, a causative agent of quartan malaria, is prevalent across tropical and subtropical regions, but global cases have been usually very rare and sporadic. However, a significant outbreak of quartan malaria caused by occurred in Khanh Vinh District, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam in 2023 and the outbreak persists. In this report, we present the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of this unprecedented outbreak of quartan malaria in Vietnam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlasmodium vivax variant interspersed repeats (vir) refer to the key protein used for escaping the host immune system. Knowledge in the genetic variation of vir genes can be used for the development of vaccines or diagnostic methods. Therefore, we evaluated the genetic diversity of the vir genes of P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFkeratitis (AK) is a sight-threatening and difficult-to-treat ocular infection. The significant side effects of current AK treatments highlight the urgent need to develop a safe and effective AK medication. In this study, the amoebicidal activity of Pall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMyanmar aims to eliminate malaria by 2030. However, recent increase of malaria incidence is a great challenge to archive that goal. Increasing prevalence of Plasmodium vivax also hinders this endeavor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaegleria fowleri invades the brain and causes a fatal primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Despite its high mortality rate of approximately 97%, an effective therapeutic drug for PAM has not been developed. Approaches with miltefosine, amphotericin B, and other antimicrobials have been clinically attempted to treat PAM, but their therapeutic efficacy remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause human infections such as granulomatous amebic encephalitis and acanthamoeba keratitis. However, no specific drug to treat the diseases has been developed. Therefore, the discovery or development of novel drugs for treating Acanthamoeba infections is urgently needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFree-living amoebae (FLA) rarely cause human infections but can invoke fatal infections in the central nervous system (CNS). No consensus treatment has been established for FLA infections of the CNS, emphasizing the urgent need to discover or develop safe and effective drugs. Flavonoids, natural compounds from plants and plant-derived products, are known to have antiprotozoan activities against several pathogenic protozoa parasites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtracellular vesicles (EVs) of protozoan parasites have diverse biological functions that are essential for parasite survival and host-parasite interactions. In this study, we characterized the functional properties of EVs from , a pathogenic amoeba that causes a fatal brain infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). EVs (NfEVs) have been shown to be internalized by host cells such as C6 glial cells and BV-2 microglial cells without causing direct cell death, indicating their potential roles in modulating host cell functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Naegleria fowleri is a brain-eating amoeba causing a fatal brain infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Despite its high mortality over 95%, effective therapeutic drug for PAM has not been developed yet. Therefore, development of an effective and safe therapeutic drug for PAM is urgently needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Clinostomum complanatum is a laryngeal fluke whose hosts include birds and mammals.[1] In humans, infection occurs accidentally during the consumption of raw freshwater fish.[1,2].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1), encoded by the polymorphic var multigene family, is a highly polymorphic antigen that plays a crucial role in the pathology of malaria. The contribution of the genetic diversity of var toward the immune escape of P. falciparum has not yet been fully elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground The nucleocapsid protein (N protein) of SARS-CoV-2 is undeniably a potent target for the development of diagnostic tools due to its abundant expression and lower immune evasion pressure compared to spike (S) protein. Methods Blood samples of active COVID-19 infections (n=71) and post-COVID-19 (n=11) were collected from a tertiary care hospital in India; pre-COVID-19 (n=12) sera samples served as controls. Real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (rRT-PCR) confirmed pooled sera samples (n=5) were used with PEPperCHIP® SARS-CoV-2 Proteome Microarray (PEPperPRINT GmbH, Germany) to screen immunodominant epitopes of SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is an infectious ocular disease which is difficult to diagnose correctly and cure. Development of an effective and safe therapeutic drug for AK is needed. Our preliminary screening of more than 200 extracts from wild plants collected in Korea suggested the potential amoebicidal activity of (Cav.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmergence and spreading of antimalarial drug resistant malaria parasites are great hurdles to combating malaria. Although approaches to investigate antimalarial drug resistance status in Myanmar malaria parasites have been made, more expanded studies are necessary to understand the nationwide aspect of antimalarial drug resistance. In the present study, molecular epidemiological analysis for antimalarial drug resistance genes in and from the Mandalay region of Myanmar was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalaria continues to be one of the most crucial infectious burdens in endemic areas worldwide, as well as for travelers visiting malaria transmission regions. It has been reported that 8-aminoquinolines are effective against the Plasmodium species, particularly primaquine, for anti-hypnozoite therapy in P. vivax malaria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a ubiquitous protozoa parasite that can cause primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a fatal brain infection in humans. Cathepsin Bs of (NfCBs) are multifamily enzymes. Although their pathogenic mechanism in PAM is not clearly understood yet, NfCBs have been proposed as pathogenic factors involved in the pathogenicity of amoeba.
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