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Seroepidemiological survey of trypanozoon infection in horses in the suspected dourine-infected Bale highlands of the Oromia region, Ethiopia
No full textThis paper presents the results of a seroepidemiological survey of trypanozoon infection in horses carried out between September 2007 and June 2008. The survey was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of anti-trypanozoon antibodies in 880 serum samples collected randomly from selected horse-breeding districts of the Bale highlands of Ethiopia. The seroprevalence of trypanozoon infection was found to be 173 (19.66%) and 140 (15.91%) for the CATT/T. evansi and LATEX/T. evansi tests, respectively. The high seroprevalence of trypanozoon infection strongly indicates that the infection is endemic. Neither test can differentiate between anti-trypanozoon antibodies caused by infection with T. equiperdum (the causative agent of dourine) and those of T. evansi (the causative agent of surra). The findings of the present study suggest that field-applicable screening serological tests such as the CATT/T. evansi and LATEX/T. evansi could be useful for epidemiological studies and the control of trypanozoon infection
La carte sanitaire de la ville de Lubumbashi, République Démocratique du Congo Partie I : problématique de la couverture sanitaire en milieu urbain congolais
No full textAn insight into the sialome of Glossina morsitans morsitans
No full textBACKGROUND: Blood feeding evolved independently in worms, arthropods and mammals. Among the adaptations to this peculiar diet, these animals developed an armament of salivary molecules that disarm their host's anti-bleeding defenses (hemostasis), inflammatory and immune reactions. Recent sialotranscriptome analyses (from the Greek sialo = saliva) of blood feeding insects and ticks have revealed that the saliva contains hundreds of polypeptides, many unique to their genus or family. Adult tsetse flies feed exclusively on vertebrate blood and are important vectors of human and animal diseases. Thus far, only limited information exists regarding the Glossina sialome, or any other fly belonging to the Hippoboscidae. RESULTS: As part of the effort to sequence the genome of Glossina morsitans morsitans, several organ specific, high quality normalized cDNA libraries have been constructed, from which over 20,000 ESTs from an adult salivary gland library were sequenced. These ESTs have been assembled using previously described ESTs from the fat body and midgut libraries of the same fly, thus totaling 62,251 ESTs, which have been assembled into 16,743 clusters (8,506 of which had one or more EST from the salivary gland library). Coding sequences were obtained for 2,509 novel proteins, 1,792 of which had at least one EST expressed in the salivary glands. Despite library normalization, 59 transcripts were overrepresented in the salivary library indicating high levels of expression. This work presents a detailed analysis of the salivary protein families identified. Protein expression was confirmed by 2D gel electrophoresis, enzymatic digestion and mass spectrometry. Concurrently, an initial attempt to determine the immunogenic properties of selected salivary proteins was undertaken. CONCLUSIONS: The sialome of G. m. morsitans contains over 250 proteins that are possibly associated with blood feeding. This set includes alleles of previously described gene products, reveals new evidence that several salivary proteins are multigenic and identifies at least seven new polypeptide families unique to Glossina. Most of these proteins have no known function and thus, provide a discovery platform for the identification of novel pharmacologically active compounds, innovative vector-based vaccine targets, and immunological markers of vector exposure
Public hospital management in times of crisis: lessons learned from Cienfuegos, Cuba (1996-2008)
No full textCuba's public health system is well known for its integrated first line services based on family medicine. Less publicized is the country's experience in public hospital management. After a harsh economic crisis in the first half of the 1990s had brought the Cienfuegos hospital near to collapse, from 1996 onwards the hospital management team took advantage of the incipient economic recovery to launch an ambitious recovery process. This article reconstructs this endeavor, based on annual hospital reports, scientific publications by the hospital staff, and interviews with key decision-makers. First the endless waiting list for elective surgery was tackled through a more efficient use of the surgery department, and an increase of ambulatory surgery. Next, overall hospital efficiency was improved in the aim to drastically reduce the average length of stay, reaching a decrease from an average stay of 12 days to a little more than 6 days in 1999. Also the emergency department was reorganized, setting up a triage system based on a color code, linked to specific emergency protocols. Attention for improving the clinical efficiency for AMI and stroke coincided with a drop in their intrahospital lethality. Clinical guidelines for the most important diagnoses were collectively developed, adapting international evidence to the local setting. An individual and collective performance evaluation system was elaborated in a participatory way, and further evolved into a 'total quality management' process. This experience of Cienfuegos hospital provides an interesting example on how a public hospital - embedded in a well developed national public health system - can be effective and efficient, even in circumstances of limited resources. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
Trypanosoma brucei modifies the tsetse salivary composition, altering the fly feeding behavior that favors parasite transmission
No full textTsetse flies are the notorious transmitters of African trypanosomiasis, a disease caused by the Trypanosoma parasite that affects humans and livestock on the African continent. Metacyclic infection rates in natural tsetse populations with Trypanosoma brucei, including the two human-pathogenic subspecies, are very low, even in epidemic situations. Therefore, the infected fly/host contact frequency is a key determinant of the transmission dynamics. As an obligate blood feeder, tsetse flies rely on their complex salivary potion to inhibit host haemostatic reactions ensuring an efficient feeding. The results of this experimental study suggest that the parasite might promote its transmission through manipulation of the tsetse feeding behavior by modifying the saliva composition. Indeed, salivary gland Trypanosoma brucei-infected flies display a significantly prolonged feeding time, thereby enhancing the likelihood of infecting multiple hosts during the process of a single blood meal cycle. Comparison of the two major anti-haemostatic activities i.e. anti-platelet aggregation and anti-coagulation activity in these flies versus non-infected tsetse flies demonstrates a significant suppression of these activities as a result of the trypanosome-infection status. This effect was mainly related to the parasite-induced reduction in salivary gland gene transcription, resulting in a strong decrease in protein content and related biological activities. Additionally, the anti-thrombin activity and inhibition of thrombin-induced coagulation was even more severely hampered as a result of the trypanosome infection. Indeed, while naive tsetse saliva strongly inhibited human thrombin activity and thrombin-induced blood coagulation, saliva from T. brucei-infected flies showed a significantly enhanced thrombinase activity resulting in a far less potent anti-coagulation activity. These data clearly provide evidence for a trypanosome-mediated modification of the tsetse salivary composition that results in a drastically reduced anti-haemostatic potential and a hampered feeding performance which could lead to an increase of the vector/host contact and parasite transmission in field condition
International BMI-for-age references underestimate thinness and overestimate overweigth and obesity in Bolivian adolescents
No full textBackground: Since no growth standards for adolescents exist and a single reference applicable everywhere is still in debate, it is recognized that the best reference should he derived from the growth pattern of the healthy population that will use it. In 2007 a study developed references for body mass index for 12(th) to 18(th) y Bolivian school adolescent (BAP). Objectives: To compare nutritional status outcomes applying BM I references from the BAP, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention CDC 2000, the International Task Force (IOTE), and the 2007 WHO, to determine appropriateness of use in Bolivian adolescents. Subjects/methods: References were applied in 3306 adolescents, 45.0% male, 55% female, 12(th) to 18(th) y selected from a nationally representative sample. Results: Main findings reveal that the CDC and the 2007 WHO underestimate underweight (p < 0.001) and the three international references overestimate overweight (p<0.001) with variation between ages and gender. Conclusions: Bolivian health providers are advised to replace CDC, OITF and 2007WHO references for the use of BAP in Bolivia which reflects its healthy adolescent population growth pattern. International references may lead to incorrect conclusions when applied on Bolivian adolescents. They could deflect efforts from population which need prompt intervention and mislead treatments and budget to unnecessary ones. We recommend validation of international references where appropriate until a standard is release