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Research and Reports in Tropical... 2018Mansonellosis is a filarial disease caused by three species of filarial (nematode) parasites (, , and ) that use humans as their main definitive hosts. These parasites... (Review)
Review
Mansonellosis is a filarial disease caused by three species of filarial (nematode) parasites (, , and ) that use humans as their main definitive hosts. These parasites are transmitted from person to person by bloodsucking females from two families of flies (Diptera). Biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) transmit all three species of , but blackflies (Simuliidae) are also known to play a role in the transmission of in parts of Latin America. and are endemic in western, eastern, and central Africa, and is also present in the neotropical region from equatorial Brazil to the Caribbean coast. has a patchy distribution in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mansonellosis infections are thought to have little pathogenicity and to be almost always asymptomatic, but occasionally causing itching, joint pains, enlarged lymph glands, and vague abdominal symptoms. In Brazil, infections are also associated with corneal lesions. Diagnosis is usually performed by detecting microfilariae in peripheral blood or skin without any periodicity. There is no standard treatment at present for mansonellosis. The combination therapy of diethylcarbamazine plus mebendazole for microfilaremia is presently one of the most widely used, but the use of ivermectin has also been proven to be very effective against microfilariae. Recently, doxycycline has shown excellent efficacy and safety when used as an antimicrobial against endosymbiotic bacteria harbored by some strains of and . Diethylcarbamazine and ivermectin have been used effectively to treat infection. There are at present no estimates of the disease burden caused by mansonellosis, and thus its importance to many global health professionals and policy makers is presently limited to how it can interfere with diagnostic tools used in modern filarial disease control and elimination programs aimed at other species of filariae.
PubMed: 30050351
DOI: 10.2147/RRTM.S125750 -
Research and Reports in Tropical... 2021Mansonellosis is caused by three filarial parasite species from the genus that commonly produce chronic human microfilaraemias: and . The disease is widespread in... (Review)
Review
Mansonellosis is caused by three filarial parasite species from the genus that commonly produce chronic human microfilaraemias: and . The disease is widespread in Africa, the Caribbean and South and Central America, and although it is typically asymptomatic it has been associated with mild pathologies including leg-chills, joint-pains, headaches, fevers, and corneal lesions. No robust mansonellosis disease burden estimates have yet been made and the impact the disease has on blood bank stocks and the monitoring of other filarial diseases is not thought to be of sufficient public health importance to justify dedicated disease management interventions. Mansonellosis´s Ceratopogonidae and Simuliidae vectors are not targeted by other control programmes and because of their small size and out-door biting habits are unlikely to be affected by interventions targeting other disease vectors like mosquitoes. The ivermectin and mebendazole-based mass drug administration (iMDA and mMDA) treatment regimens deployed by the WHO´s Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN) programme and its forerunners have, however, likely impacted significantly on the mansonellosis disease burden, principally by reducing the transmission of in Africa. The increasingly popular plan of using iMDA to control malaria could also affect parasite prevalence and transmission in Latin America in the future. However, a potentially far greater mansonellosis disease burden impact is likely to come from short-course curative anti- therapeutics, which are presently being developed for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis treatment. Even if the WHO´s ESPEN programme does not choose to deploy these drugs in MDA interventions, they have the potential to dramatically increase the financial and logistical feasibility of effective mansonellosis management. There is, thus, now a fresh and urgent need to better characterise the disease burden and eco-epidemiology of mansonellosis so that effective management programmes can be designed, advocated for and implemented.
PubMed: 34079424
DOI: 10.2147/RRTM.S274684 -
Transactions of the Royal Society of... 1988
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Central African Republic; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Mansonella; Middle Aged
PubMed: 3232187
DOI: 10.1016/0035-9203(88)90163-0 -
New Microbes and New Infections Nov 2018Human mansonellosis is caused by and the three main filarial species in the genus Despite accumulating evidence of a high prevalence in endemic areas, there is... (Review)
Review
Human mansonellosis is caused by and the three main filarial species in the genus Despite accumulating evidence of a high prevalence in endemic areas, there is currently no filariasis control programme targeting mansonellosis. The health-related impact on people living with these filariae remains unknown, and evidences regarding treatment strategies are scarce. Like other neglected diseases, it mainly affects poor populations living in tropical and subtropical climates. Mansonellosis can be considered one of the most neglected tropical infectious diseases. The objective of this literature review was to draw attention to the gap of knowledge regarding spp. taxonomy, the transmission of these arthropod-borne filariasis and the health outcomes of people living with mansonellosis.
PubMed: 30402239
DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2018.08.016 -
Community Eye Health 1998
PubMed: 17492030
DOI: No ID Found -
Allergy and Asthma Proceedings Mar 2018The association between parasites and urticaria was first suggested in the last century. A wide range, 0-75.4%, of the prevalence of parasitic infection has been... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The association between parasites and urticaria was first suggested in the last century. A wide range, 0-75.4%, of the prevalence of parasitic infection has been reported with chronic urticaria (CU). Moreover, urticaria may be detected in patients with parasitosis. Nematodes are a type of helminth that infect hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this work was to collect and review the published studies and cases of urticaria associated with nematode infections.
METHODS
A search of scientific literature data bases from January 1960 until May 2017 was carried out.
RESULTS
Numerous nematode infections have been associated with urticaria and/or angioedema: Anisakis simplex, Ascaris species (spp.), Dirofilaria spp., Enterobius vermicularis, Gnathostoma spp., Loa loa, Mansonella streptocerca; Necator americanus, Onchocerca volvulus, Strongyloides stercoralis, Toxocara spp., Trichinella spp., and Wuchereria bancrofti. The pathogenesis of urticaria in these infections generally remains unexplained. In some cases, skin manifestations were caused by the presence of the worm in the skin (Filaria, Gnathostoma); in other cases, such as A. simplex and S. stercoralis infections, there was a clear immunoglobulin E-mediated mechanism that led to allergic reactions, and infection and allergy coexisted; for other nematodes, the association was anecdotal and only a few cases were reported.
CONCLUSION
It is difficult to detect a certain causal effect, except when urticaria improves or disappears after infection treatment. Cases of isolated urticaria not associated with other symptoms rarely may be caused by helminths. In the current guideline for urticaria, parasitosis is considered to be a rare possible cause of CU in developed industrial countries, Therefore, although a routine screening of parasitic infection in CU is not recommended, in our opinion, testing a patient with urticaria for parasites is a physician's choice based on the characteristics of the patient, such as associated symptoms, dietary habit, provenance country and previous travel.
Topics: Allergens; Angioedema; Animals; Antigens, Helminth; Ascaridida Infections; Ascaridoidea; Humans; Immunoglobulin E; Italy; Skin; Species Specificity; Urticaria
PubMed: 29490766
DOI: 10.2500/aap.2018.38.4104 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Nov 1984Morphological studies of stained Mansonella streptocerca microfilariae from the skin of man and chimpanzees in West Africa revealed that the tail is bifid rather than...
Morphological studies of stained Mansonella streptocerca microfilariae from the skin of man and chimpanzees in West Africa revealed that the tail is bifid rather than blunt. This feature may be useful in characterization of related species.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Microfilariae; Pan troglodytes; Skin; Tail
PubMed: 6507737
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.1984.33.1278 -
Tropical Medicine & International... Feb 1997We studied the short-term effects of a single dose of 150 micrograms/kg body weight ivermectin on Mansonella streptocerca in an area endemic for streptocerciasis, but...
We studied the short-term effects of a single dose of 150 micrograms/kg body weight ivermectin on Mansonella streptocerca in an area endemic for streptocerciasis, but not for onchocerciasis, in western Uganda. Six and 12 days after treatment no microfilaria (mf) were found in the skin of 53 out of 96 mf carriers living in 3 villages, and the geometric means of the mf densities of remaining mf carriers were only 33-40% of pretreatment levels. This reduction of mf density was highly significant (P < 0.0001). Immunohistological examination of skin biopsies showed degenerated and disintegrating mf surrounded by activated eosinophils (positive for activated cationic protein), macrophages, and neutrophils (positive for myeloperoxidase and defensin) on day 6 after treatment. Remarkable was the invasion of young, L1 protein-positive macrophages and the release of neutrophil defensin as signs of acute inflammation. We conclude that ivermectin has a strong microfilaricidal activity against M. streptocerca. Common adverse effects were increased pruritus and acute papular dermatitis in 45% of 86 mf carriers on day 6 after treatment. No serious adverse side-effects were noticed in about 700 treated persons.
Topics: Adult; Animals; Child; Drug Eruptions; Female; Filaricides; Humans; Ivermectin; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Microfilariae; Middle Aged; Pruritus; Skin; Uganda
PubMed: 9472305
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-233.x -
Acta Tropica Jan 1997During filaria surveys Mansonella streptocerca was found for the first time in Uganda, in 12 widely scattered villages in the Bundibugyo district between the Ruwenzori...
During filaria surveys Mansonella streptocerca was found for the first time in Uganda, in 12 widely scattered villages in the Bundibugyo district between the Ruwenzori mountains and the Ituri forest, an area not endemic for Onchocerca volvulus. The crude prevalence in 806 examined adult persons ranged from 5 to 89% with an average of 61%. In 148 children the prevalence was 36%. The geometric mean of microfilaria (mf) densities in adult mf carriers was 1.7 mf/mg skin and the community microfilarial loads ranged from 1.0 to 13.7 mf/skin snip. In 476 persons skin snips from the shoulder contained mf in 58% and those from the buttocks in 48%. Skin snips from 68 persons digested with collagenase showed that only 30-37% of the mf emerged during 24 h incubation at 30 degrees C in isotonic salt solution. An itching acute or more often chronic papular dermatitis, predominantly on the upper parts of the body, was the typical skin lesion observed in 24% of 177 M. streptocerca mf carriers.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Buttocks; Child; Child, Preschool; Dermatitis; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Humans; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Microfilariae; Onchocerca volvulus; Onchocerciasis; Prevalence; Sensitivity and Specificity; Shoulder; Skin; Uganda
PubMed: 9083584
DOI: 10.1016/s0001-706x(96)00607-9 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Jun 1998To differentiate the skin-dwelling filariae Mansonella streptocerca and Onchocerca volvulus, a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed from small...
To differentiate the skin-dwelling filariae Mansonella streptocerca and Onchocerca volvulus, a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed from small amounts of parasite material present in skin biopsies. One nonspecific and one specific pair of primers were used to amplify the 5S rDNA spacer region of M. streptocerca. Biopsies with different microfilaria densities obtained from 104 Ugandans living in an area endemic for M. streptocerca were tested using both the nested PCR assay and standard parasitologic assessment of microfilariae. All 82 samples from microfilaria carriers were positive when tested using the nested PCR assay. In addition, M. streptocerca DNA could be detected in 16 samples thought to be microfilaria negative. Furthermore, six days following ivermectin treatment, M. streptocerca DNA was found in 12 of 14 microfilaria-negative biopsies. Control skin samples from patients infected with O. volvulus were all negative in the nested PCR assay. This assay improves the diagnosis of M. streptocerca and will facilitate further epidemiologic studies.
Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Biopsy; DNA Primers; DNA, Helminth; DNA, Ribosomal; Diagnosis, Differential; Humans; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Molecular Sequence Data; Onchocerca; Onchocerciasis; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Protein Sorting Signals; Sensitivity and Specificity; Skin; Skin Diseases, Parasitic
PubMed: 9660471
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.1998.58.816