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Germs Dec 2016is a human filarial parasite transmitted by biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) belonging to the genus and it is widely spread in sub-Saharan Africa. While most...
INTRODUCTION
is a human filarial parasite transmitted by biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) belonging to the genus and it is widely spread in sub-Saharan Africa. While most cases are asymptomatic, mansonelliasis can be associated with angioedema, arthralgia, swellings, pain in the scrotum or in serous cavities such as the pleura, the peritoneum, the pericardium, etc. Mansonelliasis can be really hard to treat, but it has been shown that an intensive treatment using albendazole can clear the parasite.
CASE REPORT
Here we describe a case of a 16 months-old malnourished child with pneumonia due to in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
CONCLUSION
Although our investigations confirmed infection, this case shows that it is very difficult to come to a conclusive diagnosis.
PubMed: 28053918
DOI: 10.11599/germs.2016.1101 -
Emerging Infectious Diseases Sep 2017We report 74 patients in Italy infected with Mansonella perstans nematodes, a poorly described filarial parasite. M. perstans nematodes should be included in the...
We report 74 patients in Italy infected with Mansonella perstans nematodes, a poorly described filarial parasite. M. perstans nematodes should be included in the differential diagnosis for patients with eosinophilia from disease-endemic countries. Serologic analysis is useful for screening, and testing for microfilaremia in peripheral blood should be performed for parasite-positive patients.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Africa South of the Sahara; Aged; Animals; Antibodies, Helminth; Child; Child, Preschool; Diagnosis, Differential; Emigrants and Immigrants; Eosinophilia; Female; Humans; Italy; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Travel
PubMed: 28820369
DOI: 10.3201/eid2309.170263 -
African Journal of Infectious Diseases 2010
PubMed: 23878696
DOI: 10.4314/ajid.v4i1.55085 -
Acta Tropica Apr 2021Infections with the filarial nematodes Loa loa and Mansonella perstans are among the most neglected filarial infections. L. loa is endemic in 11 countries of Central and... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Infections with the filarial nematodes Loa loa and Mansonella perstans are among the most neglected filarial infections. L. loa is endemic in 11 countries of Central and West Africa and loiasis is estimated to affect about 20 million people. M. perstans infection is widespread in more than 30 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the difficulty in diagnosing loiasis and M. perstans mansonellosis on a clinical basis, the diagnosis of infection with L. loa and M. perstans relies on laboratory techniques. Definitive diagnosis is based on the detection, identification, and quantification of circulating microfilariae (mf) by microscopy of concentrated blood. However, this is impractical for screening purposes as it requires expert laboratory personnel, considerable blood manipulation, and is time consuming, especially for the final issue of negative result reports, which are very common in the population visited outside endemic areas. The aim of the current work is the preliminary evaluation of the performance of the in-house real-time PCR described by Ta and colleagues compared to the routine microscopic approach for the screening of filarial infections in the clinical setting outside endemic areas, using samples from patients accessing the dedicated outpatient clinics for migrants and travelers of a reference centre for tropical diseases in Northern Italy.
Topics: Adult; Animals; Female; Humans; Loiasis; Male; Mansonelliasis; Microfilariae; Microscopy; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 33484727
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.105838 -
Blood Transfusion = Trasfusione Del... Apr 2010
Topics: Animals; Blood; Blood Donors; Chad; Endemic Diseases; Eosinophilia; Humans; Infant; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Mass Screening; Microfilariae; Parasitemia; Transfusion Reaction; Travel
PubMed: 20383308
DOI: 10.2450/2009.0140-09 -
PeerJ 2016Within the Ceratopogonidae family, many genera transmit numerous diseases to humans and animals, while others are important pollinators of tropical crops. In the Yungas...
Within the Ceratopogonidae family, many genera transmit numerous diseases to humans and animals, while others are important pollinators of tropical crops. In the Yungas ecoregion of Argentina, previous systematic and ecological research on Ceratopogonidae focused on , since they are the main transmitters of mansonelliasis in northwestern Argentina; however, few studies included the genera , , , , , and . Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the presence and abundance of Ceratopogonidae in this region, their association with meteorological variables, and their variation in areas disturbed by human activity. Monthly collection of specimens was performed from July 2008 to July 2009 using CDC miniature light traps deployed for two consecutive days. A total of 360 specimens were collected, being the most abundant genus (48.06%) followed by (26.94%) and (13.61%). Bivariate analyses showed significant differences in the abundance of the genera at different sampling sites and climatic conditions, with the summer season and El Corralito site showing the greatest abundance of specimens. Accumulated rainfall was the variable that related the most to the abundance of (10.56%), while temperature was the most closely related variable to the abundance of , , and .
PubMed: 27896023
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2655 -
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 -
Parasites & Vectors Apr 2019Culicoides (Diptera; Ceratoponidae) are tiny, stout, blood-sucking flies with a near worldwide distribution. When present, they are often considered a biting nuisance...
BACKGROUND
Culicoides (Diptera; Ceratoponidae) are tiny, stout, blood-sucking flies with a near worldwide distribution. When present, they are often considered a biting nuisance but in addition, they are involved in the transmission of pathogens to humans, domestic and wild animals. Data on Culicoides species in the South-West region of Cameroon dates back to the 1950s. Over the decades, ecological transformation due to agriculture and deforestation may have affected the population dynamics of Culicoides and therefore our study provides an update of their bio-ecology in the region. Furthermore, the role of various Culicoides species in the transmission of parasitic filariae of the genus Mansonella remains inconclusive in this region. This study was designed to address these unknown issues and expand on current scientific knowledge.
RESULTS
Eight species of Culicoides (C. bedfordi, C. inornatipennis, C. fulvithorax, C. grahamii, C. imicola, C. milnei, C. neavei and C. kumbaensis) were collected using light traps and human baits. Culicoides grahamii was the most abundant species, followed closely by C. milnei. Three species (C. milnei, C. grahamii and C. inornatipennis) were common in all observed larval development sites. Only four species (C. inornatipennis, C. fulvithorax, C. grahamii and C. milnei) were collected on humans. Anthropophilic species were more abundant (P < 0.001) in the evening (4-7 pm) when compared to the morning collections (6-9 am). After overnight fly collections using a drop trap with a human microfilaremic donor, C. milnei emerged as the potential host for transmitting Mansonella perstans. Substantial heterogeneity was observed between the trap visiting cycles of the various species (P < 0.001). The biting cycle of the main vector, C. milnei, showed two peaks (10-11 pm and 4-5 am), the highest being 10-11 pm.
CONCLUSIONS
The Culicoides fauna of the South-West region of Cameroon has not changed significantly since the 1950s. Culicoides milnei was demonstrated to be the major vector of M. perstans in this part of Cameroon. It is essentially a nocturnal species which peaks in abundance between 10 and 11 pm.
Topics: Animals; Biodiversity; Cameroon; Ceratopogonidae; Female; Humans; Insect Vectors; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis
PubMed: 30975194
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-019-3432-9 -
Scientific Reports Jul 2019Mansonelliasis is a widespread yet neglected tropical infection of humans in Africa and South America caused by the filarial nematodes, Mansonella perstans, M. ozzardi,...
Mansonelliasis is a widespread yet neglected tropical infection of humans in Africa and South America caused by the filarial nematodes, Mansonella perstans, M. ozzardi, M. rodhaini and M. streptocerca. Clinical symptoms are non-distinct and diagnosis mainly relies on the detection of microfilariae in skin or blood. Species-specific DNA repeat sequences have been used as highly sensitive biomarkers for filarial nematodes. We have developed a bioinformatic pipeline to mine Illumina reads obtained from sequencing M. perstans and M. ozzardi genomic DNA for new repeat biomarker candidates which were used to develop loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) diagnostic tests. The M. perstans assay based on the Mp419 repeat has a limit of detection of 0.1 pg, equivalent of 1/1000 of a microfilaria, while the M. ozzardi assay based on the Mo2 repeat can detect as little as 0.01 pg. Both LAMP tests possess remarkable species-specificity as they did not amplify non-target DNAs from closely related filarial species, human or vectors. We show that both assays perform successfully on infected human samples. Additionally, we demonstrate the suitability of Mp419 to detect M. perstans infection in Culicoides midges. These new tools are field deployable and suitable for the surveillance of these understudied filarial infections.
Topics: Africa; Animals; Computer Simulation; DNA, Protozoan; Diagnostic Tests, Routine; Female; Genetic Markers; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Neglected Diseases; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sequence Analysis, DNA; South America
PubMed: 31311985
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46550-9 -
Malaria Journal Jul 2013A case of co-infection with Plasmodium vivax and Mansonella ozzardi was detected in a blood sample from a person who had shown symptoms of malaria and lived in a city...
A case of co-infection with Plasmodium vivax and Mansonella ozzardi was detected in a blood sample from a person who had shown symptoms of malaria and lived in a city that was close to the Argentina/Bolivia border. The case was detected during a random revision of thick and thin smears from patients diagnosed with malaria from various towns and cities located in north-western Argentina between 1983 and 2001. Trophozoites of P. vivax were observed in the thin blood smear along with M. ozzardi microfilaria (larval form), which presented a long, slender, pointed anucleate tail and the absence of the sheath. This last characteristic is shared with Mansonella perstans, Mansonella streptocerca and Onchocerca volvulus. More rigorously controlled studies to detect other co-infection cases in the area as well as the possibility of importation from Bolivia into Argentina are currently ongoing. The relationship between the malaria parasite and microfilaria, the potential effect of malaria treatment on the development of M. ozzardi, and the possible impact of this microfilaria on the immunity of a person against P. vivax are all still unknown. This contribution constitutes a point of focus for future studies involving the interaction between the parasites and the potential risk that humans are exposed to.
Topics: Aged; Animals; Argentina; Blood; Coinfection; Humans; Malaria, Vivax; Male; Mansonella; Mansonelliasis; Plasmodium vivax
PubMed: 23866313
DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-12-248