scholarly journals The Egyptian mongoose,Herpestes ichneumon, is a possible reservoir host of visceral leishmaniasis in eastern Sudan

Parasitology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 531-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. ELNAIEM ◽  
M. M. HASSAN ◽  
R. MAINGON ◽  
G. H. NURELDIN ◽  
A. M. MEKAWI ◽  
...  

Investigations were made on possible reservoir hosts ofLeishmania donovaniin 2 zoonotic foci of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Dinder National Park (DNP) and the peri-domestic habitats of adjacent villages of eastern Sudan. Animals were captured, in November 1997–1998 and April–May 1999 and examined forL. donovaniinfection using light microscopy and 2 sensitive Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) systems. Microscopy and PCR investigations were also used to determine the infection rates ofL. donovaniinPhlebotomus orientaliscaptured from the uninhabited site of DNP. Infections ofL. donovaniwere detected in 2 out of 14 Egyptian mongooses (Herpestes ichneumon), 1 out of 168Arviconthus niloticusand 1 out of 8Mastomys natalensis. Samples from 68 other animals captured from the study area were all negative for the infection. Active zoonotic transmission ofL. donovaniat the time of animal sampling in the uninhabited site of DNP was demonstrated by finding the parasite in 3.4% (7 out of 184) and 3.2% (5 out of 157) of flies collected in March 1998 and May 1999, respectively. We suggest that the Egyptian mongoose is a possible reservoir host ofL. donovani. The importance of other animals in maintaining the infection is also discussed.

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1305-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayda Hassan el-Safi ◽  
Nuha Hamid ◽  
Ahmed Omer ◽  
Ahmed Abdel-Haleem ◽  
Awad Hammad ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Aymen Abdelhaleem ◽  
Nabil Dhayhi ◽  
Mohamed Salih Mahfouz ◽  
Ommer Daffalla ◽  
Mansour Mubarki ◽  
...  

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most severe clinical form of the disease and has been reported in the Jazan region of southwest Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to diagnose VL by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the direct agglutination test (DAT) and to identify the causative Leishmania species. A total of 80 participants, including 30 suspected VL patients, 30 healthy endemic control individuals, and 20 malaria disease controls, were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected and tested for Leishmania DNA by real-time PCR and for antibody by the DAT. Sequencing of some amplified PCR products was used to identify the causative Leishmania species. The diagnosis of VL was successfully achieved by both real-time PCR and by DAT with 100% sensitivity. Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum species were detected by sequencing both by the kDNA and ITS1 target genes, followed a BLASTn search. The detection of VL antibody by the DAT followed by the confirmatory detection of Leishmania DNA in patient blood by PCR could promote the adoption of the much less invasive and more sensitive methods for the routine diagnosis of VL. Further study with high sample volume to evaluate the PCR and the DAT are needed, to generate more robust evidence. Based on the sequencing results, emerging studies on VL should focus on the causative Leishmania species, reservoirs, and vectors that are important in the study area.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1467-1475
Author(s):  
Antony D.M. Bryceson ◽  
Diana N.J. Lockwood

Leishmaniasis is caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania, which are transmitted to humans from human or animal reservoirs by the bites of phlebotomine sandflies. In places the disease is common and important, with perhaps 500,000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis and 1.5–2 million cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis worldwide each year. Diagnosis is by demonstration of leishmania organisms in tissue smears or biopsy material by microscopy, culture, or detecting leishmaniai DNA by polymerase chain reaction. As an imported disease, cutaneous leishmaniasis is common in travellers, military personnel, and immigrants coming from endemic areas, while the diagnosis of the less common visceral leishmaniasis is frequently overlooked. Prevention is by controlling reservoir hosts and sandfly vectors, or by avoiding bites by vectors. There is no vaccine.


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 1592-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Durria Mansour ◽  
Elfadil M. Abass ◽  
Mohamed el Mutasim ◽  
Abdelhafeiz Mahamoud ◽  
Abdallah el Harith

ABSTRACT Corroboration of serology results is essential for restricting the risk of inappropriate antileishmanial prescription. A direct agglutination test (DAT) and a recently developed β-mercaptoethanol-modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (β-ME ELISA) based on the use of antigen prepared as described for the DAT were applied to 416 sera from two Sudanese populations with and without clinical evidence of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Of 285 sera with the lowest antileishmanial DAT titers (≤1:100 to 1:1,600), 270 (94.7%) scored comparable minimum β-ME ELISA absorbance values (≤0.1 to 0.26). In 117 sera that demonstrated the highest DAT titers (1:12,800 to ≥1:25,600), 86 (73.5%) scored maximum (0.81 to ≥1.35) and 30 (25.6%) medium (0.27 to 0.80) β-ME ELISA absorbance values. VL diagnosis was established for 142 (44.1%) patients in the VL-symptomatic group (n = 322), based on positive microscopy for Leishmania donovani in lymph node aspirates or positive DAT (titer, ≥1:3,200). Of the 125 sera from the symptomatic patients for whom microscopy was positive for VL, 111 (88.8%) had comparable positive DAT and β-ME ELISA readings. In all 17 sera from the symptomatic DAT-positive patients for whom leishmaniasis was not established by microscopy but who responded favorably to antileishmanial therapy, absorbance values (≥0.27) indicative of VL were obtained by β-ME ELISA. Of 197 symptomatic patients for whom microscopy was negative for VL, 172 (87.3%) tested negative in β-ME ELISA and 180 (91.4%) in DAT. Based on the high reliability demonstrated here for VL detection, β-ME ELISA fulfills the requirement of confirming DAT results in patients manifesting suspected VL.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Abdo ◽  
W. M. El Amin ◽  
E. A. G. Khalil ◽  
M. M. Mukhtar

A longitudinal study was done in a leishmaniasis -endemic region in eastern Sudan during the period November 2001-February 2003 to determine the incidence of failure of sodium stibogluconate treatment. We studied 820 confirmed visceral leishmaniasis patients. All were treated with sodium stibogluconate, 20 mg/kg body weight for at least 28 days. Parasites were isolated from lymph node aspirates from 22 participants identified as relapsed patients. All isolates were typed as Leishmania donovani based on polymerase chain reaction [PCR] amplification of parasite kDNA. Six parasites showed in vitro resistance to sodium stibogluconate using murine J774 macrophage amastigote testing method. The resistant isolates showed different restriction profiles when the amplified kDNA PCR products were digested with ALU1 restriction enzyme, indicating that resistance was mediated by different parasite clones


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-188
Author(s):  
Anastasia A Theodosiou ◽  
◽  
Hwai Jing Hiew ◽  
Christina Petridou ◽  
◽  
...  

A 62-year old British Caucasian woman normally resident in Spain presented with fever and pancytopaenia after returning to the UK. Her symptoms persisted despite broad-spectrum antibiotics, and she gradually became confused, hypotensive and progressively more pancytopaenic. Imaging demonstrated hepatosplenomegaly, and a bone marrow aspirate confirmed a diagnosis of haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Bone marrow polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and blood serology were both positive for Leishmania donovani, consistent with visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Following treatment with dexamethasone and amphotericin, she improved clinically and biochemically, and was able to return to Spain. Fever in the returning traveller is a common acute medical presentation. Although HLH and VL are rare diagnoses, both carry a very high mortality rate if undiagnosed and untreated.


1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Elnaiem ◽  
R. D. Ward ◽  
H. K. Hassan ◽  
M. A. Miles ◽  
I. A. Frame

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Pandey ◽  
AK Mallik ◽  
S Pyakurel ◽  
SB Pun ◽  
BD Pandey

Background Visceral leishmaniasis is potentially fatal protozoan diseases caused by Leishmania donovani. Nepal is an endemic region in which visceral leishmaniasis causes a major public health problem in the lowland areas that border the endemic areas of Bihar state in India. Accurate diagnosis to inform treatment is a first step in achieving the goal of visceral leishmaniasis elimination from South East Asian regions by 2020. Objective The objective of the present study was to compare between the Microcopy and polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. Methods In the present study, 236 bone marrow aspirations were collected from suspected visceral leishmaniasis patients in Janakpur Zonal Hospital, Dhanusa district, Terai region of Nepal in between 2003-2007. We evaluated bone marrow samples by microscopic examination with subsequent testing of the same sample by polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis. Results Giemsa’s solution stained bone marrow slides stored for over five years were used for polymerase chain reaction amplification. The result showed that 71% were polymerase chain reaction positive and 56% were microscopic positive. Out of 104 microscopic negative bone marrow samples, 15% of samples were positive by polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion Polymerase chain reaction could make a very good option for diagnosis by using less or non-invasive material from visceral leishmaniasis patients in endemic areas of Nepal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v11i1.11016 Kathmandu University Medical Journal Vol.11(1) 2013: 14-17


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