PURPOSE OF REVIEW This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the interaction between malaria parasites and blood group antigens and discusses how the knowledge gleaned can be used to target the development of new antimalarial treatments and vaccines. RECENT FINDINGS Studies of the interaction between Plasmodium vivax and the Duffy antigen provide the clearest example of th...

OBJECTIVES Chemoprophylaxis is recommended during pregnancy to reduce the risk of placental infection. However, in areas with increasing drug resistance, it can trigger selection of resistant parasites in the placenta and increase the frequency of placental malaria. The objective of this study was to analyse the selection of drug-resistant parasites in the placenta in an area where chloroquine ...

Real-time technology eliminates many of the pitfalls of diagnostic PCR, but this method has not been applied to differentiation of Leishmania organisms so far. We have developed a real-time PCR that simultaneously detects, quantitates, and categorizes Leishmania organisms into three relevant groups causing distinct clinical pictures. The analytical sensitivity (detection rate of >or=95% at 94.1...

Malaria parasites generate vast quantities of heme during blood stage infection via hemoglobin digestion and limited de novo biosynthesis, but it remains unclear if parasites metabolize heme for utilization or disposal. Recent in vitro experiments with a heme oxygenase (HO)-like protein from Plasmodium falciparum suggested that parasites may enzymatically degrade some heme to the canonical HO p...

Transgenic pathogenic microorganisms expressing host cytokines such as gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) have been shown to manipulate host-pathogen interaction, leading to immunomodulation and enhanced protection. Expression of host cytokines in malaria parasites offers the opportunity to investigate the potential of an immunomodulatory approach by generating immunopotentiated parasites. Using the ...

introduction: intestinal parasites have world wide prevalence and are considered to be as one of the leading hygienic and economic problems in the world. it can be said that there is nowhere in the world without parasitic infestations. the present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in patients referring to yazd central laboratory in 2000-2002. methods: the p...

background: the aim of the study was to determine the helminthic species occurring in great gerbil rhombomys opimus collected from maraveh tappeh, golestan province, northeast iran. methods : during 2010-2011, a total of 77 r. opimus were captured from rural areas of maraveh tap-peh, golestan province, using sherman live traps and examined for infectivity with any larva or adult stages of helmi...

background: blastocystis  is a zoonotic protozoan parasite habit in intestinal tract of humans and wide range of animals. because of the mysterious nature and unknown or less-known aspects of blastocystis, comprehensive information about epidemiology of this parasite is not available. the objective of this study was to investigate the available parasitology studies during the last decade in ira...

conclusions rodents play an important role in the transfer of zoonotic parasite diseases, especially those that live near human habitats. control of rodent population in the city should be considered to decrease risk of transmission. results all studied rodents were infected at least by one parasite. the collected parasites included: three species of cestodes, eight species of nematodes, one sp...

*Correspondence: Jordi Figuerola, Estación Biológica de Doñana, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain e-mail: [email protected] Plumage coloration plays an important role in intra and inter-sexual competition in birds. Many of the yellow, orange, or red colors present in birds are carotenoid dependent. Carotenoids cannot be synthetized de novo by birds and consequently should be obta...