Integrating genomic and epidemiologic data to accelerate progress toward schistosomiasis elimination.

The global community has adopted ambitious goals to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem, and new tools are needed to achieve them. Mass drug administration programs, for example, have reduced the burden of schistosomiasis, but the identification of hotspots of persistent and reemergent transmission threaten progress toward elimination and underscore the need to couple treatment with interventions that reduce transmission. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies make whole-genome sequencing a valuable and increasingly feasible option for population-based studies of complex parasites such as schistosomes.

Taeniasis and cysticercosis in Asia: A review with emphasis on molecular approaches and local lifestyles.

Taeniasis is an important parasitic condition in Asia, especially since all three human-infecting Taenia spp., Taenia solium, Taenia saginata, and Taenia asiatica are found in this region. These three species are believed to be sympatrically distributed, with the largest disease burden found in remote and rural areas where people raise pigs and cattle in a traditional manner.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) of Cysticercosis in School-Aged Children in Tibetan Rural Farming Areas of Western China: Implications for Intervention Planning.

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) significantly contributes to morbidity in developing countries. We recently published a study of prevalence and risk factors in school-aged children in three mountainous areas in Sichuan province of western China. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) on data from that study to guide intervention planning, here we examine risk factors grouped into three broad interventional categories: sociodemographics, human behavior, and sources of pork and pig husbandry.

Prevalence and risk factors for Taenia solium cysticercosis in school-aged children: A school based study in western Sichuan, People's Republic of China.

Background: Taenia solium cysticercosis affects millions of impoverished people worldwide and can cause neurocysticercosis, an infection of the central nervous system which is potentially fatal. Children may represent an especially vulnerable population to neurocysticercosis, due to the risk of cognitive impairment during formative school years. While previous epidemiologic studies have suggested high prevalence in rural China, the prevalence in children as well as risk factors and impact of disease in low-resource areas remain poorly characterized.

A random forest approach for predicting the presence of intermediate host . presence in relation to landscape characteristics in western China.

Understanding distribution patterns of hosts implicated in the transmission of zoonotic disease remains a key goal of parasitology. Here, random forests are employed to model spatial patterns of the presence of the plateau pika (.) small mammal intermediate host for the parasitic tapeworm which is responsible for a significant burden of human zoonoses in western China.

Cystic echinococcoses in Mongolia: molecular identification, serology and risk factors.

Background: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a globally distributed cestode zoonosis that causes hepatic cysts. Although Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.

Detection of human taeniases in Tibetan endemic areas, China.

Detection of taeniasis carriers of Taenia solium is essential for control of cysticercosis in humans and pigs. In the current study, we assessed the positive detection rate of a self-detection tool, stool microscopy with direct smear and coproPCR for taeniasis carriers in endemic Tibetan areas of northwest Sichuan. The self-detection tool through questioning about a history of proglottid expulsion within the previous one year showed an overall positive detection rate of more than 80% for Taenia saginata, T.

Usefulness of pumpkin seeds combined with areca nut extract in community-based treatment of human taeniasis in northwest Sichuan Province, China.

Taeniasis refers to the infection with adult tapeworms of Taenia spp. in the upper small intestine of humans, which is also a cause of cysticercosis infection in either both humans and/or animals. Currently the most commonly applied anthelminthics for treatment of taeniasis are praziquantel and niclosamide.

Specific IgG responses to recombinant antigen B and em18 in cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in china.

An understanding of the correlation of the specific antibody responses and the disease phase is essential in evaluating diagnostic values of immunological tests in human echinococcosis. In this study, 422 echinococcosis patients diagnosed by ultrasonography, including 246 with cystic echinococcosis (CE), 173 with alveolar echinococcosis (AE), and 3 with dual infection, were tested for specific IgG in sera against recombinant AgB (rAgB) and recombinant Em18 (rEm18) in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. As a result, rAgB-specific antibody was detected in 77.

Widespread co-endemicity of human cystic and alveolar echinococcosis on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, northwest Sichuan/southeast Qinghai, China.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) or hydatid disease is known to be cosmopolitan in its global distribution, while alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a much rarer though more pathogenic hepatic parasitic disease restricted to the northern hemisphere. Both forms of human echinococcosis are known to occur on the Tibetan Plateau, but the epidemiological characteristics remain poorly understood. In our current study, abdominal ultrasound screening programs for echinococcosis were conducted in 31 Tibetan townships in Ganze and Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures of northwest Sichuan Province during 2001-2008.

Species identification of human echinococcosis using histopathology and genotyping in northwestern China.

Human cystic echinococcosis, caused by infection with the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus, and alveolar echinococcosis, caused by the larval form of E. multilocularis, are known to be important public health problems in western China. Echinococcus shiquicus is a new species of Echinococcus recently described in wildlife hosts from the eastern Tibetan plateau and its infectivity and/or pathogenicity in humans remain unknown.

Taeniasis/cysticercosis in a Tibetan population in Sichuan Province, China.

The results of a preliminary survey of taeniasis/cysticercosis in Yajiang County, Ganze Tibetan Prefecture in southwest Sichuan Province, China, indicated a very high prevalence of taeniasis (22.5%), with Taenia saginata as the dominant species. There was also a significant occurrence of late-onset epilepsy (8.

Echinococcosis in Tibetan populations, western Sichuan Province, China.

We screened 3,199 people from Shiqu County, Sichuan Province, China, for abdominal echinococcosis (hydatid disease) by portable ultrasound combined with specific serodiagnostic tests. Both cystic echinococcosis (CE) (Echinococcus granulosus infection) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE) (E. multilocularis) were co-endemic in this area at the highest village prevalence values recorded anywhere in the world: 12.