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Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2023The interferon pathway is the first line of defense in viral infection in all mammals, and its induction stimulates broad expression of interferon-stimulated genes... (Review)
Review
The interferon pathway is the first line of defense in viral infection in all mammals, and its induction stimulates broad expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In mice and also humans, the antiviral function of ISGs has been extensively studied. As an important viral reservoir in nature, bats can coexist with a variety of pathogenic viruses without overt signs of disease, yet only limited data are available for the role of ISGs in bats. There are multiple species of bats and work has begun deciphering the differences and similarities between ISG function of human/mouse and different bat species. This review summarizes the current knowledge of conserved and bat-specific-ISGs and their known antiviral effector functions.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Mice; Antiviral Agents; Interferons; Chiroptera
PubMed: 37661999
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1224532 -
Journal of Neurovirology Aug 2023Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the main contributor of the ongoing AIDS epidemic, remains one of the most challenging and complex viruses to target and eradicate... (Review)
Review
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the main contributor of the ongoing AIDS epidemic, remains one of the most challenging and complex viruses to target and eradicate due to frequent genome mutation and immune evasion. Despite the development of potent antiretroviral therapies, HIV remains an incurable infection as the virus persists in latent reservoirs throughout the body. To innovate a safe and effective cure strategy for HIV in humans, animal models are needed to better understand viral proliferation, disease progression, and therapeutic response. Nonhuman primates infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) provide an ideal model to study HIV infection and pathogenesis as they are closely related to humans genetically and express phenotypically similar immune systems. Examining the clinical outcomes of novel treatment strategies within nonhuman primates facilitates our understanding of HIV latency and advances the development of a true cure to HIV.
Topics: Animals; HIV; HIV Infections; Primates; Disease Progression; Immune Evasion
PubMed: 37635184
DOI: 10.1007/s13365-023-01162-y -
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 2023Chikungunya virus is a mosquito-borne alphavirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Humans serve as the primary reservoir. Chikungunya infections typically appear with an... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Chikungunya virus is a mosquito-borne alphavirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Humans serve as the primary reservoir. Chikungunya infections typically appear with an abrupt onset of fever, rash, and severe joint pain. Some 40% of cases develop chronic rheumatologic complications that can persist months to years.
OBJECTIVES
To improve precision of risk characterization by analyzing cases of chikungunya by year and by country and depicting this geotemporal distribution in map form.
METHOD
Chikungunya case counts by year were compiled from national or regional health authorities from 2011 to 2022. These data were augmented by published reviews plus the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED). Country-level distribution was categorized into four groups based on recency and magnitude. Data for India were mapped on a per-state basis.
RESULTS
The global map depicts distribution of chikungunya disease from 2011 through 2022. Most cases are reported in tropical and subtropical areas, but notable exceptions include the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Countries of high recency and frequency include India, Brazil, Sudan, and Thailand. Countries with high frequency, but few cases reported in 2019-22 include many Latin American and Caribbean countries. Subnational foci are discussed in general and mapped for India. The range of Aedes mosquitoes is broader than the geography where chikungunya infection is typically diagnosed.
CONCLUSIONS
These maps help identify geographical regions where residents or travelers are at greatest risk of chikungunya. Once vaccines are licensed to help prevent chikungunya, maps like these can help guide future vaccine decision-making.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Chikungunya Fever; Mosquito Vectors; Chikungunya virus; Aedes; Exanthema
PubMed: 37307983
DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2023.102603 -
Heliyon Dec 2023The potential biotechnological uses of bat-associated bacteria are discussed briefly, indicating avenues for biotechnological applications of bat-associated microbes.... (Review)
Review
The potential biotechnological uses of bat-associated bacteria are discussed briefly, indicating avenues for biotechnological applications of bat-associated microbes. The uniqueness of bats in terms of their lifestyle, genomes and molecular immunology may predispose bats to act as disease reservoirs. Molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown several instances of bats harbouring the ancestral lineages of bacterial (), protozoal (, ) and viral (SARS-CoV2) pathogens infecting humans. Along with the transmission of viruses from bats, we also discuss the potential roles of bat-associated bacteria, fungi, and protozoan parasites in emerging diseases. Current evidence suggests that environmental changes and interactions between wildlife, livestock, and humans contribute to the spill-over of infectious agents from bats to other hosts. Domestic animals including livestock may act as intermediate amplifying hosts for bat-origin pathogens to transmit to humans. An increasing number of studies investigating bat pathogen diversity and infection dynamics have been published. However, whether or how these infectious agents are transmitted both within bat populations and to other hosts, including humans, often remains unknown. Metagenomic approaches are uncovering the dynamics and distribution of potential pathogens in bat microbiomes, which might improve the understanding of disease emergence and transmission. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on bat zoonoses of public health concern and flag the gaps in the knowledge to enable further research and allocation of resources for tackling future outbreaks.
PubMed: 38125540
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22351 -
The Veterinary Quarterly Dec 2023Tularemia caused by Gram-negative, coccobacillus bacterium, is a highly infectious zoonotic disease. Human cases have been reported mainly from the United States,...
Tularemia caused by Gram-negative, coccobacillus bacterium, is a highly infectious zoonotic disease. Human cases have been reported mainly from the United States, Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland, and some European and Asian countries. Naturally, the disease occurs in several vertebrates, particularly lagomorphs. Type A (subspecies ) is more virulent and causes disease mainly in North America; type B (subspecies ) is widespread, while subspecies is present in central Asia. is a possible bioweapon due to its lethality, low infectious dosage, and aerosol transmission. Small mammals like rabbits, hares, and muskrats are primary sources of human infections, but true reservoir of is unknown. Vector-borne tularemia primarily involves ticks and mosquitoes. The bacterial subspecies involved and mode of transmission determine the clinical picture. Early signs are flu-like illnesses that may evolve into different clinical forms of tularemia that may or may not include lymphadenopathy. Ulcero-glandular and glandular forms are acquired by arthropod bite or handling of infected animals, oculo-glandular form as a result of conjunctival infection, and oro-pharyngeal form by intake of contaminated food or water. Pulmonary form appears after inhalation of bacteria. Typhoidal form may occur after infection different routes. Human-to-human transmission has not been known. Diagnosis can be achieved by serology, bacterial culture, and molecular methods. Treatment for tularemia typically entails use of quinolones, tetracyclines, or aminoglycosides. Preventive measures are necessary to avoid infection although difficult to implement. Research is underway for the development of effective live attenuated and subunit vaccines.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Rabbits; Tularemia; Zoonoses; Francisella tularensis; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Mammals
PubMed: 37916743
DOI: 10.1080/01652176.2023.2277753 -
Veterinary Research Communications Dec 2023Leishmania is a genus of parasitic protozoa that causes a disease called leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female... (Review)
Review
Leishmania is a genus of parasitic protozoa that causes a disease called leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female sandflies. There are several different species of Leishmania that can cause various forms of the disease, and the symptoms can range from mild to severe, depending on species of Leishmania involved and the immune response of the host. Leishmania parasites have a variety of reservoirs, including humans, domestic animals, horses, rodents, wild animals, birds, and reptiles. Leishmaniasis is endemic of 90 countries, mainly in South American, East and West Africa, Mediterranean region, Indian subcontinent, and Central Asia. In recent years, cases have been detected in other countries, and it is already an infection present throughout the world. The increase in temperatures due to climate change makes it possible for sandflies to appear in countries with traditionally colder regions, and the easy movement of people and animals today, facilitate the appearance of Leishmania species in new countries. These data mean that leishmaniasis will probably become an emerging zoonosis and a public health problem in the coming years, which we must consider controlling it from a One Health point of view. This review summarizes the prevalence of Leishmania spp. around the world and the current knowledge regarding the animals that could be reservoirs of the parasite.
Topics: Humans; Female; Animals; Horses; Leishmaniasis; Zoonoses; Leishmania; Psychodidae; Rodentia; Horse Diseases
PubMed: 37438495
DOI: 10.1007/s11259-023-10171-5 -
Biochimie Dec 2023The liver plays a crucial role in lipid metabolism and metabolic homeostasis. Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease...
The liver plays a crucial role in lipid metabolism and metabolic homeostasis. Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide and currently has no specific treatments. Lifestyle modifications such as weight loss, exercise, and dietary changes are recommended to reduce the risk factors associated with the disease. Oxidized cholesterol products, some phospholipids and diacylglycerols can activate inflammatory pathways and contribute to the progression to Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis. Monitoring the whole plasma and liver lipidome may provide insights into the onset, development, and prevention of inflammatory-related diseases. As Lipid Droplets (LDs) represent augmented lipid reservoirs in NAFLD, new developments are being made on different therapies focused on LD associated proteins modulation (seipin, PLIN-2), as well as LD lipophagy mechanisms. The information covered in this publication provides an overview of the available research on lipid biomarkers linked to NAFLD and can be used to guide the development of future pharmacological therapies.
Topics: Humans; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Lipid Metabolism; Liver; Cholesterol; Biomarkers
PubMed: 37769937
DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2023.09.020 -
American Journal of Biological... Dec 2023The impact of endemic and epidemic disease on humans has traditionally been seen as a comparatively recent historical phenomenon associated with the Neolithisation of... (Review)
Review
The impact of endemic and epidemic disease on humans has traditionally been seen as a comparatively recent historical phenomenon associated with the Neolithisation of human groups, an increase in population size led by sedentarism, and increasing contact with domesticated animals as well as species occupying opportunistic symbiotic and ectosymbiotic relationships with humans. The orthodox approach is that Neolithisation created the conditions for increasing population size able to support a reservoir of infectious disease sufficient to act as selective pressure. This orthodoxy is the result of an overly simplistic reliance on skeletal data assuming that no skeletal lesions equated to a healthy individual, underpinned by the assumption that hunter-gatherer groups were inherently healthy while agricultural groups acted as infectious disease reservoirs. The work of van Blerkom, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., vol. suppl 37 (2003), Wolfe et al., Nature, vol. 447 (2007) and Houldcroft and Underdown, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., vol. 160, (2016) has changed this landscape by arguing that humans and pathogens have long been fellow travelers. The package of infectious diseases experienced by our ancient ancestors may not be as dissimilar to modern infectious diseases as was once believed. The importance of DNA, from ancient and modern sources, to the study of the antiquity of infectious disease, and its role as a selective pressure cannot be overstated. Here we consider evidence of ancient epidemic and endemic infectious diseases with inferences from modern and ancient human and hominin DNA, and from circulating and extinct pathogen genomes. We argue that the pandemics of the past are a vital tool to unlock the weapons needed to fight pandemics of the future.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Friends; Hominidae; Communicable Diseases; Genome; DNA
PubMed: 38006200
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24737 -
Zoonoses and Public Health Aug 2023Ťahyňa virus (TAHV) is an orthobunyavirus and was the first arbovirus isolated from mosquitoes in Europe and is associated with floodplain areas as a characteristic... (Review)
Review
Ťahyňa virus (TAHV) is an orthobunyavirus and was the first arbovirus isolated from mosquitoes in Europe and is associated with floodplain areas as a characteristic biotope, hares as reservoir hosts and the mammal-feeding mosquitoes Aedes vexans as the main vector. The disease caused by TAHV ("Valtice fever") was detected in people with acute flu-like illness in the 1960s, and later the medical significance of TAHV became the subject of many studies. Although TAHV infections are widespread, the prevalence and number of actual cases, clinical manifestations in humans and animals and the ecology of transmission by mosquitoes and their vertebrate hosts are rarely reported. Despite its association with meningitis in humans, TAHV is a neglected human pathogen with unknown public health importance in Central Europe, and a potential emerging disease threat elsewhere in Europe due to extreme summer flooding events.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Encephalitis Virus, California; Mosquito Vectors; Europe; Arboviruses; Aedes; Mammals
PubMed: 37128975
DOI: 10.1111/zph.13042