Control of canine infections with (), a major zoonotic disease in Brazil and southern Europe, is becoming increasingly important due to its close proximity to humans, the increasing import of dogs from endemic regions and the impact of climate change on vector spreading. Simple, rapid and reliable diagnostic tests are therefore needed to detect infected dogs. Here, we re-evaluated different serological methods for the diagnosis of canine leishmaniosis (CanL) in Croatia and Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex and is one of the most prominent vector-borne infectious diseases with epidemic and mortality potential if not correctly diagnosed and treated. East African countries suffer from a very high incidence of VL, and although several diagnostic tests are available for VL, diagnosis continues to represent a big challenge in these countries due to the lack of sensitivity and specificity of current serological tools. Based on bioinformatic analysis, a new recombinant kinesin antigen from Leishmania infantum (rKLi8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Protozoan parasites are known to attach specific and diverse group of proteins to their plasma membrane via a GPI anchor. In malaria parasites, GPI-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) have been shown to play an important role in host-pathogen interactions and a key function in host cell invasion and immune evasion. Because of their immunogenic properties, some of these proteins have been considered as malaria vaccine candidates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The intestinal microbiota fundamentally guides the development of a normal intestinal physiology, the education, and functioning of the mucosal immune system. The Citrobacter rodentium-carrier model in germ-free (GF) mice is suitable to study the influence of selected microbes on an otherwise blunted immune response in the absence of intestinal commensals.
Results: Here, we describe that colonization of adult carrier mice with 14 selected commensal microbes (OMM + MC) was sufficient to reestablish the host immune response to enteric pathogens; this conversion was facilitated by maturation and activation of the intestinal blood vessel system and the step- and timewise stimulation of innate and adaptive immunity.
The urgent need for vaccines against Ebola virus (EBOV) was underscored by the large outbreak in West Africa (2014-2016). Since then, several promising vaccine candidates have been tested in pre-clinical and clinical studies. As a result, two vaccines were approved for human use in 2019/2020, of which one includes a heterologous adenovirus/Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) prime-boost regimen.
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