background: schistosomiasis and soil transmitted infection is a major health problem of children from rural areas of developing countries including yemen. in an attempt to reduce this burden, the ministry of public health and population in yemen established in 2002 a programme for schisto-somal, soil transmitted infection control that aimed to reduce morbidity and prevalence rates of schistosom...

About two years ago our laboratory received for identification a sparganum of Spirometra sp. (about 10 cm long) removed from a nodule in the knee of a Tanzanian negro by Doctor Knut Saug. About the same time we received for identification two tetrathyridia of Mesocestoides sp. (about 8 cm long) found in the peritoneum of a Norwegian cat. The latter was the first record of tetrathyridia found in...

Novel neutral glycosphingolipids isolated from the plerocercoids of a tapeworm, Spirometra erinacei, may be expected to be involved in host-parasite interactions. We have synthesized this glycosphingolipid analogue containing 2-branched fatty alkyl residue in place of ceramide. Glycosylation of nonreducing-end trisaccharide derivative 15 with the reducing-end disaccharide derivative 17 in the p...

Sparganosis is a parasitic infection caused by the plerocercoid tapeworm larva of the genus Spirometra. Although the destination of the larva is often a tissue or muscle in the chest, abdominal wall, extremities, eyes, brain, urinary tract, spinal canal, and scrotum, intramuscular sparganosis is uncommon and therefore is difficult to distinguish from a soft tissue tumor. We report a case of int...

This study presents the characterization of an experimental immunotherapeutic approach for schistosomiasis utilizing antiidiotypic antibodies. Antiidiotype (31-3B6) was generated in rabbits using a protective murine monoclonal antibody 31-3B6 which recognizes a 68,000-D molecular mass glycoprotein present in extracts of Schistosomiasis mansoni adult worm homogenetics. Immunization of mice with ...

AIMS To find out whether serology can reliably speciate human schistosomiasis using a simple enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. METHODS Stored sera from 66 patients with microscopically confirmed schistosomiasis were subjected to ELISA using a panel of three antigens, namely: unfractionated Schistosoma mansoni soluble egg antigen (SEA); CEF6, a cationic fraction of SEA; and ...

OBJECTIVES The antischistosomal properties of the marketed antiandrogens bicalutamide, flutamide, nilutamide and cyproterone acetate were studied both in vivo and in vitro. METHODS Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice were treated orally with 50-400 mg/kg of the antiandrogens 3 and 7 weeks post-infection. In addition, three drug combinations of nilutamide and praziquantel (200/100, 100/100 and 1...

The genome of Schistosoma mansoni contains a proviral form of a retrovirus-like long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon, designated BOUDICCA: Sequence and structural characterization of the new mobile genetic element, which was found in bacterial artificial chromosomes prepared from S. mansoni genomic DNA, revealed the presence of three putative open reading frames (ORFs) bounded by direct L...

Impaired virus-specific immune responses have previously been observed with Schistosoma mansoni coinfection. We characterized Gag-specific responses in HIV-1-positive Ugandans with and without S. mansoni coinfection. We observed no significant difference in the frequency of IFN-gamma CD8+ T cells between the two groups. Interestingly, expression of CD107, a marker for cytolytic activity, was si...

INTRODUCTION The essential oil Mentha x villosa (MVEO) has a wide range of actions, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal and schistosomicidal actions. The present study aimed to investigate the ultrastructural changes of MVEO on the tegument of adult Schistosoma mansoni. MATERIALS AND METHODS Different concentrations of MVEO were tested on S. mansoni adult worms in vitro. Ultras...