Introducing medical parasitology at the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.Capacity building in Sierra Leone (West Africa) is critical to prevent potential future outbreaks similar to the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak that had devastating effects for the country and its poorly developed healthcare system. De Montfort University (DMU) in the United Kingdom (UK), in collaboration with parasitologists from the Spanish Universities of San Pablo CEU and Miguel Hernández de Elche, is leading a project to build the teaching and research capabilities of medical parasitology at the University of Makeni (UniMak, Sierra Leone). This project has two objectives: a) to introduce and enhance the teaching of medical parasitology, both theoretical and practical; and b) to implement and develop parasitology research related to important emerging human parasites such as Cryptosporidium spp. due to their public health significance. Two UniMak academics, hired to help initiate and implement the research part of the project, shared their culturally sensitive public health expertise to broker parasitology research in communities and perform a comprehensive environmental monitoring study for the detection of different emerging human parasites. The presence of targeted parasites are being studied microscopically using different staining techniques, which in turn have allowed UniMak’s academics to learn these techniques to develop new practicals in parasitology. To train UniMak’s academics and develop both parts of our project, a DMU researcher visited UniMak for two weeks in April 2019 and provided a voluntary short training course in basic parasitology, which is currently not taught in any of their programmes, and was attended by 31 students. These sessions covered basic introduction to medical parasitology and life-cycle, pathogenesis, detection, treatment and prevention of: a) coccidian parasites (Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora and Cystoisospora); b) Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba and free-living amoebas; c) malaria and d) microsporidia. A theoretical session on common staining techniques was also provided. To facilitate the teaching and learning of these parasites, the novel resource DMU e-Parasitology was used, a package developed by the above participating universities and biomedical scientists from the UK National Health Service (NHS): http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/ index.htm. Following the two weeks of training, UniMak’s academics performed different curriculum modifications to the undergraduate programme ‘Public Health: Medical Laboratory Sciences’, which includes the introduction of new practicals in parasitology and changes to enhance the content of medical parasitology that will be subjected to examination. Thus, a new voluntary practical on Kinyoun stain for the detection of coccidian parasites was introduced in the final year module of ‘Medical Bacteriology and Parasitology’; eighteen students in pairs processed faecal samples from pigs provided by the Department of Agriculture and Food Security from a nearby farm. Academics at UniMak used the Kinyoun staining unit (available at http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/learn/lab/Kinyoun/story_html5.html; [1]) to deliver this practical. Although our project is at a preliminary stage, it has been shown to be effective in promoting the introduction and establishment of medical parasitology at UniMak and could be viewed as a case-study for other universities in low-income countries to promote the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve public health understanding of infectious diseases

The discovery of male Caligus brevicaudatus Scott, 1901 (Copepoda: Caligidae) parasitic on tub gurnard, Chelidonichthys lucerna (Linnaeus) from the eastern Mediterranean

© Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS. Folia Parasitologica is an open access journal since 2015, this article is published under the terms of a Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The file attached is the published version of the article

Host Switching of Zoonotic Broad Fish Tapeworm (Dibothriocephalus latus) to Salmonids, Patagonia

Diphyllobothriosis is a reemerging zoonotic disease because of global trade and increased popularity of eating raw fish. We present molecular evidence of host switching of a human-infecting broad fish tapeworm, Dibothriocephalus latus, and use of salmonids as intermediate or paratenic hosts and thus a source of human infection in South AmericaFil: Kuchta, Roman. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República ChecaFil: Radačovská, Alžbeta. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República ChecaFil: Bazsalovicsová, Eva. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Parasitology; EslovaquiaFil: Viozzi, Gustavo Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Semenas, Liliana Graciela. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; ArgentinaFil: Arbetman, Marina Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Scholz, Tomáš. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República Chec

One Health: parasites and beyond

The field of parasitism is broad, encompassing relationships between organisms where one benefits at the expense of another. Traditionally the discipline focuses on eukaryotes, with the study of bacteria and viruses complementary but distinct. Nonetheless, parasites vary in size and complexity from single celled protozoa, to enormous plants like those in the genus Rafflesia. Lifecycles range from obligate intracellular to extensive exoparasitism. Examples of parasites include high profile medical and zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium, veterinary pathogens of wild and captive animals and many of the agents which cause neglected tropical diseases, stretching to parasites which infect plants and other parasites (e.g. (Blake et al., 2015; Hemingway, 2015; Hotez et al., 2014; Kikuchi et al., 2011; Meekums et al., 2015; Sandlund et al., 2015). The breadth of parasitology has been matched by the variety of ways in which parasites are studied, drawing upon biological, chemical, molecular, epidemiological and other expertise. Despite such breadth bridging between disciplines has commonly been problematic, regardless of extensive encouragement from government agencies, peer audiences and funding bodies promoting multi-disciplinary research. Now, progress in understanding and collaboration can benefit from establishment of the One Health concept (Stark et al., 2015; Zinsstag et al., 2012). One Health draws upon biological, environmental, medical, veterinary and social science disciplines in order to improve human, animal and environmental health, although it remains tantalizingly difficult to engage many relevant parties. For infectious diseases traditional divides have been exacerbated as the importance of wildlife reservoirs, climate change, food production systems and socio-economic diversity have been recognised but often not addressed in a multi-disciplinary manner. In response the 2015 Autumn Symposium organized by the British Society for Parasitology (BSP; https://www.bsp.uk.net/home/) was focused on One Health, running under the title ‘One Health: parasites and beyond…’. The meeting, held at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in Camden, London from September 14th to 15th, drew upon a blend of specialist parasitology reinforced with additional complementary expertise. Scientists, advocates, policy makers and industry representatives were invited to present at the meeting, promoting and developing One Health understanding with relevance to parasitology. The decision to widen the scope of the meeting to non-parasitological, but informative topics, is reflected in the diversity of the articles included in this special issue. A key feature of the meeting was encouragement of early career scientists, with more than 35% of the delegates registered as students and 25 posters

Insecticide-treated nets against malaria vectors and polystyrene beads against Culex larvae.

In Parasitology Today in 1985, Curtis and Lines, and Curtis and Minjas presented the ideas of insecticide-treated nets and polystyrene beads for mosquito control. The former idea has grown to be a major component of the strategy for malaria prevention, especially in Africa. However, although polystyrene beads have been demonstrated to work extremely well, they have yet to be taken up on a major scale

Trends in undergraduate teaching of parasitology in medical schools of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: Parasitic diseases are a major public health problem in the tropical and sub tropical countries including the subcontinent region. We aimed to assess methods of Parasitology education in medical schools of Karachi Pakistan. METHODS: Ten medical schools in Karachi, Pakistan were sent a structured questionnaire collecting information on different aspects of Parasitology education. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 14.0. RESULTS: The response rate of this study was 90%. Majority of the schools in Karachi, Pakistan (78%) taught Parasitology concurrently with Microbiology, Pathology, Pharmacology and Forensic medicine in third and fourth year of undergraduate training. More than 20 hours were spent on teaching through didactic lectures (56%), interactive lectures (22%), problem based learning (PBL) (22%), clinical cases (11%) and small group discussions (89%). A Clinical Microbiologist or Parasitologist taught Parasitology by using transparencies, handouts and/or computer aids. Variation in education methods existed mainly in the private medical schools. CONCLUSION: Medical curricula were meeting the European standards for teaching of Parasitology. However, there is a need for revision and modification in the curricula owing to the high burden of parasitic diseases in the subcontinent region

Review of "Mathematical Models for Neglected Tropical Diseases: Essential Tools for Control and Elimination, Part B" Edited by Maria-Gloria Basáñez and Roy M. Anderson.

Book detailsBasáñez MG, Anderson RM, Editors: Mathematical Models for Neglected Tropical Diseases: Essential Tools for Control and Elimination, Part B, Volume 94, Advances in Parasitology, Academic Press; 2016, 430 pages. ISBN: 978-0-12-809971-1

Recombinant subunit vaccines against Neospora caninum

The intracellular protozoan parasite Neospora caninum is an important cause of bovine abortion and congenital infection in many countries. Currently there is no effective control method available, and development of a vaccine has been suggested as a possible strategy to prevent the disease neosporosis. In this thesis an experimental recombinant subunit vaccine, consisting of the N. caninum antigen NcSRS2 and immunostimulating complexes (iscoms), was evaluated. The iscom is an adjuvant formulation into which antigens can be incorporated by hydrophobic interactions. Many recombinant proteins are hydrophilic, and special methods are needed for binding them to the iscoms and to achieve optimal adjuvant effects. A novel method to combine recombinant proteins with iscoms utilizing the strong interaction between biotin and streptavidin was evaluated. Recombinant NcSRS2 was expressed in Escherichia coli as two different fusion proteins. One of them was biotinylated in E. coli and was bound to streptavidin-coated iscom matrix (iscom particles without any antigen). The other fusion protein contained recombinant streptavidin and was bound to biotinylated iscom matrix. These two strategies both resulted in efficient binding to the iscom matrix. Thus, this method might offer a convenient and effective alternative for association of other hydrophilic recombinant antigens with iscoms for evaluation in immunisation experiments. Both the immunogenicity and the protective effect of the NcSRS2-iscoms were investigated by immunisation and challenge infection of mice. A real-time PCR assay was developed, and used for quantification of parasite DNA in the brain and blood of infected mice. The NcSRS2-iscoms induced production of antibodies that recognised NcSRS2 of parasite origin, suggesting that the conformation of the recombinant protein was similar to that of the native antigen. Antigen-specific cellular responses were also induced as demonstrated by in vitro proliferation and cytokine production. After challenge infection, the immunised mice had significantly lower levels of N. caninum DNA in their brains and blood than did non-immunised control mice. These mice were also less affected by the disease, as judged by clinical symptoms and changes in body weight. These results, together with results from other studies, indicate that recombinant NcSRS2 might be considered as a potential candidate antigen for a future subunit vaccine against N. caninum infection in cattle