Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Their Prevalence, Distribution, and Disease Burden

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common conditions affecting the poorest 500 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and together produce a burden of disease that may be equivalent to up to one-half of SSA's malaria disease burden and more than double that caused by tuberculosis. Approximately 85% of the NTD disease burden results from helminth infections. Hookworm infection occurs in almost half of SSA's poorest people, including 40–50 million school-aged children and 7 million pregnant women in whom it is a leading cause of anemia. Schistosomiasis is the second most prevalent NTD after hookworm (192 million cases), accounting for 93% of the world's number of cases and possibly associated with increased horizontal transmission of HIV/AIDS. Lymphatic filariasis (46–51 million cases) and onchocerciasis (37 million cases) are also widespread in SSA, each disease representing a significant cause of disability and reduction in the region's agricultural productivity. There is a dearth of information on Africa's non-helminth NTDs. The protozoan infections, human African trypanosomiasis and visceral leishmaniasis, affect almost 100,000 people, primarily in areas of conflict in SSA where they cause high mortality, and where trachoma is the most prevalent bacterial NTD (30 million cases). However, there are little or no data on some very important protozoan infections, e.g., amebiasis and toxoplasmosis; bacterial infections, e.g., typhoid fever and non-typhoidal salmonellosis, the tick-borne bacterial zoonoses, and non-tuberculosis mycobaterial infections; and arboviral infections. Thus, the overall burden of Africa's NTDs may be severely underestimated. A full assessment is an important step for disease control priorities, particularly in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the greatest number of NTDs may occur

Techniques for Host Plant Inoculation with Truffles and Other Edible Ectomycorrhizal MushroomsEdible Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms

Large-scale production of high-quality mycorrhizal plants in the greenhouse is mainstay for the modern cultivation of edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms (EEMMs). Success at this step not only depends on the reliability of the fungal inoculum used for plantlet mycorrhization but also on the environmental conditions attending symbiosis establishment. Methods developed 40-50 years ago for inoculating host plants with EEMMs are still largely used today, with slight modifications. Mycelial inoculations are used commercially only for some edible ectomycorrhizal (EEM) basidiomycetes, while inoculation with spores is the most common method for producing seedlings colonized with truffle mycorrhizas. However pure cultures and ectomycorrhizas of Tuber have also been used to obtain mycorrhizal plants mainly for scientific purposes. Mycelium-based inoculum offers many advantages, such as lower contamination risks, more reliable root colonization, and provides opportunities for genetic selection of EEMM strains. Long time preservation of EEM cultures and the creation of germplasm banks would be an important step to support mycelium-based technologies. To this aim, we demonstrate successful crypreservation of strains of Tuber borchii and Tuber aestivum. Recent advances in genetic and biotechnology of EEMs and their hosts has the potential to transform the current EEMM nursery trade