Fatal toxoplasmosis was diagnosed in a Blanford's fox (Vulpes cana) from the United Arab Emirates. Toxoplasma gondii-like tachyzoites were found associated with necrosis in intestine, spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, skeletal muscle, brain and heart. Protozoal tachyzoites reacted positively with T. gondii-specific polyclonal antibodies. Antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 10 of 12 V. cana as...

Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis is a widespread and potentially disfiguring protozoal infection that is endemic in the Mediterranean basin, Africa, and parts of Asia. Human infection is caused by several species of Leishmania parasites, such as Leishmania infantum. Available systemic and topical treatments vary in efficacy and are often unjustified due to their toxicity. We report on a case t...

Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoal pathogen that causes acute, watery diarrhea. Outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis have been associated with exposure to contaminated drinking water, recreational water, consumption of apple cider and produce, and contact with infected individuals in health care and child day-care settings(1). Cryptosporidium oocysts are highly resistant to the chemical disinfecta...

protozoal, parasitic, fungal, spirochetal organisms, chemical reagents, drugs, alcohols, allergic condition and radiation." Out of viral myocarditis, the coxsackie virus has been regarded as the most commonly encountered causative factors of human viral myocarditis. The isolation and characterization of the coxsackie virus had been made approximately 3 decades ago. As previously mentioned the c...

Mice chronically infected with the intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii or Besnoitia jellisoni were resistant to footpad challenge with Mycobacterium leprae. Resistance was manifested by lower numbers of recoverable M. leprae in the footpads of protozoal-infected mice and was enhanced in Toxoplasma-infected mice by a booster injection of Toxoplasma antigen in the infected footpad. The resu...

Branded in 2005, "neglected tropical diseases" have gained traction in terms of advocacy, interest for research, enhanced funding and political will for their control and eventual elimination. Starting with an initial set of 13 neglected tropical diseases--seven helminth, three bacterial and three protozoal infections--the list considerably expanded to more than 40 diseases that now also includ...

Toxoplasma gondii, a zoonotic protozoal parasite, is well-known for its global distribution and its ability to infect virtually all warm-blooded vertebrates. Nonetheless, attempts to describe the population structure of T. gondii have been primarily limited to samples isolated from humans and domesticated animals. More recent studies, however, have made efforts to characterize T. gondii isolate...

Multiple bacterial and protozoal pathogens utilize gene conversion to generate rapid intrahost antigenic variation. Both large- and small-genome pathogens expand the size of the variant pool via a combinatorial process in which oligonucleotide segments from distinct donor loci are recombined in various combinations into expression sites. Although the potential combinatorial diversity generated ...