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The American Journal of Tropical... Nov 1987
Review
Topics: Animals; Humans; Parasitic Diseases; Research
PubMed: 3318514
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.1987.37.417 -
Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za... Apr 2018Parasitic diseases are common infectious diseases closely related to poverty, which are mainly endemic in the tropical and subtropical regions. Africa is the major... (Review)
Review
Parasitic diseases are common infectious diseases closely related to poverty, which are mainly endemic in the tropical and subtropical regions. Africa is the major epidemic area of parasitic diseases, and the global burden of malaria and schistosomiasis is over 85% in Africa. This paper reviews the disease burden, regional distribution and control strategies of the main parasitic diseases in Africa, in order to promote the prevention and control of parasitic diseases in this area.
Topics: Africa; Cost of Illness; Malaria; Parasitic Diseases; Poverty; Schistosomiasis
PubMed: 29770673
DOI: 10.16250/j.32.1374.2018020 -
Veterinary Parasitology Jul 1997In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional health-care practices in the western as well as in the developing world. In animal health, this... (Review)
Review
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional health-care practices in the western as well as in the developing world. In animal health, this has led to further interest in ethnoveterinary research and development, a relatively new field of study that covers traditional practices, ethnobotany and application of animal care practices embedded in local tradition. This development has practical applications for animal parasite control, whether related to epidemiology, diagnostics and therapy, or to comprehensive disease control methods leading to integrated pest/disease management. Examples are provided of traditional practices in diagnostics, herd-, grazing- and pasture-management as well as of manipulation and treatment. Many of these applications indicate a basic understanding of disease, especially epidemiology, by farmers and herders, although not always explained, or explainable, in rational western ways. Although abuse and quackery exist, the application of traditional practices seems to make sense in areas without adequate veterinary services. Moreover, acknowledgement of the value of traditional knowledge empowers local herders/farmers to try to solve their herds' disease problems in a cost-effective way. Traditional practices often make sense, albeit with some regulation to ascertain safety and to prevent abuse.
Topics: Animal Husbandry; Animal Welfare; Animals; Breeding; Ecology; Parasitic Diseases; Parasitic Diseases, Animal; Parasitology; Veterinary Medicine
PubMed: 9261977
DOI: 10.1016/s0304-4017(97)00031-9 -
Cells Nov 2023Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) constitute a group of diseases that generally develop in tropical or subtropical climatic conditions and are related to poverty.... (Review)
Review
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) constitute a group of diseases that generally develop in tropical or subtropical climatic conditions and are related to poverty. Within the spectrum of NTDs, diseases caused by protozoa such as malaria, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis exhibit elevated mortality rates, thereby constituting a substantial public health concern. Beyond their protozoan etiology, these NTDs share other similarities, such as the challenge of control and the lack of affordable, safe, and effective drugs. In view of the above, the need to explore novel diagnostic predictors and therapeutic targets for the treatment of these parasitic diseases is evident. In this context, galectins are attractive because they are a set of lectins bound to β-galactosides that play key roles in a variety of cellular processes, including host-parasite interaction such as adhesion and entry of parasites into the host cells, and participate in antiparasitic immunity in either a stimulatory or inhibitory manner, especially the galectins-1, -2, -3, and -9. These functions bestow upon galectins significant therapeutic prospects in the context of managing and diagnosing NTDs. Thus, the present review aims to elucidate the potential role of galectins in the diagnosis and treatment of malaria, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease.
Topics: Animals; Parasites; Galectins; Parasitic Diseases; Leishmaniasis; Chagas Disease; Malaria
PubMed: 38067100
DOI: 10.3390/cells12232671 -
American Family Physician May 2014Neglected parasitic infections, including Chagas disease, toxocariasis, cysticercosis, and toxoplasmosis, affect millions of persons in the United States. Relatively few... (Review)
Review
Neglected parasitic infections, including Chagas disease, toxocariasis, cysticercosis, and toxoplasmosis, affect millions of persons in the United States. Relatively few resources have been devoted to surveillance, prevention, and treatment of these diseases. Chagas disease primarily affects Latin American immigrants and can cause heart failure and death if not treated. Immediate antiparasitic treatment is indicated for most patients with acute Chagas disease. Treatment is recommended for patients younger than 18 years who have chronic Chagas disease and is generally recommended for adults younger than 50 years who do not have advanced cardiomyopathy; treatment decisions for other patients should be made on an individual basis. Toxocariasis primarily affects children and can cause gastrointestinal, respiratory, and ophthalmologic disease. Treatment options include albendazole and mebendazole. Patients with ocular infection require referral to an ophthalmologist. Neurocysticercosis, a form of cysticercosis, is the most common infectious cause of seizures in some parts of the United States. Initial treatment should focus on symptom control. Humans generally acquire toxoplasmosis by eating undercooked contaminated meat or ingesting things that have been contaminated with cat feces. Congenital infection can result in miscarriage or adverse fetal effects. Treatment is recommended for immunosuppressed persons, pregnant women, and immunocompetent persons with severe symptoms.
Topics: Animals; Antiparasitic Agents; Chagas Disease; Cysticercosis; Humans; Neglected Diseases; Parasitic Diseases; Physicians, Family; Toxocariasis; Toxoplasmosis; United States
PubMed: 24866216
DOI: No ID Found -
Internal Medicine Journal Nov 2002The diagnosis and management of parasitic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) is difficult, even for infectious diseases physicians and neurologists.... (Review)
Review
The diagnosis and management of parasitic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) is difficult, even for infectious diseases physicians and neurologists. Furthermore, few overviews of the spectrum of causative helminths and clinical syndromes have been published. In the present study, we review the seven most common parasitic diseases of the CNS: (i) cysticercosis, (ii) neuroschistosomiasis, (iii) paragonimiasis, (iv) angiostrongyliasis, (v) hydatid disease, (vi) sparganosis and (vii) gnathostomiasis. Major syndromes of parasitic disease of the CNS and their differential causes are discussed, including: (i) cystic lesions, (ii) enhancing granulomas (with and without creeping subcutaneous eruptions), (iii) eosinophilic meningoencephalitis and (iv) spinal cord disease. Specific risk factors that predispose to these infections are also discussed and particular attention is drawn to the situation in Australia.
Topics: Angiostrongylus; Animals; Australia; Central Nervous System Parasitic Infections; Echinococcosis; Gnathostoma; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neurocysticercosis; Neuroschistosomiasis; Paragonimiasis; Sparganosis; Spirurida Infections; Strongylida Infections; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 12412938
DOI: 10.1046/j.1445-5994.2002.00265.x -
Interdisciplinary Sciences,... Mar 2024The precise identification of associations between diseases and drugs is paramount for comprehending the etiology and mechanisms underlying parasitic diseases....
The precise identification of associations between diseases and drugs is paramount for comprehending the etiology and mechanisms underlying parasitic diseases. Computational approaches are highly effective in discovering and predicting disease-drug associations. However, the majority of these approaches primarily rely on link-based methodologies within distinct biomedical bipartite networks. In this study, we reorganized a fundamental dataset of parasitic disease-drug associations using the latest databases, and proposed a prediction model called PDDGCN, based on a multi-view graph convolutional network. To begin with, we fused similarity networks with binary networks to establish multi-view heterogeneous networks. We utilized neighborhood information aggregation layers to refine node embeddings within each view of the multi-view heterogeneous networks, leveraging inter- and intra-domain message passing to aggregate information from neighboring nodes. Subsequently, we integrated multiple embeddings from each view and fed them into the ultimate discriminator. The experimental results demonstrate that PDDGCN outperforms five state-of-the-art methods and four compared machine learning algorithms. Additionally, case studies have substantiated the effectiveness of PDDGCN in identifying associations between parasitic diseases and drugs. In summary, the PDDGCN model has the potential to facilitate the discovery of potential treatments for parasitic diseases and advance our comprehension of the etiology in this field. The source code is available at https://github.com/AhauBioinformatics/PDDGCN .
Topics: Humans; Parasitic Diseases; Algorithms; Databases, Factual; Machine Learning; Software
PubMed: 38294648
DOI: 10.1007/s12539-023-00600-z -
Clinical Microbiology and Infection :... Jun 2016
Topics: Communicable Disease Control; Global Health; Humans; Parasitic Diseases
PubMed: 27172810
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2016.04.020 -
Turkiye Parazitolojii Dergisi Mar 2018Over the past decade, the number of international travels has increased. Hence, the risk of transmission of parasitic diseases has also increased. One of the risk... (Review)
Review
Over the past decade, the number of international travels has increased. Hence, the risk of transmission of parasitic diseases has also increased. One of the risk infections is malaria; Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum species can be transmitted. The distribution of leishmaniasis cases has been reported from the south of USA to the north of Argentina. Approximately 57,000 cases of cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis occur annually, and approximately 4000 visceral leishmaniasis cases are observed. It is reported that Chagas disease is endemic in 21 countries, and approximately 6 million people are affected every year. In this continent, 25 million people are at a risk of schistosomiasis, and most (90%) are living in Brazil. According to the World Health Organization, individuals travelling to Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela are at a risk of onchocerciasis as well as infecting approximately 12.6 million individuals with lymphatic filariasis (80% in Haiti). Significant mortality and morbidity can be observed in cases where necessary precautions are not taken in individuals travelling to these regions and where appropriate prophylactic drugs are not administered.
Topics: Central America; Chagas Disease; Global Health; Humans; Leishmaniasis; Malaria; Parasitic Diseases; South America; Travel Medicine
PubMed: 29780019
DOI: 10.5152/tpd.2018.5255 -
Veterinary Parasitology Nov 2011Diseases resulting from zoonotic transmission of parasites are common. Humans become infected through food, water, soil and close contact with animals. Most parasitic... (Review)
Review
Diseases resulting from zoonotic transmission of parasites are common. Humans become infected through food, water, soil and close contact with animals. Most parasitic zoonoses are neglected diseases despite causing a considerable global burden of ill health in humans and having a substantial financial burden on livestock industries. This review aims to bring together the current data available on global burden estimates of parasitic zoonoses and indicate any changes in the trends of these diseases. There is a clear need of such information as interventions to control zoonoses are often in their animal hosts. The costs of such interventions together with animal health issues will drive the cost effectiveness of intervention strategies. What is apparent is that collectively, parasitic zoonoses probably have a similar human disease burden to any one of the big three human infectious diseases: malaria, tuberculosis or HIV in addition to animal health burden. Although the global burden for most parasitic zoonoses is not yet known, the major contributors to the global burden of parasitic zoonoses are toxoplasmosis, food borne trematode infections, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, leishmaniosis and zoonotic schistosomosis. In addition, diarrhoea resulting from zoonotic protozoa may have a significant impact.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Parasitic Diseases; Socioeconomic Factors; Zoonoses
PubMed: 21862222
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.07.017