The majority of the world's population still live without access to healthy water and the contamination of drinking water with protozoan pathogens poses a serious threat to millions of people in the developing world. Even in the developed world periodic outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases are caused by the protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium sp., Giardia duodenalis and Entamoeba histolytica. Thus,...

Wild animals particularly non human primates are the potential sources of bacterial, viral and parasitic zoonoses. Primates share parasites, Entamoeba sp., Giardia sp., Ascaris sp., Strongyloides sp., etc morphologically similar to human beings, although most of these parasites need to verify genetically. Some of the viral diseases have already been proved to be transmissible from non human pri...

Dinoflagellate blooms are frequently observed under temporary eutrophication of coastal waters after heavy rains. Growth of these opportunistic microalgae is believed to be promoted by sudden input of nutrients and the absence or inefficiency of their natural enemies, such as grazers and parasites. Here, numerical simulations indicate that increasing nutrient availability not only promotes the ...

For many years, the role of interferon (IFN)-I has been characterized primarily in the context of viral infections. However, regulatory functions mediated by IFN-I have also been described against bacterial infections and in tumor immunology. Only recently, the interest in understanding the immune functions mediated by IFN-I has dramatically increased in the field of protozoan infections. In th...

PLATE 48. During a study of tissues from a series of turkeys which had been included in several experiments designed to throw light on the transmission of the protozoan parasite producing the so called blackhead, the writer came upon a case which furnishes the text for this communication. The history of the animal (No. 98) is given in a recent paper (1). It was raised with eighteen others in an...

Cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis are recognized as significant enteric diseases due to their long-term health effects in humans and their economic impact in agriculture and medical care. Molecular analysis is essential to identify species and genotypes causing these infectious diseases and provides a potential tool for monitoring. This study uses information on species and genetic variants to g...

Cochlosoma sp. infection was identified in a single case among 60 stunted diarrheic native turkey poults, Meleagris galopavo. A large number of the flagellated parasites was found free or within the intervillous spaces of the jejunum, ileum and cecum. Moderate enteritis was associated with the parasites. In TEM studies of the parasagittal sections of the parasite, a prominent ventral sucker lik...

It is estimated that 780 million people do not have access to improved drinking water sources and approximately 2 billion use fecally contaminated water. Effective point-of-use treatment systems (POU) can provide with sufficiently reduced concentrations of pathogenic enteric microorganisms pose significant health risks consumers. Household (HWT) utilize various technologies physically remove an...

In this review, we discuss how protozoan parasites alter immature and mature B cell compartment. B1 and marginal zone (MZ) B cells, considered innate like B cells, are activated during protozoan parasite infections, and they generate short lived plasma cells providing a prompt antibody source. In addition, protozoan infections induce massive B cell response with polyclonal activation that leads...

The Phylum Protozoa brings together several organisms evolutionarily different that may act as ecto or endoparasites of fishes over the world being responsible for diseases, which, in turn, may lead to economical and social impacts in different countries. Apart from the recent advances for the diagnosis of fish diseases in Brazil, little is known on the protozoan parasites and their relationshi...