Infection with Leishmania amazonensis and other members of the Leishmania mexicana complex can lead to diverse clinical manifestations, some of which are relatively difficult to control, even with standard chemotherapy. Diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a rare but severe form, and its clinical hallmark is excessive parasitic growth in infected cells accompanied by profound impairments in ...

background: the main goal was to address the prevalence of enteric protozoan parasites in rural areas of bandar- abbas, southern iran and to compare the results with the only conducted study in 1978. methods: this descriptive study was performed from 2009 through 2010 on the 565 fecal samples. formalin-ether concentration technique was performed and the analysis was carried out using chi-square...

Induced malaria by blood transfusion is a potential health hazard but is often neglected in many malaria endemic areas. Standard parasitological technique was used to determine the prevalence of malaria among blood donors in the South-eastern Nigeria. Of the total 325 blood donors (310 males and 15 females) screened, 133 (40.9%, CI 95%: 35.6-46.2%) were infected with malaria parasite, 78 (58.6%...

Biodiversity loss can alter disease transmission; however, the magnitude and direction of these effects vary widely across ecosystems, scales, and pathogens. Here we experimentally examine the effects of one of the most globally pervasive patterns of biodiversity decline, the selective loss of large wildlife, on infection probability, intensity and population size of a group of common rodent-bo...

African trypanosomes express a family of dually acylated, EF-hand calcium-binding proteins called the calflagins. These proteins associate with lipid raft microdomains in the flagellar membrane, where they putatively function as calcium signaling proteins. Here we show that these proteins bind calcium with high affinity and that their expression is regulated during the life cycle stage of the p...

A study was conducted to determine the kinetics of Fasciola gigantica infection induced antibody response against oxyclozanidelevamisole in naturally infected bovine of South Gujarat, India. Faecal analysis on before, 1st, 4th, 8th, 11th and 37th days post treatment (DPT) recorded 67.14, 34.29, 5.71, 0 and 0% parasites infected bovines. Either parasite(s) positive indigenous cattle or buffalo b...

The question why different host individuals within a population differ with respect to infection resistance is of fundamental importance for understanding the mechanisms of parasite-mediated selection. We addressed this question by infecting wild-caught captive male greenfinches with intestinal coccidian parasites originating either from single or multiple hosts. Birds with naturally low pre-ex...

If the production of genetically variable offspring is a mechanism of host defense against parasites, then parasites capable of suppressing sexual reproduction in hosts may gain a selective advantage over parasites that do not do so. Recent work has shown that a range of systemic fungi infecting plants sterilize their hosts, effectively preventing coevolutionary responses by host populations to...

BACKGROUND Cats are the hosts for some zoonotic parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii and Toxocara spp. which are important in medicine and veterinary. Studies on the prevalence of intestinal parasites of cats have received little attention in south west of Iran. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of parasites in stray cats in Ahvaz. MATERIALS AND METHODS Random ...

Liver-stage malaria parasites are a promising target for drugs and vaccines against malaria infection. However, little is currently known about gene regulation in this stage. In this study, we used the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei and showed that an AP2-family transcription factor, designated AP2-L, plays a critical role in the liver-stage development of the parasite. AP2-L-deplet...