Anaplasmosis in Uganda. III. Parasitological and serological evidence of Anaplasma infection in Ugandan goats

Randomly selected goat sera from north-western, central, and south-western regions of Uganda were analyzed parasitologically and serologically for evidence of anaplasmosis. Prevalence rates of 3,2 % by parasitemia, 4,8 % by card-agglutination test, and 12,9 % by DOT-ELISA combined with western blotting were established. Parasitologically positive samples were consistently serologically positive. Positive samples were all from either the north-western or south-western regions of the country. Goats in these regions graze with cattle and are presumable exposed to the same tick species. There was no evidence of clinical caprine anaplasmosis, whereas bovine anaplasmosis cases are very common. Rhipicephalus evertsi was frequently observed on goats which cograze with cattle.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

The effect of buffered peptone water pre-enrichment on detected prevalence of Salmonella in swine feces

Sensitive and specific detection methods are important to understand the epidemiology of Salmonella and to develop appropriate control strategies. The risk of Salmonella contamination of pork is associated with subclinical Salmonella infections in pigs. In most epidemiological investigations, microbiological culture has been used to deterimine Salmonella infection status for infections on swine farms or at slaughter plants. However, identification of Salmonella by culture among subclinically infected pigs may be highly influenced by the intermittent shedding status of pigs. The types and volume of samples used for culture as well as culture protocol used in microbiological examination can influence the sensitivity of the method

Hydrological modeling of geophysical parameters of arboviral and protozoan disease vectors in Internally Displaced People camps in Gulu, Uganda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to determine if remotely sensed data and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) can test relationships between <it>Culex quinquefasciatus </it>and <it>Anopheles gambiae </it>s.l. larval habitats and environmental parameters within Internally Displaced People (IDP) campgrounds in Gulu, Uganda. A total of 65 georeferenced aquatic habitats in various IDP camps were studied to compare the larval abundance of <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>and <it>An. gambiae </it>s.l. The aquatic habitat dataset were overlaid onto Land Use Land Cover (LULC) maps retrieved from Landsat imagery with 150 m × 150 m grid cells stratified by levels of drainage. The LULC change was estimated over a period of 14 years. Poisson regression analyses and Moran's <it>I </it>statistics were used to model relationships between larval abundance and environmental predictors. Individual larval habitat data were further evaluated in terms of their covariations with spatial autocorrelation by regressing them on candidate spatial filter eigenvectors. Multispectral QuickBird imagery classification and DEM-based GIS methods were generated to evaluate stream flow direction and accumulation for identification of immature <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>and <it>An. gambiae </it>s.l. and abundance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The main LULC change in urban Gulu IDP camps was non-urban to urban, which included about 71.5 % of the land cover. The regression models indicate that counts of <it>An. gambiae </it>s.l. larvae were associated with shade while <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>were associated with floating vegetation. Moran's <it>I </it>and the General G statistics for mosquito density by species and instars, identified significant clusters of high densities of <it>Anopheles</it>; larvae, however, <it>Culex </it>are not consistently clustered. A stepwise negative binomial regression decomposed the immature <it>An. gambiae </it>s.l. data into empirical orthogonal bases. The data suggest the presence of roughly 11% to 28 % redundant information in the larval count samples. The DEM suggest a positive correlation for <it>Culex </it>(0.24) while for <it>Anopheles </it>there was a negative correlation (-0.23) for a local model distance to stream.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data demonstrate that optical remote sensing; geostatistics and DEMs can be used to identify parameters associated with <it>Culex </it>and <it>Anopheles </it>aquatic habitats.</p

Molecular approaches to malaria and babesiosis diagnosis.

The development of additional methods for detecting and identifying Babesia and Plasmodium infections may be useful in disease monitoring, management and control efforts. The preliminary evaluate synthetic peptide-based serodiagnosis, a hydrophilic sequence (DDESEFDKEK) was selected from the published BabR gene of B. bovis. Immunization of rabbits and cattle with the hemocyanin-conjugated peptide elicited antibody responses that specifically detected both P. falciparum and B. bovis antigens by immunofluorescence and Western blots. Using a dot-ELISA with this peptide, antisera from immunized and naturally-infected cattle, and immunized rodents, were specifically detected. Reactivity was weak and correlated with peptide immunization or infection. DNA-based detection using repetitive DNA was species-specific in dot-blot formats for B. bovis DNA, and in both dot-blot and in situ formats for P. falciparum; a streamlined enzyme-linked synthetic DNA assay for P. falciparum detected 30 parasites/mm3 from patient blood using either colorimetric (2-15 h color development) or chemiluminescent detection (0.5-6-min exposures). Serodiagnostic and DNA hybridization methods may be complementary in the respective detection of both chronic and acute infections. However, recent improvements in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) make feasible a more sensitive and uniform approach to the diagnosis of these and other infectious disease complexes, with appropriate primers and processing methods. An analysis of ribosomal DNA genes of Plasmodium and Toxoplasma identified Apicomplexa-conserved sequence regions. Specific and distinctive PCR profiles were obtained for primers spanning the internal transcribed spacer locus for each of several Plasmodium and Babesia species

Changes in the total leukocyte and platelet counts in Papuan and non Papuan adults from northeast Papua infected with acute Plasmodium vivax or uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are limited data on the evolution of the leukocyte and platelet counts in malaria patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a clinical trial of chloroquine vs. chloroquine plus doxycycline vs. doxycycline alone against <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>(n = 64) or <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>(n = 98) malaria, the total white cell (WCC) and platelet (PLT) counts were measured on Days 0, 3, 7 and 28 in 57 indigenous Papuans with life long malaria exposure and 105 non Papuan immigrants from other parts of Indonesia with limited malaria exposure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean Day 0 WCC (n = 152) was 6.492 (range 2.1–13.4) × 10⁹/L and was significantly lower in the Papuans compared to the non Papuans: 5.77 × 10⁹/L vs. 6.86 × 10⁹/L, difference = -1.09 [(95% CI -0.42 to -1.79 × 10⁹/L), P = 0.0018]. 14 (9.2%) and 9 (5.9%) patients had leukopaenia (<4.0 × 10⁹/L) and leukocytosis (>10.0 × 10⁹/L), respectively. By Day 28, the mean WCC increased significantly (P = 0.0003) from 6.37 to 7.47 × 10⁹/L (73 paired values) and was similar between the two groups. Ethnicity was the only WCC explanatory factor and only on Day 0.</p> <p>The mean Day 0 platelet count (n = 151) was 113.0 (range 8.0–313.0) × 10⁹/L and rose significantly to 186.308 × 10⁹/L by Day 28 (P < 0.0001). There was a corresponding fall in patient proportions with thrombocytopaenia (<150 × 10⁹/L): 119/151 (78.81%) vs. 16/73 (21.92%, P < 0.00001). Papuan and non Papuan mean platelet counts were similar at all time points. Only malaria species on Day 0 was a significant platelet count explanatory factor. The mean D0 platelet counts were significantly lower (P = 0.025) in vivax (102.022 × 10⁹/L) vs. falciparum (122.125 × 10⁹/L) patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Changes in leukocytes and platelets were consistent with other malaria studies. The Papuan non Papuan difference in the mean Day 0 WCC was small but might be related to the difference in malaria exposure.</p

The effect of buffered peptone water pre-enrichment on detected prevalence of Salmonella in swine feces

Sensitive and specific detection methods are important to understand the epidemiology of Salmonella and to develop appropriate control strategies. The risk of Salmonella contamination of pork is associated with subclinical Salmonella infections in pigs. In most epidemiological investigations, microbiological culture has been used to deterimine Salmonella infection status for infections on swine farms or at slaughter plants. However, identification of Salmonella by culture among subclinically infected pigs may be highly influenced by the intermittent shedding status of pigs. The types and volume of samples used for culture as well as culture protocol used in microbiological examination can influence the sensitivity of the method.</p