All Posts Tagged With: "malaria"

Full article: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000467

Excerpt:

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have identified a new family of odor sensors that mosquitoes use to locate their prey. Their discovery could help explain the puzzling mechanisms behind the mosquito’s sense of smell and further the discovery of new deterrents and traps. Funded by NIAID, the study was published in the journal PLoS Biology in August 2010.

Mosquitoes’ olfactory system, or sense of smell, is crucial for their survival. Mosquitoes use it to identify mates and locate a host. While its importance is well-accepted, the exact mechanisms behind the mosquito’s olfactory system are poorly understood.

For about ten years, scientists have been examining Anopheles gambiae, the primary vector of malaria, and studying a set of odor sensors called AgORs (A. gambiae odorant receptors). Now, the Vanderbilt team, led by Laurence Zwiebel, Ph.D., has discovered a new set of receptors, AgIRs (A. gambiaevariant ionotropic receptors) by examining the larval olfactory system.

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20868280&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Emerging and resurging vector-borne diseases cause significant
morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. We
focus on how advances in mapping, Geographic Information System,
and Decision Support System technologies, and progress in spatial
and space-time modeling, can be harnessed to prevent and control
these diseases. Major themes, which are addressed using examples
from tick-borne Lyme disease; flea-borne plague; and
mosquito-borne dengue, malaria, and West Nile virus disease,
include (a) selection of spatial and space-time modeling
techniques, (b) importance of using high-quality and biologically
or epidemiologically relevant data, (c) incorporation of new
technologies into operational vector and disease control
programs, (d) transfer of map-based information to stakeholders,
and (e) adaptation of technology solutions for use in
resource-poor environments. We see great potential for the use of
new technologies and approaches to more effectively target
limited surveillance, prevention, and control resources and to
reduce vector-borne and other infectious diseases. Expected final
online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology
Volume 56 is December 03, 2010. 

Excerpt:

Plasmodium vivax is responsible for a significant portion of malaria cases worldwide, especially in Asia and Latin America, where geo-helminthiasis have a high prevalence. Impact of the interaction between vivax malaria and intestinal helminthes has been poorly explored. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of intestinal helminthiasis on the concentration of hemoglobin in children with Plasmodium vivax malaria in rural areas in the municipality of Careiro, in the Western Brazilian Amazon.

Excerpt:

Connie Bennett

Special to AOL News

(May 28) — We’re in the midst of a terrifying epidemic, although you wouldn’t know it to talk to most doctors and health specialists.

The disease is growing at a rate faster than AIDS. From 2006 to 2008 alone, the number of cases jumped a whopping 77 percent. In 2008 alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed 28,921 “confirmed” and 6,277 “probable” cases of the disease, but there could be as many as 420,000 because of underreporting.

Prominent victims include Parker Posey, Richard Gere, President George W. Bush, Alice Walker and Christie Brinkley.

If any other disease had stricken so many people, the medical community would be scurrying for knowledge, scrambling for cures or rushing to warn patients (think swine flu).

But that’s not the case with Lyme disease — a disease carried by ticks.

Instead, ill-informed doctors are often flummoxed when patients complain of fatigue, headaches, fever or chills, muscle or joint pain, mental confusion, swollen lymph nodes and neurological symptoms. It’s an appalling display of indifference.

As Lyme Disease Awareness Month comes to a close and Memorial Day travelers flock to grassy, tick-infested holiday spots across America, vacationers and physicians alike need to be on the alert for freckle-sized menaces that are responsible for the fastest-growing, most misdiagnosed infectious disease in the country. The CDC has a map that shows where the ticks are most prevalent.

For my part, I was lucky because my smart nutritionist friend, JJ Virgin, immediately grew suspicious when, almost overnight, I became an exhausted, headache-ridden, nightmare-plagued, memory-challenged zombie suffering from vertigo, sleeping problems, swollen glands, achy eyes, sensitivity to light and noise, fever, chills and a sore neck.

Traditional Chinese medicine commands a unique position among all traditional medicines because of its 5000 years of history. Our own interest in natural products from traditional Chinese medicine was triggered in the 1990s, by artemisinin‐type sesquiterpene lactones from Artemisia annua L. As demonstrated in recent years, this class of compounds has activity against malaria, cancer cells, and schistosomiasis. Interestingly, the bioactivity of artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivative artesunate is even broader and includes the inhibition of certain viruses, such as human cytomegalovirus and other members of the Herpesviridae family (e.g., herpes simplex virus type 1 and Epstein‐Barr virus), hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus. Analysis of the complete profile of the pharmacological activities and molecular modes of action of artemisinin and artesunate and their performance in clinical trials will further elucidate the full antimicrobial potential of these versatile pharmacological tools from nature. Continued

On the Trail of a Vaccine for Lyme Disease: Yale Researchers Target Tick Saliva
Published: November 18, 2009

New Haven, Conn. — A protein found in the saliva of ticks helps protect mice from developing Lyme disease, Yale researchers have discovered. The findings, published in the November 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, may spur development of a new vaccine against infection from Lyme disease, which is spread through tick bites. Continued

DEHLI (Reuters Health) – Diagnosis of malaria by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of saliva is non-invasive and comparable to the current gold standard blood smear examination, a multicenter group of researchers reports.

A rapid test for malaria that has a high sensitivity and specificity “could potentially avert more than 100,000 malaria-related deaths each year and save nearly $200 million that is spent on unnecessary treatments annually,” Dr. Davis C. Nwakanma from the Medical Research Council, Fajara, Banjul, Gambia and his team and colleagues estimate. Continued

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 29 – New research indicates that artemisinin resistance among Plasmodium falciparum isolates is common in western Cambodia and that in vitro testing may give false results.

Findings from another study indicate that inoculation of intact sporozoites can induce protection against malaria challenge. Both studies are reported in The New England Journal of Medicine for July 30. Continued