Publications by authors named "Marie-Therese Ruf"

Article Synopsis
  • Strongyloides stercoralis is often a chronic, asymptomatic infection in humans, making diagnosis difficult.
  • A new rapid diagnostic test (RDT) called SsRapid was evaluated on 143 serum samples, showing a high sensitivity of 97% for detecting the infection in infected individuals.
  • The RDT also demonstrated good specificity (90%) when tested against patients with other parasitic infections, suggesting it could be a reliable point-of-care test for detecting this parasite.
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  • - Neurocysticercosis is typically linked to Taenia solium tapeworms, but a rare case in Switzerland involved Taenia martis, the marten tapeworm.
  • - The text discusses the details of the Swiss case and reviews all five documented human infections caused by the marten tapeworm.
  • - In unusual cases of neurocysticercosis, it is important to consider the possibility of zoonotic spillover infections from animals.
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Leptospirosis is among the most important zoonotic diseases in (sub-)tropical countries. The research objective was to evaluate the accuracy of the Serion IgM ELISA EST125M against the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT = imperfect reference test); to assess its ability to diagnose acute leptospirosis infections and to detect previous exposure to leptospires in an endemic setting. In addition, to estimate the overall Leptospira spp.

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  • Buruli ulcer (BU) is a tropical disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium ulcerans, which leads to skin damage and necrosis, yet its vascular implications remain largely unexplored.
  • This study analyzed over 900 blood vessels from biopsies of BU patients to assess changes in their function and connection to fibrin deposition.
  • The findings revealed that mycolactone disrupts vascular integrity, causing leaky vessels and endothelial dysfunction, which may contribute to tissue necrosis indirectly through fibrin-related mechanisms.
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  • Surveillance of human leishmaniasis in Europe is mainly limited to specific countries, focusing on local infections, and lacks integrated analysis across different nations until now.
  • This study aimed to provide a broader viewpoint by analyzing cases of autochthonous and imported leishmaniasis from 15 medical centers across 11 European countries over a five-year period.
  • Results showed 1,142 diagnosed cases, with a majority being cutaneous leishmaniasis imported from outside Europe, emphasizing the need for collaborative data collection to monitor changing patterns of the disease.
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  • The study investigates chronic wounds suspected to be due to Buruli ulcer (BU) in Sierra Leone, focusing on patients at Masanga Hospital to understand the disease's presence and impact in the region.
  • Researchers collected demographic data and wound samples from 21 participants, predominantly young males with extensive ulcers, but all samples tested negative for BU using various laboratory methods recommended by WHO.
  • Despite high participant recruitment and notable characteristics of the wounds, the lack of BU confirmation highlights the need for further research into chronic wound causes and challenges in follow-up care.
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Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a combination of immunological, biochemical, and pathological methods to visualize the presence and distribution of specific epitopes in tissue sections. Selected antigens are stained by differently labeled antibodies binding to their target antigens in situ. Here we describe sample preparation and sample staining in order to diagnose and analyze tissue samples infected with M.

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The exotoxin, mycolactone, is responsible for the immunosuppression and tissue necrosis that characterizes Buruli ulcer. Mycolactone inhibits SEC61-dependent co-translational translocation of proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum and the resultant cytosolic translation triggers degradation of mislocalized proteins by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Inhibition of SEC61 by mycolactone also activates multiple EIF2S1/eIF2α kinases in the integrated stress response (ISR).

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Background: Cryptosporidiosis is a parasitic disease associated with potentially fatal diarrhea. The most used method in Cryptosporidium subtyping is based on the glycoprotein gene gp60. Each infection can represent a parasite population, and it is important to investigate the influence on transmission and virulence, as well as any impact on public health investigations.

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Leptospirosis is a neglected worldwide zoonotic bacterial disease with a high prevalence in subtropical and tropical countries. The prevalence of spp. in humans, cattle and dogs is unknown in Bhutan.

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Background: Despite the high prevalence of strongyloidiasis in the Laotian population, Laotian hospitals still lack diagnostic capacity to appropriately diagnose Strongyloides stercoralis infections. This cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted to assess the prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis infection among hospitalized patients treated at Mahosot Hospital, the primary reference hospital of Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and to validate feasible methods for diagnosing S. stercoralis infection at hospital's laboratory.

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A single dose of Q203 (Telacebec), a phase 2 clinical candidate for tuberculosis, eradicates in a mouse model of Buruli ulcer infection without relapse up to 19 weeks posttreatment. Clinical use of Q203 may dramatically simplify the clinical management of Buruli ulcer, a neglected mycobacterial disease.

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Mycolactones, macrolide cytotoxins, are key virulence factors of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the etiological agent of the chronic necrotizing skin disease Buruli ulcer. There is urgent need for a simple point-of-care laboratory test for Buruli ulcer and mycolactone represents a promising target for the development of an immunological assay. However, for a long time, all efforts to generate mycolactone-specific antibodies have failed.

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The clinical presentation of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) due to is well known, but knowledge on long-term sequelae is limited. In the frame of studies conducted between 2004 and 2005 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the prevalence of HAT related signs and symptoms were evaluated before the start of treatment and at the end of treatment. To explore possible long-term sequelae, the same clinical parameters were assessed in 2017 in 51 first stage and 18 second stage HAT patients.

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Human sparganosis is a cestode infection which is neglected as a differential diagnosis outside endemic countries. Diagnosis and therapy may be challenging depending on the clinical presentation and anatomic localization. The disease manifests predominantly as subcutaneous nodule(s) or intracranial mass lesion(s).

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We report an unusual case of paragonimiasis in a Nepali patient presenting with massive pericardial effusion and pericardial tamponade. The patient reported neither the consumption of crabs or crayfish nor the consumption of wild animal meat, which are the usual sources of infection. It is suspected that the source of infection was instead the ingestion of raw live slugs as part of a traditional medicine treatment.

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Background: Eosinophilic meningitis (EOM) is a rare condition that is caused by various communicable and non-communicable factors. The rat-lungworm , which is associated with consumption of raw or undercooked paratenic or intermediate hosts, is the most common cause of parasitic eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. While the majority of cases are reported from endemic regions, cases in travelers pose a challenge to clinicians in non-endemic countries.

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Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a neglected tropical skin disease that is most commonly found in children from West and Central Africa. Despite the severity of the infection, therapeutic options are limited to antibiotics with severe side effects. Here, we show that M.

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To date, there is only one drug in use, praziquantel, to treat more than 250 million people afflicted with schistosomiasis, a debilitating parasitic disease. The aryl hydantoin Ro 13-3978 is a promising drug candidate with activity superior to that of praziquantel against both adult and juvenile organisms. Given the drug's contrasting low activity and the timing of its onset of action , it was postulated that immune-assisted parasite clearance could contribute to the drug's activity.

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Proteases are important for wound healing, but in excessive amounts or left uncontrolled, they may cause healing impairment or other severe wound complications. Point-of-care testing for protease activities in wounds may be useful for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment, and for early identification of wounds that potentially fail to heal. Here we describe an easy, noninvasive method to collect wound fluid for evaluating the protease milieu of wounds.

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