Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a parasitic infection caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, an organism that is endemic to Latin America. While Chagas disease is primarily a vector-borne illness, new cases are emerging in non-endemic areas due to globalization of immigration and non-vectorial transmission routes. This article discusses the mode of transmission, e...

The relation between electrokinetic potential and suspension stability of four strains of non-flagellate intestinal bacteria has been studied. The smooth forms have zeta-potentials which approximate zero over a wide range of pH and salt concentration, yet nevertheless form stable suspensions. The rough variants have zeta-potentials which vary with pH and electrolyte concentration in the familia...

We cloned and sequenced an intronless actin gene from the amoebo-flagellate Naegleria fowleri, LEE strain, an opportunistic pathogen of man. Codon usage and third-position-codon nucleotide frequency were significantly different from Acanthamoeba, another amoeba genus which also includes opportunistic pathogens of man. Between the two amoebae, actin peptide sequences were 92.8% similar, while nu...

Colpodella gonderi is the only ectoparasitic flagellate of ciliated protozoa described thus far. This investigation reveals new records of C. gonderi retrieved from soil samples in southern Scotland, UK. Of fourteen ciliates species identified in one single occasion, three of them, Colpoda steinii, Pseudoplatyophrya nana and Grossglockneria acuta, were infested with the parasite. These results ...

Shape variations of strains of Trichomonas vaginalis were demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) following inoculation on McCoy cell monolayers and after interaction with human erythrocytes. The parasites adhered to both cells and presented amoeboid forms, with pseudopodia-like extensions. Several amoeboid organisms swam freely over the cell monolayers and produced aggregates. These...

Leishmaniasis is a well-documented disease of humans and animals worldwide. In humans, leishmaniasis is generally zoonotic with a number of different clinical manifestations ranging from single or multiple skin lesions (cutaneous leishmaniasis) to destruction of the mucosae, including the soft cartilage of the nasal septum (mucocutaneous leishmaniasis) or systemic infections of the liver and sp...