• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.275-277
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• 2000

The status of intestinal parasite infections was investigated in two rural villages (Chitrasar, Jerona) in Chitwan District, Nepal in 1999. Stool examination was performed with a total of 300 specimens from schoolchildren by formalin-ether sedinentation technique. The prevalence rate of intestinal parasite infections in the surveyed areas was 44.0%. The prevalence rate in Jerona was slightly higher than that in Chitrasar. The prevalence rate of intestinal parasite infections in female was slighly higher than that in male without statistically significant difference. Entamoeba coli was the most commonly found protozoan parasite (21.0%) followed by Giardia lamblia (13.7%) and others (5.3%). Hookworm was the most prevalent intestinal helminth (13.0%) followed by Trichuris trichiura (3.0%) and others (5.0%). forty-three specimens (14.3%) Showed mixed infections. It is necessary to implement large-scale treatment with anthelminthics, health education and sanitary improvement for intestinal parasite control in the surveyed areas.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 2012

A total of 450 stool samples were collected from inpatient and outpatient clinics of Pediatric Department, Minia University Hospital, Minia District, Egypt. Two groups of patients were studied, including 200 immunosuppressed and 250 immunocompetent children. Stool samples were subjected to wet saline and iodine mounts. A concentration technique (formol-ether sedimentation method) was carried out for stool samples diagnosed negative by wet saline and iodine mounts. Samples were stained by 2 different methods; acid fast stain (modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain) and Giemsa stain. Total 188 cases (94%) were diagnosed positive for parasitic infections among immunosuppressed children, whereas 150 cases (60%) were positive in immunocompetent children ($P$<0.0001). The most common protozoan infection in immunosuppressed group was $Cryptosporidium$ $parvum$ (60.2%), followed by $Blastocystis$ $hominis$ (12.1%), $Isospora$ $belli$ (9.7%), and $Cyclospora$ $caytenensis$ (7.8%). On the other hand, $Entamoeba$ $histolytica$ (24.6%) and $Giardia$ $lamblia$ (17.6%) were more common than other protozoans in immunocompetent children.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.265-268
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• 2009

Karaj is an area with large influx of refugee people in Iran. To increase knowledge about parasitic infections, we carried out this research during 2006-2008. We recorded the stool examination results and some of their personal characteristics. A total of 13,915 human stools were examined, and 649(4.7%) were positive for intestinal parasites. Among them, 13 (0.09%) had worm and 636 (4.6%) had protozoan infections. Maximum infections belonged to Giardia intestinalis, and 534 (3.8%) samples had this infection. Other parasitic infections included Entamoeba coli(0.39%), Entamoeba histolytica (0.021%), Blastocystis hominis (0.08%), Trichomonas hominis (0.1%), Iodamoeba butschlii (0.06%), Chilomastix mesnili (0.007%), Endolimax nana (0.05%), Enterobius spp. eggs (0.028%), Taenia proglottids (0.028%), and Strongyloides stercoralis larvae (0.03%). The maximum numbers of referred people to laboratories were in July and the maximum percentage of infections was in August. There is a point that all 5 Strongyloides stercoralis infections were pertained to 2008. With attention to the rate of parasitic infections (4.7%), it seems that we should take additional educational information to wide spectrum of people living in this city.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.151-160
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• 1992

Control of coccidiosis depends on medication, management, immunity, or some combination of these methods. Prophylactic medication with anticoccidials remains the primary method of control, although the development of drug resistance is a major problem. Shuttle and rotation programs are increasingly used to delay the onset of drug resistance. Sensitivity testing has become an important tool in the identification of what specific medications will be effective in specific poultry operations. Management techniques for the control of coccidiosis have not been totally effective because most disinfectants do not kill the coccidial oocysts. Present methods for vaccination are currently limited to the use of controlled doses of live coccidia. New vaccination methods under investigation include vaccination with attenuated strains or parasite antigens produced either by fractionating the parasites or genetically engineered sub unit vaccines.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2017

A total of 60 samples were collected from 35 swimming pools in Beijing, China, and the presence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia were investigated. The results showed that 16.7% and 15.0% of samples were positive for Cryptosporidium oocyst and Giardia cysts, respectively, with a mean concentration of 0.30 oocysts/10 L and 0.27 cysts/10 L. The oocysts and cysts were found to have higher rates of occurrence in August than in May. Genotyping confirmed the presence of Cryptosporidium hominis, C. parvum, and Giardia assemblages A and B, all of which were associated with human infections. The predominant species/assemblages were C. hominis and Giardia assemblage A. Analyses of the relationships between parasite oocysts/cysts, indicator bacteria, and physical-chemical parameters revealed that there was no correlation between 2 parasites and fecal bacterial indicators, whilst there was a significant correlation between protozoa and urea concentration, which indicates that urea concentration rather than fecal bacterial indicators might be an appropriate index for chlorine-resistant protozoa in swimming pools. This study provides useful information to improve the safety of swimming pool water and deduce the risk of protozoan infections.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.787-792
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• 2016

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a protozoan disease which is endemic in Iran. It is transmitted by the Phlebotomus sand fly. The eyelid is rarely involved possibly because the movement of the lids impedes the sand fly from biting the skin in this region. Here, we report 6 rare cases of eyelid CL. The patients were diagnosed by skin scraping, culture, and PCR from the lesions. Skin scraping examination showed Leishmania spp. amastigotes in the cytoplasm of macrophages. Culture examination was positive for Leishmania spp. PCR was positive for Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica. The lesions were disguised as basal cell carcinoma, chalazion, hordeolum, and impetigo. The patients were treated with intramuscular meglumine antimoniate (20 mg/kg/day) for at least 3 weeks. They showed a dramatic response, and the lesions almost completely disappeared. We emphasized the importance of clinical and diagnostic features of lesions, characterized the phylogenetic relationship of isolated parasites, and reviewed the literature on ocular leishmaniasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.113-115
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• 2003

We carried out a small-scale survey to investigate the status of intestinal protozoa and helminthes infection of inhabitants in Roxas city, Mindoro, the Philippines. Total 301 stool samples were subjected to the formalin-ether concentration method for the detection of helminth ova and protozoan cysts. The overall positive rate was 64.5%, and that of male and female were 56.6% and 72.5%, respectively. The highest infected helminth was Ascaris lumbricoudes (51.2%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (27.6%), hookworm (8.0%) and Enterobius vermicularis (0.3%). The protozoa infection status revealed that Entamoeba coli was the most frequent (15.0%). lodoamoeba buetschlii and E. histolytica were found but few. The multiple infection more than two parasites was 29.6%, and double infection with A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura was most common. The intestinal helminth infections were highly prevalent in this area, according to this result, and we concluded that anthelminthic drugs should be given to inhabiiants, especially to children of 1 to 15 years-old.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.35-41
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• 2006

Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania cause a number of important human diseases. One of the key determinants of parasite infectivity and survival is the surface glycoconjugate lipophosphoglycan (LPG). In addition, LPG is shown to be useful as a transmission blocking vaccine. Since culture supernatant of parasite promastigotes is a good source of LPG, we made attempts to characterize functions of the culture supernatant, and membrane LPG isolated from metacyclic promastigotes of Leishmania major. The purification scheme included anion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and cold methanol precipitation. The purity of supernatant LPG (sLPG) and membrane LPG (mLPG) was determined by SOS-PAGE and thin layer chromatography. The effect of mLPG and sLPG on nitric oxide (NO) production by murine macrophages cell line (J77 4.1 A) was studied. Both sLPG and mLPG induced NO production in a dose dependent manner but sLPG induced significantly higher amount of NO than mLPG. Our results show that sLPG is able to promote NO production by murine macrophages.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 2002

The life cycle of Acanthamoeba is comprised of two distinct stages, tropho-zoite and cyst. During periods of stress, trophozoites undergo cellular differentiation into cyst. In order to understand the cellular differentiation, ore followed changes in profiles of major proteins by 2D-PAGE and ubiqui-tinated proteins by immunoblotting with anti-ubiquitin (Ub) monoclonal antibody (mAb) as a probe. We observed 51 proteins present in trophozoite were lost with the encystment. We found that 43 proteins within 24 h, and 8 proteins in 96 h of encystment. Among them, 17 proteins were staine with anti-Ub mAb. In cysts, 16 proteins including 2 anti-Ub mAb-reactive proteins were newly synthesized. Four proteins were newly detected in 24 h-cyst and disappeared in 96 h-cyst, one protein was synthesized in 24-96 h-cyst and disappeared in 168 h-cyst, and 11 proteins appeared upon en-cystment and were present in all cyst stages. We identified a cyst specific 33 kDa protein as subtilisin-like serine proteinase by N-terminal sequencing. Identification of these proteins lost and newly synthesized with encystment would improve our understanding of cysting protozoan parasites.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2020

In most developing countries, Dientamoeba fragilis infection is an obscure protozoan infection. We aimed to determine a frequency and clinical importance of D. fragilis infection in Taif, Saudi Arabia. A 1-year case control study included patients with gastrointestinal (cases, n=114) or non-gastrointestinal symptoms (controls, n=90). The fecal samples were examined with the classical parasitological methods for intestinal protozoa, and by real time PCR for D. fragilis. The infection by D. fragilis was detected in 5.8% by PCR and in 4.4% patients by microscopy. The infection was identified more in control group (n=9) than in cases (n=3); a sole infection in 11 patients and mixed with Giardia in 1 patient. The other enteric parasites detected were Blastocystis sp. (8.3%), Giardia sp. (5.3%), Cryptosporidium sp. (2.9%), Entamoeba histolytica (1.4%), Entamoeba coli (0.9%) and Hymenolepis nana (0.4%). Our results tend to reinforce the need to increase awareness of D. fragilis infection in Saudi Arabia.