Effect of interleukin-22 on immunogenicity of DNA vaccine encoding TSA gene of leishmania major in BALB/c mice

Background and purpose: Previous Research shows the use of plasmids containing genes TSA to be useful as vaccines for Leishmania major. Recently, the role of interleukin-22 (IL-22) in tissue repair has been demonstrated. In this research, the effect of IL-22 on encoding TSA gene of Leishmania major in BALB/c mice was assessed

The effect of lavender essential oil and nanoemulsion on Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis is the cause of trichomoniasis. Due to increased resistance and side effects of the drugs, the aim of this study was to assess an anti-trichomonias effect of lavender (Lavandula officinalis) essential oil and nanoemulsion on T. vaginalis in vitro. Materials and Methods: Lavender essential oil components were characterized by gas chromatography. To determine the cytotoxicity effects, the macrophage cell line J774.A.1 was used. Trichomonas vaginalis was isolated from vaginal secretions of the infected women and then cultured in the TYM complete medium and passaged for 10 days. The effect of essential oil and 1 lavender nanoemulsion in concentrations 10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/mL in the 24-well plate were examined at 1, 2 and 3 hours as triplicate. Positive control was metronidazole (50 μg/mL). The number of live and dead parasites was counted by trypan blue stain with a Neubauer slide. Results: The viability of the macrophages for lavender essential oil was 93.70 and for nanoemulsion was 90.90. Essential oil and nanoemulsion of lavender in concentration of 100 μg/mL and during 3 hours showed 81.7 and 81.9 growth inhibitory, respectively. This difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Lavender essential oil and nanoemulsion has a desirable inhibitory effect on growth of T.vaginalis and can be a good choice for conducting therapeutic investigations regarding trichomonial infections

Presence and diversity of Leishmania RNA virus in an old zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis focus, northeastern Iran: haplotype and phylogenetic based approach

Objective: Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) is a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus that circulates within many species of the Leishmania parasite. In this study, we aimed to investigate the presence of LRV2 circulating in Leishmania isolates in an old focus of ZCL located in northeastern of Iran. Methods: Leishmania isolates were collected from 85 patients that confirmed to have cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) based on parasitological examination. To identify the Leishmania isolates, species-specific primer sets were applied for molecular identification. The presence of LRV2 was performed by RdRp-semi nested-PCR. The genetic diversity were calculated using MEGA and DnaSP. To assess haplotype diversity, 31 LRV2 strains in different regions were surveyed using analysis a 292-bp section of the RdRp sequences. Results: Out of 85 patients, 83 (97.6 ) were diagnosed with L. major and 2 (2.4 ) with L. tropica. LRV2 virus was detected in 59 (69.4) of the CL cases. For the first time, LRV2 was reported in one L. tropica strain in Iran. The current LRV2 sequences indicated the highest similarities to an Old World LRV2. Moreover, 10 unique haplotypes were identified based on the analyzed sequences of the RdRp gene. Conclusions: Our results indicated the highest occurrence of Leishmania/LRV2 co-circulation in this known ZCL focus from northeastern Iran. Phylogenetic analyses of LRV2 sequences confirmed that these isolates belong to the order of LRV2 from the Old World. This study offered an insight into LRV2 haplotype that the informative issue can be used for genetic research of LRV2 in other regions. © 2020 The Author(s

Parasitic Contamination Of Wells Drinking Waterin Mazandaran Province

There is a direct relation between the prevalence of some parasitic diseases and the presence of those etiologic agents in water. The purpose of this research was to determine the contamination rate of wells drinking water to parasites in Mazandaran province in the north of Iran. 989 water samples were randomly taken based on the population of towns and number of health centers from 12 cities of Mazandaran province and transferred to the laboratory in sterile containers. Water samples were then filtered and analyzed according to the World Health Organization guidelines. Direct method and Gram staining procedure were used to identify the parasites. If cryptosporidium was seen, floatation (sheather&apos;s sugar) and modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining method were performed. Parasites count was undertaken using McMaster counting slide (0.3 mL). 197 out of 989 water samples were contaminated with different parasites. From 197 contaminated samples, 20 different types of parasites were separated of which 53 (26.9%) were pathogenic, 100 (50.8%) non pathogenic, and 44 non-infective stages of parasites. Distance between wells and sources of contamination, type of water distribution systems, city and chlorination status had significantly statistical relationship with contamination prevalence (p<0.001). According to the results and considering the direct correlation between safe water and human health, proper implementation of providing hygienic drinking water should be enforced

LACK gene’s immune response induced by Cocktail DNA vaccine with IL-12 gene against cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice

Background: Leishmaniasis is caused by parasitic protozoa of the genus Leishmania which is an obligate intracellular parasite in the infected host. Individuals who have been recovered from clinical leishmaniasis develop strong immunity against reinfec-tion. DNA vaccines are the new type of vaccines that induce expression of protein eukaryotic cells. DNA vaccines can be stimulated by the cellular and humoral immune responses using one or several genes. Methods: A DNA vaccine containing plasmids encoding the pcLACK+pcTSA genes of Leishmania major (L. major) (MHRO/IR/75/ER) in the vicinity of IL-12 gene expression was made and then its protective efficacy in comparison with single-gene of LACK was evaluated. Also, BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly three times. The humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated after immunization with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+pCAGGS-IL12, and then challenged with L. major. Results: Humoral response and IFN-γ values were significantly higher than control groups after immunization with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+pCAGGS-IL12 and challenge with L. major (p≤0.05). IL-4 values were increased in the control groups in such a way that they were remarkably higher than the pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+ pCAGGS-IL12 groups (p≤0.05) after immunization and challenge with L. major. Conclusion: The survival time of the immunized mice with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+ pCAGGS-IL12 groups was higher than the control groups. Then, DNA vaccine of pcLACK appeared to be likely able to induce more protection against infection with L. major in mice. Therefore, cocktail DNA is effective to enhance specific immunity. © 2018, Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology. All rights reserved

Human urogenital myiasis: A systematic review of reported cases from 1975 to 2017

The public health importance of myiasis infestation with dipterous (fly) larvae remains unknown. This disease is spread worldwide in animals and humans, but baseline data on its prevalence are limited. In particular, knowledge on human urogenital myiasis (UGM) is scattered. As such, a systematic search was undertaken of five English and five Persian databases for publications describing UGM cases in English or Persian published between 1975 and 2017. In total, 45 papers reporting 59 UGM cases from various regions of the world are included in this review. All included papers were from the English databases. The age of patients ranged from 5 to 89 years, and the mean age was 40.6 years. Thirty-six of the patients were female and 19 were male. The highest number of cases (n = 12) was reported from Brazil. The most common genera causing UGM were Psychoda spp. (23.7%) and Cochliomyia spp. (11.8%). The vagina was the most commonly reported anatomical location of UGM for women, and the urogenital tract was the most commonly reported location for men. Thirteen cases were reported from rural areas and eight cases from urban areas; the location of other cases was not specified. The incidence of UGM is likely to be substantially underestimated when evaluated based on published case reports. Epidemiological studies, such as questionnaires to medical doctors, could help to gather the necessary baseline data on the occurrence of UGM. © 201

Pediatric Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Golestan Province, Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study of 8-years

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a main public health problem in Iran with a high incidence rate among children. According to numerous studies in Iranian society, the most commonly affected age group is 1-4 years. At present, we aimed to investigate the pediatric CL among children in Golestan Province in North of Iran. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was run on data existed for 3,371 cases with pediatric cutaneous leishmaniasis based on routinely collected data from the Health System of Golestan Province, Iran, between 2010 and 2017. Data of the study were gathered using two checklists about CL and demographic status from District Health Network. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 18.0). Results: In general, 337 leases were investigated. The majority of cases were male 1495 (50.9), lived in the rural area, while the least CL were female 155 (38.7 ), and lived in the urban area. Pediatric cutaneous leishmaniasis had the highest 883 (26.3), and lowest 186 (5.5) frequency in 2010 and 2013 years, accordingly. CL was increased from July and reached to maximum in October, then decreased considerably in January. In final, a significant relationship was found between CL cases and years of the survey (p= 0.001). Conclusion: The most CL cases were found among males and aged 0-5 years. As indicated by different studies, CL in the endemic area of the country (Golestan Province) occurs more often in children, while it commonly happens among adolescents in the central area of the country. Thus, it points to the role of mothers in protecting children through dressing up and sleeping habits in the outdoor environments

Actin Gene-Based Molecular Typing of Trichomonas vaginalis Clinical Isolates from the North of Iran

Aim: The aim of the current study is to evaluate the prevalence of trichomoniasis in men and women in the north of Iran and to find genotypes in the positive clinical specimens based on T. vaginalis actin gene. Materials and Methods: Women�s genital (n = 500) and men�s urine (n = 1500) samples were collected from the participants referred to clinics in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, during 2006�2018. In addition, 1500 Pap smear specimens, archived in the Bu Ali Hospital, Sari City, Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, were examined. The specimens were examined based on parasitological methods, nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and phylogenetic analysis. Results: Overall, 17 (0.48) of 3500 specimens were positive by PCR. Total prevalence was 0.55 (n = 2000) for women, of which 500 (1.4; n = 7) specimens were collected freshly, and 1500 (0.26; n = 4) were Pap smears. Moreover, six (0.4) out of 1500 men urine specimens were positive. Overall, genotypes G, E, and I were detected with the prevalence of seven (0.2), seven (0.2), and three (0.08), respectively. There was no significant statistical difference among the prevalence of the detected genotypes (P > 0.05). Conclusion: As a whole, the prevalence of trichomoniasis was low in the studied area in the north of Iran and, most importantly, the genotypes of E, G, and I were distributed among men and women in the province. © 2020, Witold Stefa�ski Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences