Tag Archives: parasites

Bugs, Animals and NTDs

African Sleeping Sickness, hookworm, lymphatic filariasis, MDA, NTDs, parasites, , ,

By: Alanna Shaikh

Animals and insects play a huge role in the transmission of neglected tropical diseases. From the snails that carry schistosomiasis to the wild animals infected with African sleeping sickness, the NTDs rarely travel alone. That means any effort to control and eliminate NTDs must take into account their many vectors and reservoirs of disease.

The NTDs are not zoonoses. That is, they are not diseases that animals can directly infect humans with. It’s more complicated than that. For example, in the case of human African trypanosomiasis, infected animals are bitten by the tsetse fly, which then carries the parasite to human victims. As long as animals remain infected, there is a risk of human infection.

In the case of schistosomiasis, the parasite that causes the disease has to spend part of its life living in certain kinds of snail. In this case, eradicating the snail would probably eliminate the disease, but doing it isn’t essential. They’re not a reservoir for the parasite, just a stopping point at one time in its revolting little life.[1] The animals reservoirs of schistosomiasis are dogs, cats, rodents, pigs, horses and goats[2], who just get infected with the disease the same way people do.

Be they roundworm, hookworm, nematode, or whipworm, the NTDs have got you totally covered for wormy horror.  In possibly the most yucky arrangement of all, many NTDs are causes by actual visible to the eye worms that LIVE INSIDE YOU. I hope my use of all caps conveyed my sheer horror to you. If it didn’t, go take a look at , then come back here and try to pretend you aren’t horrified.

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A Call to Action: Deworming Needs in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, parasites, , , , ,

Child infected with a STH.

Washington, D.C. – A new report released today by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, highlights theimpact that a small group of neglected diseases are having on children in the Americas and presents concrete policy recommendations that can lead to significant progress in achieving several Millennium Development Goals in the Americas by 2015.

Entitled A Call to Action: Addressing Soil-transmitted Helminths in Latin America and the Caribbean, the report was developed in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank. The findings shed light on the health and economic toll imposed on at-risk populations by three types of parasitic intestinal worms, known collectively as soil-transmitted helminths (STH).

At least 46 million children in the Americas, or nearly 20% in the region, are at risk of becoming infected by these parasites. Infection often leads to chronic malnutrition, impairment of physical and cognitive development, and traps vulnerable populations in a cycle of poverty.

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Helminthic Zoonosis in the U.S.

Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, parasitesCDC, exotic pets, helminths, kinkajou, ,

National Geographic Photo by Mattias Klum

The kinkajou, apparently also known as the honey bear, is a Central/South American rainforest mammal and is related to the raccoon.  Perhaps you have seen Ms. Paris Hilton toting one around like a new designer bag but do not let their adorable, innocent faces mislead you; kinkajous have recently been found to carry parasites that are deadly to humans.  According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), helminthic zoonosis, the transmission of parasites from non-human hosts to human, is growing rapidly.  Yesterday, CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) stated that pet kinkajous in three U.S states–Indiana, Tennessee, and Florida–between 1999 and 2010, have been tested positive for Baylisascaris procyonis (BP), a ubiquitous roundworm infection found in raccoons. Human exposure to roundworm can be deadly and it is important that exotic pet owners have routine de-worming of their pets and avoid contact with potentially infected fecal matter.

As part of the exotic pet trade, kinkajous are imported from South America and bred in captivity; the offspring are sold as exotic pets. Because the disease is transmitted by the fecal-oral route, human cases of BP infection typically occur in younger age groups, mainly infants, who often engage in oral exploration of their environment and are therefore more likely to be exposed to BP eggs.

These findings show that infectious diseases commonly associated with tropical regions are not confined to those areas;  infection and disease travel across land and water.  The Kinkajou, an exotic pet imported into the U.S from  South and Central America, is just one example of how tropical infections can travel to other biomes.

Read the full report here.


What’s Eating You? A Parasitologist Reflects

Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Public HealthEugene H. Kaplan, , history of vaccines, , , Schistosoma mansoni trematode, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, What’s Eating You? People and Parasites,

By: Karie Youngdahl, Project Director of History of Vaccines

Schistosoma mansoni trematode. Courtesy of CDC

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia recently hosted parasitologist Eugene H. Kaplan, PhD, for a talk about his new book, What’s Eating You? People and Parasites (Princeton University Press, 2010). Kaplan is an emeritus professor at Hofstra University.

Kaplan’s harrowing talk highlighted fascinating and gruesome facts about human parasites, including guinea worm, schistosomes (the parasites that cause bilharzia, or snail fever), filarial worms, lung flukes, tapeworms, and the common pinworm. A global traveler, the author has contracted many parasites himself and so knows firsthand some of their health effects.

What happens when a North American traveler picks up parasites more common to other geographic areas? Apparently, lack of resources for tropical diseases is not just a problem in tropical areas: Kaplan drew attention to a dearth of tropical disease specialists in the United States. In fact, looking for treatment for dysentery he’d picked up on a trip to Tanzania, he was able to locate only four tropical disease specialists in the New York City area. Only 35% of U.S. medical schools offer courses in parasitology, and for most of those that do, the course is not required for graduation.

Apart from looking at the state of parasitology in the United States, Kaplan often points out the odd interplay between the pharmaceutical product landscape and the needs of the developing world. Veterinary medicines developed to treat parasites in the developed world’s pampered domestic animals find human applications in Africa and Asia. In particular, Kaplan’s story about a treatment for sleeping sickness, the world’s second most common parasitic illness, is telling. In the late 1990s, supplies of a “wonder drug” for sleeping sickness were diminishing: eflornithine was remarkably effective in treating sleeping sickness, but the market for it couldn’t support its ongoing production. Then a pharmaceutical company found that a topical form of eflornithine could reduce unwanted facial hair in women. Production of the drug ramped up for this cosmetic use, and, after some encouragement from the global health community, pharmaceutical companies donated supplies of it to the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders. Sometimes the discrepancy in global health status leads to productive solutions.

Kaplan’s book, rich in illustrations, detailed information about the biology of parasitism, and quirky personal stories, is an excellent introduction to the complicated role of parasites in the human experience.


Karie Youngdahl is the Project Director of History of Vaccines. Please visit their blog, which can also be found on our blogroll.

Look for the launch of History of Vaccines on October 1, 2010, at www.historyofvaccines.org. The History of Vaccines is a website designed to communicate the historical contribution of vaccines and antibodies to human health in order to explain the role of immunization in the human experience.

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