Amebiasis causes approximately 70,000 deaths annually and is the third cause of death due to parasites worldwide. It is treated primarily with metronidazole, which has adverse side effects, is mutagenic and carcinogenic, and emergence of resistance is an increasing concern. Unfortunately, better therapeutic alternatives are lacking. Re-purposing of older FDA approved drugs is advantageous to dr...

Trypanosomatid parasitic protozoans of the genus Leishmania are autotrophic for both folate and unconjugated pteridines. Leishmania salvage these metabolites from their mammalian hosts and insect vectors through multiple transporters. Within the parasite, folates are reduced by a bifunctional DHFR (dihydrofolate reductase)-TS (thymidylate synthase) and by a novel PTR1 (pteridine reductase 1), w...

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection caused by protozoans classified as Leishmania species. Romania is not considered an endemic country and there are only few reports of sporadic cases in the last 100 years. However, studies suggest that the disease is spreading north. We present the case of a 44 year old female that presented with asthenia, perspirations, vertigo, weight loss and menometror...

Malaria is caused by parasitic protozoans of the genus Plasmodium and is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in tropical and subtropical regions. For this reason, effective and practical diagnostic methods are urgently needed to control the spread of malaria. The aim of the current study was to identify a panel of new malarial markers, which could be used to diagnose patients infected...

Parasites are important productionlimiting diseases in livestock farming. Their proper treatment and control requires knowledge of their presence, epidemiology, and diagnostics. We investigated the presence of the GI parasites in pooled herd faecal samples from the islands Saaremaa (n=21), Hiiumaa (n=18), and Vormsi (n=7), collected in 2011–2012. The samples were investigated microscopically af...

Coinfections with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and infectious agents have been recognized since the early 90s. In the central nervous system (CNS) of HIV(+) patients, parasitic protozoans like Toxoplasma gondii have been described as responsible for the space occupying lesions (SOL) developed. However, the involvement of Trypanosoma cruzi is also described but appears to be less frequent ...

Phosphorylation dynamically regulates the function of proteins by maintaining a balance between protein kinase and phosphatase activity. A comprehensive understanding of the role phosphatases in cellular signaling is lacking in case of protozoans of medical and veterinary importance worldwide. The drugs used to treat protozoal diseases have many undesired effects and the development of resistan...

The temperature–size rule suggests that there is a negative relationship between the size (volume) of an ectothermic organism and environmental temperature experienced during its development We question how to validate this hypothesis for particular case some algivorous protozoans because in many these unicellular organisms, body directly related consumption prey and, on most occasions, true ce...

Abstract The protozoans include many intracellular human pathogens. Accurate detection of these pathogens is necessary to treat the diseases. In clinical epidemiology, molecular identification protozoan considered a more reliable and rapid method for than microscopy. Among protozoans, Cryptosporidium being one important water-borne zoonotic major cause diarrheal disease named cryptosporidiosis ...

results overall, 161 children at a mean age of 9.25 ± 3.37 years (age range = 1 - 15 years old) hospitalized with a definite diagnosis of the hydatid cyst between 2001 and 2014 were studied. the male-to-female ratio was 1.6:1. the most commonly involved organ was the lung (67.1%), followed by the liver (44.1%) and a combined liver and lung involvement was found in 15.5% of the patients. the cys...