scholarly journals Interruption of mother-to-child transmission and detection and treatment of children of infected mothers as a contribution to eradicate Chagas disease in Europe

ANALES RANM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (138(03)) ◽  
pp. 202-208
Author(s):  
S. Sosa-Estani ◽  
J. Alvar ◽  
J. Sancho ◽  
P. Aparicio Azcárraga ◽  
M. Ciscar ◽  
...  

Chagas disease is grouped among the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD), according to the classification of WHO and among the Neglected Infectious Diseases susceptible to be eliminated according to PAHO (EID). Chagas disease is the most common NTD (or EID) in wide areas of South and Central America where the vector – an insect, which transmits the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi via its bite – and the great majority of patients live. However, due to population movements, this disease has now become a global problem, especially in the USA and Spain. The control of transmission by the vector or by blood transfusions has progressed considerably. However, transmission by other routes, namely oral and mother-to-child are still a challenge in regards of control and access to health care. In the countries where transmission by the vector doesn’t take place, vertical transmission is the main route of transmission. Taking into account that there is a huge gap in diagnosing and treating patients suffering from Chagas disease, early diagnosis and treatment of infected women in childbearing age, pregnant women and children, as well as asymptomatic infected people, is an important contribution towards the control of this disease which is potentially fatal if left untreated. Aiming for this objective, all available tools should be optimized and implemented. There are several countries and regions already implementing this strategy in this particular group of women and children. The advances achieved are a good example of the collaboration between organizations and institutions in the public and private sectors, although a greater political commitment is needed in order to achieve Chagas elimination as a public health problem by 2030 as promoted by the ETMI-Plus strategy established by PAHO, the new WHO-NTD road map, the UN sustainable development goals (SDG) and the program “No baby with Chagas” launched by the SEGIB.

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-167
Author(s):  
Jagat Jeevan Ghimire ◽  
Ram Hari Chapagain ◽  
Shree Krishna Shrestha ◽  
Ram Chandra Bastola

Introduction: HIV in children is a public health problem in a developing country like Nepal. The aim of the study was to determine the clinical, nutritional and immunological profile of HIV +ve children enrolled in the ART clinic of Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS).Materials and Method: This was a retrospective study of children enrolled in the ART clinic over a period of 10 years from July 2007 to June 2017. Clinical characters, Nutritional status and immunological status of children enrolled in the ART clinic were noted in the predesigned pro forma from the record of the clinic and review of the chart of the patients.Results: One hundred twelve children were enrolled in the Clinic during the study duration. Out of them 57 were males and 55 were females. All the children acquired infection through mother to child transmission. Majority of them from age group 1 to 5 years at the time of presentation. Forty-six percent were in the clinical stage III. The median CD4 count was 283.Fifty percent of the children were undernourished. Most of the children were started on AZT/3TC/NVP as first line ART.Conclusion: Although perinatal route was the most common route of transmission of HIV in children, diagnosis was late in the age group of 1-5 years and most of them were diagnosed in the advanced stage of HIV with Low CD4 count.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Leandro S. Sangenito ◽  
Marta H. Branquinha ◽  
André L. S. Santos

Chagas disease was discovered in 1909 by the Brazilian scientist Carlos Chagas. After more than 110 years, many outcomes have been achieved in all research fields; however, Chagas disease remains a serious public health problem, mainly in Latin America, being one of the most neglected tropical diseases in the world. As a neglected disease, it receives very little financial support. Nevertheless, how much is actually spent? With this question in mind, the goal of the present work was to summarize all funding employed by multiple institutions in the Chagas disease field in a 10-year survey. From 2009 to 2018, Chagas disease received only USD 236.31 million, representing 0.67% of the total applied for all neglected diseases in this period. Mostly, the investments are concentrated in basic research (47%) and drug development (42.5%), with the public sector responsible for 74% of all funding, followed by the industry (19%) and philanthropy (7%). Relevantly, NIH (USA) alone accounted for more than half of the total investment. Taking into account that Chagas disease has a great socio-economic impact, it is clear that more investments are needed, especially from endemic countries. Furthermore, coordinated strategies to make better use of resources and incentives for the pharmaceutical industry must be adopted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Jorg Heukelbach ◽  
Andréa Silvestre de Sousa ◽  
Alberto Novaes Ramos

Despite being described for the first time more than 110 years ago, Chagas disease persists as one of the most neglected tropical diseases [...]


Author(s):  
Igor José dos Santos Nascimento ◽  
Thiago Mendonça de Aquino ◽  
Edeildo Ferreira da Silva-Júnior

: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of approximately 20 diseases that affect part of the population in Sub- and Tropical countries. In the past, pharmaceutical industries and governmental agencies have invested in the control, elimination and eradication of such diseases. Among these diseases, Chagas disease (CD) and Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) are a public health problem, mainly in the countries from the American continent and sub-Saharan African. In this context, the search for new therapeutic alternatives against such diseases has been growing in recent years, presenting cysteine proteases as the main strategy to discover new anti-trypanosomal drugs. Thus, cruzain and rhodesain enzymes are targets widely studied, since the cruzain is present in all stages of the parasite's life, related to the stages of proliferation and differentiation and infection of macrophages; while the rhodesain is related to the immune defense process. In addition, knowledge about the amino acid sequences and availability of X-ray complexes have stimulated the drug searching against these targets, mainly through molecular modeling studies. Thus, this review manuscript will be addressed to cruzain and rhodesain inhibitors developed in the last 10 years, and which could provide basis for new lead compounds in the discovery of new trypanocidal drugs. We found 117 studies involving inhibitors of cruzain and rhodesain, being thiosemicarbazones, semicarbazones, N-acylhydrazones, thiazoles-hydrazone, thiazolidinones-hydrazones, oxadiazoles, triazoles, triazines, imidazoles, peptidomimetic, and others. All references were obtained using “cruzain” or “rhodesain” and “inhibitor” as keywords in Science Direct, Bentham Science, PubMed, Espacenet, Springer, ACS Publisher, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, and MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) databases. Finally, we highlighted all these chemical classes of molecules to provide valuable information that could be used to design new inhibitors against Chagas disease and sleeping sickness in the future.


Author(s):  
Ferreira RA ◽  
Diotaiuti LG

Chagas disease is an important public health problem in various countries in Latin America [1] both due to the high number of people affected and the failure of endemic countries to adopt preventive and control measures, such that, today, it is one of the most neglected tropical diseases in the world, affecting about 6 to 7 million people [1].


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliva Castro Tenorio

Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis is considered a neglected disease, and a public health problem, due to the high prevalence of the disease, as well as the high economic and social costs that it entails. There are different routes of transmission, the vector route being the main mechanism, although it can also be transmitted vertically, by transfusional transmission, by organ transplantation, laboratory accidents, and relatively new in its study, the oral route. This route is considered the oldest route of transmission, responsible for the preservation of the infection in a sylvatic way. Due partly to the decrease in the incidence of vector cases, and human activities, the oral route has been the mechanism that explains the acute outbreaks of Chagas' disease in different Latin American countries; together with its greater lethality, is that this via has become important. Early recognition of the disease is crucial in order to establish antiparasitic treatment as soon as possible, because it limits the evolution of the disease in most cases, so this research work has the objective of carrying out a bibliographic review of the oral route as a mechanism of transmission of Chagas' disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boniface Pone ◽  
Ferreira Igne Elizabeth

: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are responsible for over 500,000 deaths annually and are characterized by multiple disabilities. Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are among the most severe NTDs, and are caused by the Leishmania sp, and Trypanosoma cruzi, respectively. Glucantime, pentamidine and miltefosine are commonly used to treat leishmaniasis, whereas nifurtimox, benznidazole are current treatments for Chagas disease. However, these treatments are associated with drug resistance, and severe side effects. Hence, the development of synthetic products, especially those containing N02, F, or Cl, which chemical groups are known to improve the biological activity. The present work summarizes the information on the antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activity of nitro-, chloro-, and fluoro-synthetic derivatives. Scientific publications referring to halogenated derivatives in relation to antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activities were hand searched in databases such as SciFinder, Wiley, Science Direct, PubMed, ACS, Springer, Scielo, and so on. According to the literature information, more than 90 compounds were predicted as lead molecules with reference to their IC50/EC50 values in in vitro studies. It is worth to mention that only active compounds with known cytotoxic effects against mammalian cells were considered in the present study. The observed activity was attributed to the presence of nitro-, fluoro- and chloro-groups in the compound backbone. All in all, nitro and h0alogenated derivatives are active antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal compounds and can serve as baseline for the development of new drugs against leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. However, efforts on in vitro and in vivo toxicity studies of the active synthetic compounds is still needed. Pharmacokinetic studies, and the mechanism of action of the promising compounds need to be explored. The use of new catalysts and chemical transformation can afford unexplored halogenated compounds with improved antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activity.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Akram Hernández-Vásquez ◽  
Rodrigo Vargas-Fernández ◽  
Diego Azañedo

Abstract Objective: Iodine deficiency is a public health problem, especially in Peru, where it affects women of childbearing age and school-age children. The objective of the study was to conduct a household-level analysis of the factors associated with the consumption of table salt with inadequate amounts of iodine in Peru. Design: Analytical cross-sectional study using Peruvian household-level data from the Demographic and Family Health Survey. Table salt iodine concentrations were considered as the dependent variable (‘inadequate’ with iodine levels <30 PPM and ‘adequate’ with levels ≥30 PPM). The association between iodine concentrations in salt and independent variables was evaluated using crude and adjusted log-binomial regression models. Setting: Peru. Participants: A total of 25 007 households were included. Results: In Peru, 21·8 % households had inadequate table salt iodine concentrations. Belonging to the poorer and poorest wealth index, living in the Highlands natural region, and living with women of childbearing age with native mother tongue were identified as factors associated with inadequate iodine concentrations in table salt. Conclusions: There is an urgent need to ensure that table salt with adequate iodine concentrations is available for poor populations, residents of the Highlands and households with ethnic presence. Likewise, it is necessary to promote good storage practices, greater regulation/law enforcement and better monitoring of the companies that manufacture or sell this product. Furthermore, the population needs to be informed of the disorders associated with iodine deficiency.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Juan García-Bernalt Diego ◽  
Pedro Fernández-Soto ◽  
Antonio Muro

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), particularly those caused by parasites, remain a major Public Health problem in tropical and subtropical regions, with 10% of the world population being infected. Their management and control have been traditionally hampered, among other factors, by the difficulty to deploy rapid, specific, and affordable diagnostic tools in low resource settings. This is especially true for complex PCR-based methods. Isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques, particularly loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), appeared in the early 21st century as an alternative to PCR, allowing for a much more affordable molecular diagnostic. Here, we present the status of LAMP assays development in parasite-caused NTDs. We address the progress made in different research applications of the technique: xenomonitoring, epidemiological studies, work in animal models and clinical application both for diagnosis and evaluation of treatment success. Finally, we try to shed a light on the improvements needed to achieve a true point-of-care test and the future perspectives in this field.


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