scholarly journals Monoclonal Antibodies for Protozoan Infections: A Future Reality or a Utopic Idea?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Stefania Longoni ◽  
Natalia Tiberti ◽  
Zeno Bisoffi ◽  
Chiara Piubelli
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Drug Toxicity ◽  
Transplant Rejection ◽  
Anthrax Toxin ◽  
Neglected Diseases ◽  
Protozoan Infections ◽  
Parasite Biology ◽  
Syncytial Virus ◽  
Parasite Genomics ◽  
Made In

Following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, several clinical trials have been approved for the investigation of the possible use of mAbs, supporting the potential of this technology as a therapeutic approach for infectious diseases. The first monoclonal antibody (mAb), Muromonab CD3, was introduced for the prevention of kidney transplant rejection more than 30 years ago; since then more than 100 mAbs have been approved for therapeutic purposes. Nonetheless, only four mAbs are currently employed for infectious diseases: Palivizumab, for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections, Raxibacumab and Obiltoxaximab, for the prophylaxis and treatment against anthrax toxin and Bezlotoxumab, for the prevention of Clostridium difficile recurrence. Protozoan infections are often neglected diseases for which effective and safe chemotherapies are generally missing. In this context, drug resistance and drug toxicity are two crucial problems. The recent advances in bioinformatics, parasite genomics, and biochemistry methodologies are contributing to better understand parasite biology, which is essential to guide the development of new therapies. In this review, we present the efforts that are being made in the evaluation of mAbs for the prevention or treatment of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, malaria, and toxoplasmosis. Particular emphasis will be placed on the potential strengths and weaknesses of biological treatments in the control of these protozoan diseases that are still affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Prizes and Parasites: Incentive Models for Addressing Chagas Disease

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. Crager ◽  
Matt Price
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Neglected Diseases ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Disease Research ◽  
Market Sector ◽  
New Chemical Entities ◽  
Made In

Despite the enormous progress made in the advancement of health technologies over the last century, infectious diseases continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Neglected diseases are a subset of infectious diseases that lack treatments that are effective, simple to use, or affordable. Neglected diseases primarily affect populations in poor countries that do not constitute a lucrative market sector, thus failing to provide incentives for the pharmaceutical industry to conduct R&D for these diseases. Of the treatments that do exist for neglected diseases, most are completely out-dated, with poor side-effect profiles, cumbersome logistics of administration, and inadequate efficacy. Historically, the impetus for a majority of neglected disease research was driven by early 20th-century colonialism, and in the post-colonial era, these diseases have been virtually ignored. Of the 1556 New Chemical Entities (NCEs) brought to market during the 30-year period from 1975 to 2004, only 20 — less than 0.02% — were for neglected diseases.

scholarly journals Understanding the perspectives of older adults and elderly regarding vaccination; a snapshot in four European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Timen ◽  
R Eilers ◽  
S Lockhart ◽  
R Gavioli ◽  
S Paul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Syncytial Virus

Abstract Prevention of infectious diseases in elderly by immunization is a prerequisite to ensuring healthy ageing. However, in order for the vaccine programs to be effective, these need to be provided by health care professionals who have up-to-date knowledge and high motivation. Furthermore, the knowledge and attitudes towards vaccination in the targeted age groups needs to be fully understood. When focusing on the information provision, it is important to know from whom or which institution older adults and elderly would like to receive and in which form. In January 2019, an international project called the VITAL (The Vaccines and InfecTious diseases in the Ageing population) project was started, within the framework of IMI (Innovative Medicines Initiatives). One of the goals of the VITAL project is to develop strategies to educate and train health care professionals (HCPs) and to promote awareness among stakeholders involved in elderly care management. We briefly focus on the results of studies undertaken in four European countries (Italy, France, The Netherlands and Hungary), which reveal the perspective of older adults and elderly regarding influenza, pneumococcal, herpes zoster vaccination and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as well as generic characteristics of the vaccines and diseases. We will show how attitudes towards vaccination are represented in our study population and which determinants influence the decision-making process of accepting vaccination. Furthermore, we shall elaborate on how the decision-making process towards vaccination takes place and which additional information is needed. In the second part of the session, we shall invite the audience to reflect on the findings and identify the factors they consider most important for setting up a training and education programme on vaccination.

scholarly journals Twenty-first century vaccines

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1579) ◽  
pp. 2756-2758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rino Rappuoli
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Group A Streptococcus ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Meningococcal Meningitis ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Group A ◽  
Disability Free Life Expectancy ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Syncytial Virus

In the twentieth century, vaccination has been possibly the greatest revolution in health. Together with hygiene and antibiotics, vaccination led to the elimination of many childhood infectious diseases and contributed to the increase in disability-free life expectancy that in Western societies rose from 50 to 78–85 years (Crimmins, E. M. & Finch, C. E. 2006 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 498–503; Kirkwood, T. B. 2008 Nat. Med 10, 1177–1185). In the twenty-first century, vaccination will be expected to eliminate the remaining childhood infectious diseases, such as meningococcal meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus, group A streptococcus, and will address the health challenges of this century such as those associated with ageing, antibiotic resistance, emerging infectious diseases and poverty. However, for this to happen, we need to increase the public trust in vaccination so that vaccines can be perceived as the best insurance against most diseases across all ages.

scholarly journals FAKTOR FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI KEJADIAN TB PARU DAN UPAYA PENANGGULANGANNYA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edza Aria Wikurendra
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Pulmonary Tuberculosis ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Pulmonary Tb ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
The World ◽  
Success Of Treatment ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Made In

Tuberculosis is still the main infectious disease in the world and is increasingly becoming a concern with the presence of HIV / AIDS. In the Ministry of Health's Strategic Plan for 2015-2019, infectious diseases are one of the main priorities that must be addressed to realize a Healthy Indonesia. The number of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in Indonesia is reported to be 130 / 100,000, every year there are 539,000 new cases and the number of deaths is around 101,000 per year, the incidence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis cases is about 110 / 100,000 people. This paper aims to reveal the problem of influential factors and efforts that must be made in controlling pulmonary TB disease. This paper is made by tracing research reports / articles related to the incidence of pulmonary TB. And then a selection of the collected reports is carried out, so that 20 selected journals / articles can be reviewed. From selected reports, determined aspects that indicate the factors that caused the incidence of pulmonary TB and TB prevention efforts were carried out. Various efforts have been made through various approaches to treat or at least reduce the incidence of TB. Such as network model strategy programs and others are expected to provide healing and prevent transmission. But in the implementation in the field, the success of treatment and prevention with this strategy experienced several obstacles that did not provide maximum results.

scholarly journals Patient attendance at a pediatric emergency referral hospital in an area with low COVID-19 incidence

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258478
Author(s):  
Koichi Shichijo ◽  
Shunsuke Takeuchi ◽  
Takahiro Tayama ◽  
Mikiko Takei ◽  
Keisuke Fujioka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Pediatric Emergency ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
Pediatric Diseases ◽  
Syncytial Virus ◽  
Neonatal Care Unit

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of individual infection control measures and physical distancing on pediatric medical care in a local prefecture in Japan, where the incidence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in pediatric patients was extremely low. We extracted data from hospital records on the number of outpatients, inpatients, infectious disease consultations, and consultations for representative pediatric diseases. We compared attendance in 2017–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2020, when COVID-19 spread to Japan. There were no COVID-19 patients in the pediatric department during the study period. The total number outpatient visits decreased by 24.4%, and the number of hospital admissions, excluding neonatal care unit admissions, decreased by approximately 35%. There was a marked reduction in the number of hospitalizations for infectious diseases such as influenza (−74.8%) and respiratory syncytial virus infection (−93.5%), and the number of hospitalizations for bronchitis/pneumonia, Kawasaki disease, and bronchial asthma decreased. In contrast, the number of clinical psychological interventions and cases reported to the child guidance center increased. In the context of pandemic infectious diseases, it is important to control the spread of problematic infectious diseases by individual infection control measures and physical distancing. However, it is necessary to maintain social life as much as possible for the mental health and physical development of children.

scholarly journals ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY TEST OF LEAVES KECOMBRANG (NICOLAIA SPECIOSA) ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS AGAINST STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Rinda Binugraheni ◽  
Ndaru Trisni Larasati
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Antibacterial Activity ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Leaf Extract ◽  
Diffusion Method ◽  
Skin Infections ◽  
Activity Test ◽  
Ethanolic Extracts ◽  
Made In ◽  
Data Result

Infectious diseases that often occur in humans are skin infections. One of the bacteria that cause infection in humans is Staphylococcus aureus. One of the plants used as an ingredient in traditional medicine and used as an anti-bacterial is a kecombrang plant. This research aims to test the antibacterial activity of leaf extract of kecombrang against Staphylococcus aureus. Kecombrang leaf obtained from Pandeglang Banten. Kecombrang leaves extracted with a maceration method using 96% ethanol solvent. Extracts of leaves are made in a various concentrations (100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%). The antibacterial activity test was performed by using the diffusion method to find out the large zone of diameter are formed to inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.The results of the antibacterial activity of the leaves extract of kecombrang to Staphylococcus aureus at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% concentrations respectively were 12.67 mm, 14.33 mm, 15.33 mm, and 17.00 mm. The data result showed, that leaf extract of kecombrang with 100% concentration had the largest inhibiting zone diameter of 17.00 mm, among other concentrations. This suggests that kecombrang leaf extract have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.

scholarly journals Neopterin - a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker in infection diseases

2014 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 938-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
K R Dudina ◽  
M M Kutateladze ◽  
O O Znoiko ◽  
N O Bokova ◽  
S A Shutko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Biological Fluids ◽  
Transplant Rejection ◽  
Interferon Γ ◽  
Pathological Process ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Vector Borne Diseases

Clinical significance of determining the neopterin concentration in body fluids is reviewed. The results of researches on determining the neopterin concentrations in various infectious diseases (vector-borne diseases, herpes, respiratory and intestinal infections, as well as human immunodeficiency virus infection) conducted over the past 2 years are discussed. Neopterin is a biologically stable metabolite, which gives an advantage of its detection to assess the activity of the immune response. Previously neopterin was determined mainly by high-performance liquid chromatography. In recent years, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was introduced and frequently used for determining neopterin concentrations. It was shown that neopterin concentrations can vary also in the absence of the pathological process. In particular, some general factors such as race, age, body mass index, smoking and arterial pressure may influence on the concentrations of neopterin in the human body. Increased level of neopterin in body biological fluids and the kynurenine/tryptophan ratio are measured in diseases involving interferon-γ-mediated immune response activation. In this regard, the highest concentrations of neopterin and increased kynurenine/tryptophan ratio are observed in cases of infectious diseases, malignancies, transplant rejection, a number of cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. It was shown that neopterin can be regarded as a highly specific marker of viral infection, and its blood concentration reflect the prognosis of the disease. Monitoring neopterin level may be useful to assess the severity and activity of an infectious disease, its clinical course, and to control the effectiveness of etiological treatment for many infectious diseases.

scholarly journals Etiology of fever in Ugandan children: identification of microbial pathogens using metagenomic next-generation sequencing and IDseq, a platform for unbiased metagenomic analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshaya Ramesh ◽  
Sara Nakielny ◽  
Jennifer Hsu ◽  
Mary Kyohere ◽  
Oswald Byaruhanga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Next Generation Sequencing ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Parvovirus B19 ◽  
Human Herpesvirus ◽  
Febrile Illness ◽  
Microbial Pathogens ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Syncytial Virus ◽  
Generation Sequencing

AbstractBackgroundFebrile illness is a major burden in African children, and non-malarial causes of fever are uncertain. We built and employed IDseq, a cloud-based, open access, bioinformatics platform and service to identify microbes from metagenomic next-generation sequencing of tissue samples. In this pilot study, we evaluated blood, nasopharyngeal, and stool specimens from 94 children (aged 2-54 months) with febrile illness admitted to Tororo District Hospital, Uganda.ResultsThe most common pathogens identified were Plasmodium falciparum (51.1% of samples) and parvovirus B19 (4.4%) from blood; human rhinoviruses A and C (40%), respiratory syncytial virus (10%), and human herpesvirus 5 (10%) from nasopharyngeal swabs; and rotavirus A (50% of those with diarrhea) from stool. Among other potential pathogens, we identified one novel orthobunyavirus, tentatively named Nyangole virus, from the blood of a child diagnosed with malaria and pneumonia, and Bwamba orthobunyavirus in the nasopharynx of a child with rash and sepsis. We also identified two novel human rhinovirus C species.ConclusionsThis exploratory pilot study demonstrates the utility of mNGS and the IDseq platform for defining the molecular landscape of febrile infectious diseases in resource limited areas. These methods, supported by a robust data analysis and sharing platform, offer a new tool for the surveillance, diagnosis, and ultimately treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.

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