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Frontiers in Immunology 2023Tuberculosis (TB), also known as the "White Plague", is caused by (). Before the COVID-19 epidemic, TB had the highest mortality rate of any single infectious disease.... (Review)
Review
Tuberculosis (TB), also known as the "White Plague", is caused by (). Before the COVID-19 epidemic, TB had the highest mortality rate of any single infectious disease. Vaccination is considered one of the most effective strategies for controlling TB. Despite the limitations of the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine in terms of protection against TB among adults, it is currently the only licensed TB vaccine. Recently, with the evolution of bioinformatics and structural biology techniques to screen and optimize protective antigens of , the tremendous potential of protein subunit vaccines is being exploited. Multistage subunit vaccines obtained by fusing immunodominant antigens from different stages of TB infection are being used both to prevent and to treat TB. Additionally, the development of novel adjuvants is compensating for weaknesses of immunogenicity, which is conducive to the flourishing of subunit vaccines. With advances in the development of animal models, preclinical vaccine protection assessments are becoming increasingly accurate. This review summarizes progress in the research of protein subunit TB vaccines during the past decades to facilitate the further optimization of protein subunit vaccines that may eradicate TB.
Topics: Animals; Protein Subunits; COVID-19; Vaccines, Subunit; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis Vaccines; BCG Vaccine
PubMed: 37654500
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1238586 -
Cureus Jul 2023The plague is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases that can affect mankind. The disease has caused countless pandemics over the centuries in many parts of the... (Review)
Review
The plague is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases that can affect mankind. The disease has caused countless pandemics over the centuries in many parts of the world, mainly Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has caused over 200 million deaths, making it one of the greatest scourges of mankind throughout the ages. Similar to the rest of Greece, Crete was affected for many years by the plague during the 19th century, which caused significant mortality, both in the cities and the countryside. The lack of doctors, the absence of organized health systems, the ignorance of the origin and modes of transmission, and the belief of the island's Muslim conquerors in destiny and God-given diseases made the spread of the plague very easy, while simultaneously making its control, with measures to protect public health, extremely difficult. This led to the repeated decimation of the island's population, with immeasurable social and economic consequences for its progression and future development.
PubMed: 37614276
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.42284 -
Microorganisms Jan 2024The human pathogen is responsible for bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague. A deeply comprehensive overview of its historical context, bacteriological... (Review)
Review
The human pathogen is responsible for bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague. A deeply comprehensive overview of its historical context, bacteriological characteristics, genomic analysis based on ancient DNA (aDNA) and modern strains, and its impact on historical and actual human populations, is explored. The results from multiple studies have been synthesized to investigate the origins of plague, its transmission, and effects on different populations. Additionally, molecular interactions of , from its evolutionary origins to its adaptation to flea-born transmission, and its impact on human and wild populations are considered. The characteristic combinations of aDNA patterns, which plays a decisive role in the reconstruction and analysis of ancient genomes, are reviewed. Bioinformatics is fundamental in identifying specific lineages, and automated pipelines are among the valuable tools in implementing such studies. Plague, which remains among human history's most lethal infectious diseases, but also other zoonotic diseases, requires the continuous investigation of plague topics. This can be achieved by improving molecular and genetic screening of animal populations, identifying ecological and social determinants of outbreaks, increasing interdisciplinary collaborations among scientists and public healthcare providers, and continued research into the characterization, diagnosis, and treatment of these diseases.
PubMed: 38257973
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010146 -
Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2023Zoonotic diseases, infections transmitted naturally from animals to humans, pose a significant public health challenge worldwide. After MERS-CoV was discovered, interest... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Zoonotic diseases, infections transmitted naturally from animals to humans, pose a significant public health challenge worldwide. After MERS-CoV was discovered, interest in camels was raised as potential intermediate hosts for zoonotic viruses. Most published review studies pay little attention to case reports or zoonotic epidemics where there is epidemiological proof of transmission from camels to humans. Accordingly, any pathogen found in camels known to cause zoonotic disease in other animals or humans is reported.
METHODS
Here, zoonotic diseases linked to camels are reviewed in the literature, focusing on those with epidemiological or molecular evidence of spreading from camels to humans. This review examines the risks posed by camel diseases to human health, emphasizing the need for knowledge and awareness in mitigating these risks.
RESULTS
A search of the literature revealed that eight (36.4%) of the 22 investigations that offered convincing evidence of camel-to-human transmission involved MERS, five (22.7%) Brucellosis, four (18.2%) plague caused by , three (13.6%) camelpox, one (4.5%) hepatitis E, and one (4.5%) anthrax. The reporting of these zoonotic diseases has been steadily increasing, with the most recent period, from 2010 to the present, accounting for 59% of the reports. Additionally, camels have been associated with several other zoonotic diseases, including toxoplasmosis, Rift Valley fever, TB, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Q fever, despite having no evidence of a transmission event. Transmission of human zoonotic diseases primarily occurs through camel milk, meat, and direct or indirect contact with camels. The above-mentioned diseases were discussed to determine risks to human health.
CONCLUSION
MERS, Brucellosis, plague caused by , camelpox, hepatitis E, and anthrax are the main zoonotic diseases associated with human disease events or outbreaks. Transmission to humans primarily occurs through camel milk, meat, and direct contact with camels. There is a need for comprehensive surveillance, preventive measures, and public health interventions based on a one-health approach to mitigate the risks of zoonotic infections linked to camels.
PubMed: 37929289
DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1244833 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Jun 2024Plague, a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, was responsible for 3 historical human pandemics that killed millions of people. It remains endemic in rodent... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Plague, a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, was responsible for 3 historical human pandemics that killed millions of people. It remains endemic in rodent populations in Africa, Asia, North America, and South America but human plague is rare in most of these locations. However, human plague is still highly prevalent in Madagascar, which typically records a significant part of all annual global cases. This has afforded an opportunity to study contemporary human plague in detail using various typing methods for Y. pestis.
AIM
This review aims to summarize the methods that have been used to type Y. pestis in Madagascar along with the major discoveries that have been made using these approaches.
METHODS
Pubmed and Google Scholar were used to search for the keywords: "typing Yersinia pestis Madagascar," "evolution Yersinia pestis Madagascar," and "diversity Yersinia pestis Madagascar." Eleven publications were relevant to our topic and further information was retrieved from references cited in those publications.
RESULTS
The history of Y. pestis typing in Madagascar can be divided in 2 periods: the pre-genomics and genomics eras. During the pre-genomics era, ribotyping, direct observation of plasmid content and plasmid restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) were employed but only revealed a limited amount of diversity among Malagasy Y. pestis strains. Extensive diversity only started to be revealed in the genomics era with the use of clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR), multiple-locus variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (MLVA), and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) discovered from whole genome sequences. These higher-resolution genotyping methods have made it possible to highlight the distribution and persistence of genotypes in the different plague foci of Madagascar (Mahajanga and the Central and Northern Highlands) by genotyping strains from the same locations across years, to detect transfers between foci, to date the emergence of genotypes, and even to document the transmission of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) strains during a pneumonic plague outbreak. Despite these discoveries, there still remain topics that deserve to be explored, such as the contribution of horizontal gene transfer to the evolution of Malagasy Y. pestis strains and the evolutionary history of Y. pestis in Madagascar.
CONCLUSIONS
Genotyping of Y. pestis has yielded important insights on plague in Madagascar, particularly since the advent of whole-genome sequencing (WGS). These include a better understanding of plague persistence in the environment, antimicrobial AMR and multi-drug resistance in Y. pestis, and the person-to-person spread of pneumonic plague. Considering that human plague is still a significant public health threat in Madagascar, these insights can be useful for controlling and preventing human plague in Madagascar and elsewhere, and also are relevant for understanding the historical pandemics and the possible use of Y. pestis as a biological weapon.
Topics: Yersinia pestis; Madagascar; Plague; Humans; Animals; Genotype; Genotyping Techniques
PubMed: 38935608
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012252 -
Current Research in Immunology 2023Plague remains endemic in many parts of the world, and despite efforts, no preventative vaccine is available. We performed a systemic review of available randomised... (Review)
Review
Plague remains endemic in many parts of the world, and despite efforts, no preventative vaccine is available. We performed a systemic review of available randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of live, attenuated, or killed plague vaccines vs. placebo, no intervention, or other plague vaccine to evaluate their efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Data sources included MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library; clinical trial registers; and reference lists of included studies. Primary outcomes were efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaborations tool. Only 2 RCTs, both on subunit vaccines, were included out of the 75 screened articles. The 2 trials included 240 participants with a follow-up of 3 months and 60 participants with a follow-up of 13 months, respectively. Safety evidence was limited, but both vaccines were well tolerated, with only mild to moderate adverse events. Both vaccines were immunogenic in a dose-dependent manner. However, given the limited data identified in this systematic review, we are unable to quantify the efficacy of vaccines to prevent plague, as well as their long-term safety and immunogenicity. More trials of plague vaccines are needed to generate additional evidence of their long-term effects.
PubMed: 37954941
DOI: 10.1016/j.crimmu.2023.100072 -
Disasters Jul 2024Breakthroughs in international biomedical science circa 1900 meant that plague could be contained through strict quarantine regulations. These measures were successfully...
Breakthroughs in international biomedical science circa 1900 meant that plague could be contained through strict quarantine regulations. These measures were successfully deployed with help from local governments during outbreaks of pneumonic plague in Manchuria (1910-11), Shanxi (1918), and elsewhere in North China. This containment shows the effectiveness of uniting international knowledge and local cooperation in disaster response. Yet, in later outbreaks in similar locations, control measures identical to those instituted a decade earlier were rejected, and plague spread largely unchecked. Historical case studies of the control and spread of infectious disease in North China reveal the complexities of the relationship between global knowledge and its broader, local integration, variation in what constitutes effective 'local' cooperation in adopting international knowledge, and the paramount importance of the locality to the landscape of disaster response. History can reveal critical issues in localisation of disaster response still salient today.
Topics: Plague; China; Humans; History, 20th Century; Disease Outbreaks; International Cooperation; Quarantine
PubMed: 38872583
DOI: 10.1111/disa.12629 -
Cell Apr 2024Plant diseases cause famines, drive human migration, and present challenges to agricultural sustainability as pathogen ranges shift under climate change. Plant breeders... (Review)
Review
Plant diseases cause famines, drive human migration, and present challenges to agricultural sustainability as pathogen ranges shift under climate change. Plant breeders discovered Mendelian genetic loci conferring disease resistance to specific pathogen isolates over 100 years ago. Subsequent breeding for disease resistance underpins modern agriculture and, along with the emergence and focus on model plants for genetics and genomics research, has provided rich resources for molecular biological exploration over the last 50 years. These studies led to the identification of extracellular and intracellular receptors that convert recognition of extracellular microbe-encoded molecular patterns or intracellular pathogen-delivered virulence effectors into defense activation. These receptor systems, and downstream responses, define plant immune systems that have evolved since the migration of plants to land ∼500 million years ago. Our current understanding of plant immune systems provides the platform for development of rational resistance enhancement to control the many diseases that continue to plague crop production.
Topics: Plant Diseases; Plant Immunity; Plants; Disease Resistance; Humans
PubMed: 38670067
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.045 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Nov 2023The causative agent of plague, Yersinia pestis, is maintained in nature via a flea-rodent cycle. Western Iran is an old focus for plague, and recent data indicate that...
BACKGROUND
The causative agent of plague, Yersinia pestis, is maintained in nature via a flea-rodent cycle. Western Iran is an old focus for plague, and recent data indicate that rodents and dogs in this region have serological evidence of Y. pestis infection. The purpose of this study was to conduct a large-scale investigation of Y. pestis infection in shepherd dogs, rodents, and their fleas in old foci for plague in Western Iran.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted in Hamadan province from 2014 to 2020. Rodents and fleas were collected from various locations throughout this region. Y. pestis was investigated in rodent spleen samples and fleas using culture, serology, and real-time PCR methods. Additionally, sera samples were collected from carnivores and hares in this region, and the IgG antibody against the Y. pestis F1 antigen was assessed using an ELISA.
RESULTS
In this study, 927 rodents were captured, with Meriones spp. (91.8%) and Microtus qazvinensis (2.6%) being the most prevalent. A total of 6051 fleas were collected from rodents and carnivores, most of which were isolated from Meriones persicus. None of the rodents or fleas examined tested positive for Y. pestis using real-time PCR and culture methods. Meanwhile, IgG antibodies were detected in 0.32% of rodents. All serologically positive rodents belonged to M. persicus. Furthermore, none of the sera from the 138 carnivores (129 sheepdogs, five Vulpes vulpes, four Canis aureus), and nine hares tested positive in the ELISA test.
CONCLUSION
This primary survey of rodent reservoirs shows serological evidence of Y. pestis infection. Western Iran is an endemic plague focus, and as such, it requires ongoing surveillance.
Topics: Animals; Dogs; Plague; Hares; Iran; Gerbillinae; Yersinia pestis; Siphonaptera; Flea Infestations
PubMed: 37948337
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011722 -
BMC Veterinary Research Oct 2023Zoonotic diseases are like a sneaky game of "tag" between animals and humans, where the stakes are high and the consequences can be deadly. From the bubonic plague to...
Zoonotic diseases are like a sneaky game of "tag" between animals and humans, where the stakes are high and the consequences can be deadly. From the bubonic plague to COVID-19, zoonotic diseases have affected humanity for centuries, reminding us of our interconnectedness with the animal kingdom and the importance of taking proactive measures to prevent their spread. Whether it is avoiding contact with animals or practicing good hygiene, staying safe from zoonotic diseases is a game we all need to play.
Topics: Humans; Animals; COVID-19; Zoonoses; Plague
PubMed: 37789313
DOI: 10.1186/s12917-023-03736-8