive and therapeutic knowledge, including parasitology, is at the core of emporiatrics, the science of travel medicine.
The southern region is marked by a high incidence of parasitic diseases and a significant contamination of environmental objects with the eggs and cysts of their pathogens. Background examinations revealed the greatest soil contamination with helminthic eggs in the Temryuksky District of the Krasnodar Territory and in the towns of Vladikavkaz and Digora of the Republic of North Ossetia (Alania). The least contamination was found in Rostov-on-Don and the towns of the south-western area of the Krasnodar Territory. The eggs of Toxocara and astamination. There is an increase in the proportion of soil positive tests from 26.6 to 50.0, with the high (up to 82.0-100.0%) viability of eggs and a rise in the intensive index of their content per kg of soil (from 2.7 to 4.7-11.0). Toxocara eggs were mainly detected. The established high proportion of seropositive persons (10.7-18.0%) among the local population is an additional verification of the wide circulation of Toxocara eggs in nature. By the helminthic egg contamination index, the soils of localities of the south of Russia are qualified as those of moderate epidemic hazard. The floods accompanied by the increased helminthological contamination of the upper soil layer may lead to a higher human risk for contamination with helminthic diseases.
The skin being exposed to the environment is commonly the portal of entry for parasites. Infections with parasites characteristically produce cutaneous lesions as well as systemic disease in humans. In the past, parasitic diseases were limited to their endemic areas. With the relative ease of worldwide travel, however, they are appearing with increasing frequency in the United States and other developed countries. This article describes the characteristic cutaneous findings of parasitic diseases that physicians in the United States may encounter in their medical practice.
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Electrophoretic patterns of human blood serum protein were studied in parasitic diseases including 19 cases of clonlrchiasis, 29 cases of clonorchiasis and other helminthiasis and 22 cases of healthy controls in Kim-hae area. The same study was made on 32 cases of ascariasis, 56 cases of trichocephaliasis, 80 cases of ascariasis and trichocephaliasis, 9 cases of amebiasis and 44 cases of healthy controls in the Seoul Juvenile Center. The total serum protein was performed by Folin method and the serum protein fraction test by Durrum's paper electrophoretic method. The results were as follows: 1. In the case of clonolrchiasis, the total serum protein, albumin fraction and A/G ratio decreased and alpha(1) globulin fraction increased twice as much as in the case of healthy controls. 2. In the case of clonorchiasis and other helminthiasis, alpha(1) globulin fractions increased. 3. In the case of ascariasis, albumin fractions increased but alpha(1) globulin fractions decreased. 4. In the case of ascariasis and trichocephaliasis, alpha(2) and beta globulin fractions decreased. 5. In the case of amebiasis, alpha(1) globulin decresed.
Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death (PCD), has been described as essential for normal organogenesis and tissue development, as well as for the proper function of cell-renewal systems in adult organisms. Apoptosis is also pivotal in the pathogenesis of several different diseases. In this paper we discuss, from two different points of view, the role of apoptosis in parasitic diseases. The description of apoptotic death in three different species of heteroxenic trypanosomatids is reviewed, and considerations on the phylogenesis of apoptosis and on the eventual role of PCD on their mechanism of pathogenesis are made. From a different perspective, an increasing body of evidence is making clear that regulation of host cell apoptosis is an important factor on the definition of a host-pathogen interaction. As an example, the molecular mechanisms by which Trypanosoma cruzi is able to induce apoptosis in immunocompetent cells, in a murine model of Chagas' disease, and the consequences of this phenomenon on the outcome of the experimental disease are discussed.
U.S. military researchers have made major contributions to the discovery, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of a number of parasitic diseases. We review the paramount U.S. military contributions to the understanding of leishmaniasis, filariasis, schistosomiasis, trypanosomiasis, gastrointestinal parasites, intestinal capillariasis, and angiostrongyliasis.
In the developing world, young women, pregnant women, and their infants and children frequently experience a cycle where undernutrition (macronutrient and micronutrient) and repeated infection, including parasitic infections, lead to adverse consequences that can continue from one generation to the next. Among parasitic infections, malaria and intestinal helminths coexist widely with micronutrient deficiencies and contribute importantly to anemia and this cycle of retarded growth and development. In somewhat more limited or focal geographic settings, other parasitic diseases (e.g., schistosomiasis, filariasis) contribute similarly to this cycle. It is undoubtedly much better to enter a pregnancy free of infection and nutritionally replete than the various alternatives. Existing intervention strategies for micronutrient support and for the control of common parasitic infections before or during pregnancy, particularly malaria and intestinal helminths, should be followed. However, further research to identify barriers and priority approaches to achieving this goal remain very important in resource-poor settings where targeted public health efforts are required.
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