Biography:

Doaa Sultan completed her education in Mansoura Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. She graduated in 1991 with MBBCh and she completed her Master’s degree in Parasitology in 1997 and her PhD in 2004. She is working as an Associate Professor in Medical Parasitology, Dubai Medical College. She has published more than 25 papers in conferences and reputed journals.

Abstract:

The integration of educational technology in medical education is becoming increasingly popular. Parasitology is a morphologic science that requires visual learning and diversified teaching methods to create an interesting course to students. This presentation aims to: 1) give an orientation on the best practice teaching methods in parasitology which includes both teacher centered and students’ centered education. 2) throw a beam of light on students’ perception towards all teaching methods. 3) discuss a focused study that compares and contrasts the best two learning methods from faculty and students’opinion. Based on our results, suggestions helpful in the development of the parasitology curriculum were made.

Biography:

Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets started his career as a trainee student at the CIBA-GEIGY Zentrale Forschungslaboratorien in Basel. He graduated in Biochemistry at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where he obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology. Between 1992 and 2001 he held several postdoctoral positions, among which those at the Friedrich Miescher Institut (Novartis AG, Basel) and at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. In 2001 he obtained a 5-year tenure track Ramón y Cajal position at the Universitat de Barcelona. In 2006 he became Senior Researcher at the IBEC and since 2010 he is Head of the Nanomalaria Joint Unit (IBEC/ISGlobal).

Abstract:

Malaria is arguably one of the main medical concerns worldwide because of the numbers of people affected, the severity of the disease and the complexity of the life cycle of its causative agent, the protist Plasmodium spp. With the advent of nanoscience, renewed hopes have appeared of finally obtaining the long sought-after magic bullet against malaria in the form of a nanovector for the targeted delivery of antimalarial compounds exclusively to Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (pRBCs), thus increasing drug efficacy and minimizing the induction of resistance to newly developed therapeutic agents. We have developed poly(amidoamine)-derived nanovectors that combine into a single chemical structure drug encapsulating capacity, antimalarial activity, low unspecific toxicity, specific pRBC targeting, optimal in vivo activity, and affordable synthesis cost. Our recent data suggest that the antiparasitic mechanism of PAAs can be based on blocking the erythrocyte invasion of egressed parasites. The ensuing prolonged exposure of the pathogens to the immunitary system might be applied to the design of new malaria vaccination approaches where PAAs could play a dual role as carriers of antimalarial drugs and as vaccination adjuvants. This unexpected synergistic effect combining therapeutics and prophylaxis represents a radically new approach to the treatment of malaria for which we propose the new term theralaxis. This research was supported by grants BIO2011-25039 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) and 2013-0584 (Fondazione Cariplo, Italy).

Biography:

Hanem Khater is the Professor of Parasitology in Benha University, Egypt. She completed her doctoral degree at the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, food and Natural resources, University of Missouri- Columbia, USA. Her research mainly focused on natural control of arthropods of medical and veterinary importance such as mosquitoes, house flies, lice, green bottle fly, camel nasal botfly, soft and hard ticks, and mite to avoid environmental pollution with pesticides as well as control of several parasites using safe and natural materials to avoid drug resistances and environmental contamination.

Abstract:

Arthropods can transmit diseases to humans and animals or damage agricultural crops, consume and/or damage harvested food. Using botanical insecticides dates back at least two millennia in ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and India, but discoveries of the major classes of synthetic chemical insecticides (e.g., organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates, and pyrethroids) in the mid-1930s to 1950s was the major weapon against insect control. Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) assembly proposed the global eradication of the most prevalent vector-borne human disease, malaria, by the use of residual house- spraying of DDT in 1955, such insecticide exhilaration quickly halted as mosquitoes have all the characteristics suited to rapid resistance development, including short life cycles with abundant progeny. Consequently, WHO authoritatively reverted from malaria eradication to malaria control in 1976. The foremost reason of such change in policy was the appearance of DDT resistance in mosquito vectors. The umbrella of insect resistance, later on, has covered newer insecticides such as the organophosphates, carbamates, and pyrethroids. Moreover, synthetic insecticides induce environmental contamination, toxicity to non-target organisms, and negative effects on animal and human health. A dramatic re-emergence of epidemic vector-borne diseases has been reported in the past 30 years throughout much of the world. Consequently, there is an urgent necessitate for natural and safe alternative strategies for vector control. Biorational pesticide have long been touted as attractive alternatives to synthetic chemical insecticides because they reputedly pose little threat to the environment or non- target organisms including humans. The body of scientific literature documenting the efficacy of such biopesticides continues to expand including the following: biological insecticides, using of natural enemies such as parasitoids, predators, nematodes, and pathogens (virus, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa); biochemicals insecticides (botanicals, insect growth regulators, insect pheromones, photoinsecticides, and inorganics); and transgenic insecticides (genetically modified plants or organisms). Opportunely, natural enemies significantly reduce potential pest populations and they are more likely to flourish in case of appliance of eco-friendly materials. Microencapsulation and Nanotechnology are promising new technologies in the recent decade for protection against insect pests. Integrated pest management, IPM, uses of all available tactics as chemical, cultural, physical, biological control….etc., to maintain pest populations below levels that would cause economic loss while minimally affecting the environment. Indisputably, using biorational products through IPM programs will reduced relying on chemical pesticides and prevent, or at least delay the development of resistance in target pests to both chemical pesticides and toxins of biopesticide. On the other hand, booming of organically produced food in the developed world assists greater farmer acceptance of biorational pesticides as the sales of organically produced food are increasing at a significantly faster rate than sales of any other food commodity. Such eco-friendly trends will dominate the market of pesticides in the near future as safe methods of controlling insect pests and the damage and diseases associated with them. Accordingly, the unemployment rate will drop and the national income will increase for the health and welfare of people in the developed and developing countries.

Biography:

Paul LaBarre is a senior technical officer at PATH. His primary focus is accelerating a portfolio of novel technologies in HIV and malaria diagnostics appropriate for low-resource settings. He is also project director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–funded DIAMETER project and principle investigator for the NIH–funded non-instrumented nucleic acid amplification (NINA) platform development project. His background includes medical technology design for low resource settings, and prior to working in biotechnology, he served as a nuclear engineer officer in the United States Navy. He received a Master’s degree in Medical Engineering from the University of Washington.

Abstract:

Undiagnosed malaria infections may result in inefficient use of elimination program resources and contribute to persistent regional transmission. To minimize the number of undiagnosed malaria infections and advance toward malaria elimination requires improving access to currently available diagnostic tests and developing new, more sensitive tests that will detect asymptomatic, low-density infections. To enable the most efficient malaria elimination interventions in the most challenging malaria-endemic environments, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is sponsoring an Infection Detection Test (IDT) Development Initiative focused on developing a more sensitive diagnostic test for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) based on detection of the HRP2 antigen. Under this initiative, the DIAMETER (diagnostics for malaria elimination toward eradication) team is collaborating with key partners to develop and validate new diagnostic tests for identification of subclinical Pf infections. These tests are intended for use in malaria-eliminating regions where undiagnosed infections serve as a reservoir of transmission. Over the past 12 months, initiative partners have initiated or completed new research projects, including an investigation of capture agents, new standard development and prototype analysis using clinical specimens. Together, these findings demonstrate feasibility of a new, hypersensitive IDT. New findings have also prompted an update of our target product profile (TPP) for the IDT. Here, we present an updated TPP along with an assessment of how several technologies compare against TPP specifications.

Biography:

Maryam Niyyati has completed her PhD at the age of 31 years from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and she has published more than 28 papers in reputed journals. She is now an Associate Professor of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Her main interest is research regarding molecular detection of potentially pathogenic free living amoebae and pathogenic assays of such amoebae.

Abstract:

Colonization of potentially pathogenic free-living amoebae in high risk people, including immunosuppressed patients could be a threat for developing fatal Acanthamoeba Granulomatose Encephalitis (AGE). The main aim of the present research was to determine the presence of potentially pathogenic free-living amoebae in mucosal tissue of immunosuppressed patients using morphological criteria in Tehran, Iran. Overall, 133oral cavity samples were collected from immunosuppressed patients. Each sample was cultured on the Non-Nutrient Agar (NNA) with a layer of heat killed Escherishia coli. Positive plates were submitted to cloning for elimination of bacteria and fungi contamination. Purified plates were then examined for the presence of free living amoebae using page key. Of the 133 samples, 47 were positive for free living amoebae. All of 36 samples were cloned successfully. Interestingly, 35 plates contained Acanthamoeba spp. With flat shape trophozoites and double walled cyst with star shape endocysts. Five plates contained round small cysts with wormy shape trophozoites which attributed to Hartmannella and 6 plates contained giant amoeba called Thecamoebae. The presence of potentially pathogenic free living amoebae in mucosal tissue of immunosuppressed patients, including Acanthamoeba and Hartmannella could be a great risk for people with impaired immunity. Developing of Amoebae-related infections in such patient is probable and monitoring of these patients is crucial for preventing amoebae related infections.

Biography:

Dr. Doaa Sultan completed her education in Mansoura faculty of medicine - Mansoura University- Egypt. She was graduated in 1991 with MBBCh and she completed her master’s degree in parasitology in 1997 and her PhD in 2004. She is working as an associate professor in medical parasitology- Dubai Medical College. She has published more than 25 papers in conferences and reputed journals.

Abstract:

Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans causes significant morbidity and mortality in congenitally infected infants. This study aimed to: 1) assess the frequency of toxoplasmosis among a sample of pregnant women who attended the antenatal care clinics in Al Kuwait hospital, Sharjah - Ministry of health-UAE ,2) identify the risk factors for development of toxoplasmosis and 3) evaluate the utility of a new version of western blot assay to confirm Toxoplasma infections. One hundred fifty pregnant women were informed about the study and 120 women agreed to participate, mean age (SD±) 34.32 ± 6.401. They were classified according to nationality, age groups and blood groups. Blood samples were collected and one epidemiological questionnaire was elaborated to register aspects related to the possible risk factors for development of toxoplasmosis and distributed to the study group. ELISA test kits for detection of Anti- Toxoplasma IgG and IgM were used to screen the samples. Western blot analysis was used to confirm the positives. The results showed 19/ 120 women (15.8%) were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies and 10/120 (8.3%) were positive for anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies. All ELISA positive samples were confirmed by western blot. There was a significant association between the occurrence of toxoplasmosis and history of ingestion of medium rare cooked beef and history of complicated pregnancy p < 0.05. However, there was no significant association between age, nationality, blood groups, contact with cats, history of blood transfusion, areas of residency and the occurrence of the disease p > 0.05.

Biography:

Wuthichai Kaewwaen, Ph.D. in Geoinformatics, works at Faculty of Geoinformatics, Burapha University. He has been researching areas of geoinformatics, image processing and computer graphics, applied to various fields of land management, tourism, public health including vector-borne diseases.

Abstract:

The agricultural land-use changes are human-induced changes in agroforestry ecosystems and in physical environmental conditions that contribute substantially to the potential risks for malaria transmission in receptive areas. Given their pattern and extent of such land-use changes, the ecosystemic outcomes are involved in malaria transmission dynamic, the susceptibility of human populations, and geographical distributions of malaria vectors. This review focused basically on what are the potential effects of the agricultural land-use changes as the result of the expansion of rubber plantations in Thailand and how significant the malaria-associated rubber plantations (MRPs) are. More significantly, this review synthesized the new concepts, tools, and applications of landscape ecology and epidemiology so as to determine the degree to which the MRP ecotope as fundamental landscape scale can establish malaria infection pocket(s). Malaria ecotoping encompasses the integrated approaches and tools applied to or used in malaria landscape ecology and epidemiology—by which a malaria ecotope (or MRP ecotope) is stratified based on geospatially analyzing a receptive area that is geographically associated with the infestation or re-infestation of Anopheles vectors, along with the attributes that are epidemiologically linked with or used in determining the potential risk for malaria transmission that possibly occurs in malaria transmission control area. This strategic approach underpins the stratification of the potential risks for malaria transmission by making use of remotely-sensed satellite imagery or landscape aerial photography using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), global positioning systems (GPS), and geographical information systems (GIS).

Biography:

Deyong Chu completed his MD and PhD from Anhui Medical University, China in 2007 and studied as a visiting scholar at Chiba University, School of Medicine of Japan. He is a researcher of the Key Laboratory of Zoonoses and the Key Laboratory of Pathogen Biology of Anhui province. Meanwhile, he works as a teacher in Department of Human Parasitology of Anhui Medical University. He has published more than 10 papers and currently investigates on the haptic fibrosis of Schistosomiasis.

Abstract:

Our previous study showed that macrophages can be phenotypically polarized by different toxoplasma gondii virulent isolates within the genotype Chinese 1 (ToxoDB#9). The virulent Wh3 isolate induced macrophages to polarize toward alternatively activated macrophages (aaMs), whereas the less virulent Wh6 elicited the development of classically activatied macrophages (caMs). In order to make clear whether T. gondii virulence determinants, such as effectors rhoptry protein 16 (ROP16) and dense granule protein 15 (GRA15) play an important role in inducing macrophages polarization, we infected RAW264.7 cell strain with lentiviral vectors which contained PEGFP-ROP16 or PEGFP-GRA15 plasmid. The rop16 and gra15 were amplified from Wh3 and PRU (type II) strains, respectively. The results revealed that the RAW264.7 cells transfected with rop16 gave rise to a high expression of ROP16 protein which persistently drove the host cells to aaMs with high expression of arginase-1 (Arg-1), while the gra15 transfection generated the GRA15 expression which continually induced RAW264.7 polarization towards caMs with high expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Additionally, we subjected the polarized macrophages to mouse haptic stellate cells (HSCs) in transwell coulture system and found that the aaMs activated HSCs to myofibroblasts with alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-β1) expression increased. In contrast, caMs deactivate HSCs with α-SMA and TGF-β1 expression decreased. We conclude that the virulence-associated effectors from different genotype T. gondii isolates (Wh3 and PRU) are crucial to induce phenotypical polarization of macrophages, which involve in the HSCs activation. This result perhaps brings a new way to treat hepatic fibrosis in future.

Biography:

Saeed Alharthi completed his PhD from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK in 2002. He is an associate Professor and head of Parasitology department, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has published more than 17 papers in reputed journals

Abstract:

About 8% of Saudi population lives in areas of malaria transmission where Plasmodium falciparum accounts for almost all indigenous cases. Several Anopheles species have been identified as potential malaria vectors. Currently, over 98% of reported cases are imported from neighbouring Yemen and Asian/African endemic countries by emigrants and pilgrims. In recent history, the worst malaria outbreak happened in 1998 with more than 35000 locally transmitted cases. In year 2010, 1941 malaria cases were registered, among which only 29 were local infections. Malaria control programme started in 1940s. Eastern and central areas were declared malaria free by 1970s, but south-western provinces are still endemic. KSA is on track of meeting the Roll Back Malaria and World Health Assembly target of 75% reduction in malaria cases by 2015. Vector control relied on DDT followed by Dieldrin insecticides mass spraying. Pyrethroid Reslin and Fenitrothion were employed in persistent foci by mid 1980s. Larval control measures were introduced in 1960s as mosquito DDT-resistance increased. Although, demands for more environmentally friendly control measures are growing, little is known on current vector insecticide-resistance situation to permit targeted strategies. Free diagnosis and treatment are provided to patients. Malaria treatment follows worldwide tendencies to overcome parasites drug-resistance spread. Reports of Chloroquine resistance started appearing in 1990s. More recently, parasites resistance to pyrimethamine /sulfadoxine was reported. Since 2007, combinations of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine/ artesunate were adopted as first line and lumefantrine/artemether as second line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum-malaria. For severe falciparum-malaria quinine and artesunate are used. Chloroquine and primaquine combination is used for vivax-malaria treatment.

Biography:

Abstract:

Given the nature of shared endemicity, malaria and intestinal helminths often co-exist in the same populations. Therefore, much attention is now being given to the interaction between helminths and Plasmodium in the situation of co-infection especially in children and pregnant women. A study was carried out in the Kumba Health District, South West Region of Cameroon to ascertain the existence of co-infection and its effect on anaemia in pregnant women. 305 pregnant women on their first antenatal visit were recruited. With informed consent, demographic, socioeconomic, health, obstetrics and gynaecological data were obtained with the use of questionnaires while capillary blood was also collected for detection and speciation of malaria parasites and packed cell volume (PCV) measurement Parasitaemia was expressed as number of parasites/ul of blood. Stool samples were concentrated by the formol-ether technique and egg load expressed as number of egg/gram of stool. The overall prevalence of malaria, intestinal helminths, co infection and anaemia was 41.3%, 44.6%, 22.0% and 33.8% respectively. P. falciparum was the most prevalent malaria parasite species (95.5%) while A. lumbricoides was the most prevalent intestinal helminth (24.9%). Co infected women were more anaemic (mean PCV = 0.29 ± 0.070) than women infected with malaria only, helminth only as well as uninfected women. Young ages, low income, not using protection against mosquitoes, being single and being primigravid were identified as risk factors for co infection while fever was a clinical indicator of co infection. We confirm that co-infection exists among pregnant women in the Kumba health district and that co-infection increases risk/severity of anaemia.

Biography:

Prapa Sorosjinda-Nunthawarasilp received PhD in Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University. She has been pursuing her research areas of tropical diseases, parasitology, and entomology. In particular, she explores deeply in subject areas of mosquito-borne diseases, the multi drug resistant malaria parasites in Anopheles vectors and vector population dynamic and behaviors. She contributes the significant of research publications and reports to both academic and scientific research communities. She corroborates with researchers from renowned universities, based on contributing the novel “4E” concepts of the land ecology, epidemiology, entomology and molecular evolution of vector-borne diseases.

Abstract:

Ecotope-based entomological surveillance (EES) encompasses system approaches: (i) landscape ecologic strategies and geographical information system (GIS) tools applied to assess land use/land cover changes attributed to human settlement and activities influencing infestation or re-infestation of mosquito vectors and to determine their magnitude and distribution whether they carry infection at specific locations and times to which human risk behaviors are related; (ii) entomologic strategies and tools for collecting indoors/outdoors, identifying taxonomically and xenomonitoring both dissectedly and molecularly parasite infection; (iii) molecular evolution strategies and molecular marker-based PCR for detecting and identifying both single and multiple clonal parasite infections carrying the genotypes. However, the validated EES requires both related and timely epidemiologic data/information obtained from surveillance and reporting systems. The study objective was to determine the potential transmission of malaria and filariasis in transmission areas infested with its mosquito vectors: The malaria ecotopes in Kanchanaburi or Trat covering a catchment area of 1 km2 and the filariasis ecotopes in Suratthani a covering 2 km2 area. For malaria, Anopheles dirus, Anopheles maculates, and Anopheles aconitus played role in transmission, showing positive man biting rate (PMBR) per ecotope, 0.03 for dry and 0.06 wet seasons. Moreover, these vectors carried multidrug resistant Plasmodium vivax malaria parasites. For filariasis, potential transmission by Armigeres subalbatus exhibited average PMBR per ecotope, 0.03 for dry and 0.08 for wet seasons, whereas lowland ecotope as control had no potential of transmission. This study strongly suggests that the developed EES provides the proof of the potential transmission of malaria and filariasis and hence establishing and monitoring the infection pockets for both diseases.

Biography:

Adisak Bhumiratana has pursued operational and research works in the fields of infectious diseases, especially vector-borne diseases. He has been serving as the Member of the National Task Force for the National Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (2001-present) and the peer reviewer of scholarly renowned journals in the field of tropical diseases, parasitology, and entomology. He has published more than 40 papers including 25 papers in the international peer-reviewed journals. He is endeavoring innovative works closely with researchers from the renowned universities based on the “4E” concepts of landscape ecology, epidemiology, entomology, and molecular evolution of vector-borne diseases.

Abstract:

The emergence and spread of multidrug resistant (MDR) malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium vivax have become increasingly important in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). MDR malaria is the heritable and hypermutable property of human malarial parasite populations that can decrease in vitro and in vivo susceptibility to proven antimalarial drugs as they exhibit dose-dependent drug resistance and delayed parasite clearance time in treated patients. MDR malaria risk situations reflect consequences of the national policy and strategy as this influences the ongoing national-level or subnational‐level implementation of malaria control strategies in endemic GMS countries. Based on our experience along with current literature review, the design of ecotope-based entomological surveillance (EES) and molecular xenomonitoring of MDR falciparum and vivax malaria parasites in Anopheles vectors is proposed to monitor infection pockets in transmission control areas of forest and forest fringe-related malaria, so as to bridge malaria landscape ecology (ecotope and ecotone) and epidemiology. Malaria ecotope and ecotone are confined to a malaria transmission area geographically associated with the infestation of Anopheles vectors and particular environments to which human activities are related. This enables the EES to encompass mosquito collection and identification, salivary gland DNA extraction, Plasmodium and species-specific identification, molecular marker-based PCR detection methods for putative drug resistance genes, and data management. The EES establishes strong evidence of Anopheles vectors carrying MDR P. vivax in infection pockets epidemiologically linked with other data obtained during which a course of follow-up treatment of the notified P. vivax patients receiving the first-line treatment was conducted. For regional and global perspectives, the EES would augment the epidemiological surveillance and monitoring of MDR falciparum and vivax malaria parasites in hotspots or suspected areas established in most endemic GMS countries implementing the National Malaria Control Programs, in addition to what is guided by the World Health Organization.

Biography:

Onyesom completed his PhD at the age of 32 years from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and postdoctoral studies from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is the Director of Malarial Biochemistry & Phytomedicine Research Unit, Delta State University, Abraka. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.

Abstract:

With approximately 225 million individual infected and an estimated 780 thousand deaths annually (largely among African children), Plasmodium falciparum malaria remains one of the world’s most devasting diseases.The cytosolic Plasmodium falciparum heat shock protein 70-1 (PfHsp70-1) has been observed to promote plasmodial growth and survival in human host. In this study, PfHsp70-1 was cloned , expressed and purified from E. coli using recombinant techniques. Then, the effects of methylene blue (MB) on the ATPase and aggregation suppression activities of PfHsp70-1 were investigated. Results show that MB inhibited (54%) PfHsp70-1ATPase activity, altered its thermal stability and responsiveness to ATP molecule. MB also affected the chaperone (aggregation suppression) function of PfHsp70-1. While confirming the antimalaria ability of MB, data also implicate PfHsp70-1 as drugable target for the development of novel antimalaria agents for possible chemotherapeutic application.

Biography:

Ronel Pienaar received her M.Sc degree (cum laude) in 2014 from the University of the Free State, South Africa with a thesis entitled: ASSESSMENT AND IMPOROVEMENT OF THE MOLECULAR DIAGNOSIS OF Theileria parva OF AFRICAN BUFFALO (Syncerus caffer) IN SOUTHERN AFRICA resulting in 3 publications in peer reviewed journals and one conference proceedings. She received the Junior W.O. Neitz Medal in 2014 conferred by The Parasitological Society of Southern Africa for a postgraduate thesis in parasitology. She started her research career in 2010 she has 13 articles and 4 conference papers.

Abstract:

The potential impact of co-infection on disease dynamics of Piroplasmida is becoming more recognised. The co-infection dynamics of Babesia and Theileria species of cattle, dogs and various wildlife species are widely documented and increasingly studied. In a conservation conscious era the focus on the risk at the game-livestock interfaces and trans-boundary parks also fuels the study of reservoir disease hosts and accurate diagnosis of disease. Buffalo are notoriously known to harbour and act as a source of infection to vectors and other animals of especially FMD, bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis. They also harbour a number of Theileria parasites. To this extend we examined the piroplasm burden of ~2500 blood samples of buffalo and other game species across three National parks in South Africa and National parks from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia to determine the extent of infection, diversity and parasitaemia ranges of parasites using real-time PCR technology. We identified two main genotypes that interfered with accurate molecular diagnosis of Theileria parva, the causative agent of East coast fever and Corridor disease in cattle, and calculated their parasitaemia ranges. Resulting data supported a hypothesis that similar parasitaemia ranges exist for different Theileria species that holds implications for accurate diagnosis in the case of mixed infections. The vector ticks for many of these piroplasms are still unknown.

Biography:

Xi Sun has completed her M.D in 2004 from Wannan medical college and her Ph.D in 2011 from Zhongshan school of Medicine in Sun Yat-sen University in China. Now she is an associate professor in the Department of Parasitology, Zhongshan School of Medicine in Sun Yat-sen University. She has published more than 20 papers and currently works on the immune escape of schistosoma japonicum.

Abstract:

Schistosomes are parasitic worms flourishes in the human host despite the development of a pronounced immune response. Understanding how the immune system deals with such pathogens still daunting challenge. Initiative regulation of host immune response by releasing some schistosome-derived molecules is an important mechanism of immune evasion of Schistsoma japonicum. Previously, our groups have identified a 16-kD secretory protein, Sj16, from Schistosoma japonicum. Sj16 is produced and secreted by all stages of the parasite and confirmed as an important protein in the alleviating of inflammation damage when the cercariae penetrated into the skin and was closely involved in to the immune escape of the Schistosomasis. Using recombinant Sj16(rSj16) protein expressed from E.coil, we demonstrated that this recombinant protein has a potent strong immuno-modulation effect and significantly alleviate rat adjuvant-induced arthritis(AA). Recently, our study have observed that immature DC plused with rSj16 can induce significantly IL-10 production and T-helper 2(Th2)-type responses which not show an increase in expression of co-stimulatory molecules or cytokines while their LPS-induced activation, including expression of MHC-II and co-stimulatory molecules as well as IL-12 production is also suppressed. However, since there are no known homologs of Sj16 in metazoans outside the Schistosoma genus, the relationship between Sj16’s function and IL-10 production are unclear. Hence, in the present study, using antibody neutralization experiment and IL-10-deficent(IL-10 Knockout) mice, we further confirmed that the inhibitory effect of rSj16 on LPS-induced BMDCs is due to its induction of IL-10 production. To understand how rSj16 induce the production of IL-10, we analyzed the sequence and revealed two potential nuclear localization signal(NLS) of Sj16. Further studies showed that N-terminal NLS(NLS1) is both necessary and sufficient for translocation of rSj16 to the BMDC’s nucleus and important for subsequent induction of IL-10 production and inhibition of BMDCs maturation by rSj16. Taken together, our results suggest that rSj16 enter into the nuclear of host cells using the NLS1 and promote the production of IL-10 which mediates the inhibitory effect of rSj16 on LPS-induced BMDCS.

Biography:

Otuu, C. A is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Parasitology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His research interests include Medical, Molecular and Public Health Parasitology. He worked for Ranbaxy Pharmaceutical Laboratories before going into the academia.

Abstract:

This study determined the Parasitological and Entomological indices of malaria transmission in two communities, namely, Tungangoro and Gbaiko in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. Mosquito collection was done indoors in selected households, while blood samples were collected for parasitological examination using the thumb prick method from under five children in the study locations. Mosquitoes and samples were collected between August 2011 and October 2012. The mosquitoes were collected using the spread sheet Pyrethrum Spray Catches (PSC) and later differentiated into different species. The female Anopheles species were then examined for sporozoite and parity rates. The blood samples were examined in the laboratory for the presence of Plasmodium parasites using a light microscope. Out of the total number of mosquitoes collected Anopheles mosquitoes had a relative abundance of 456 (61.50%) with the females constituting 273 (59.90%) and the males183 (40.10%). Culex mosquitoes had a relative abundance of 286 (38.50%) out of which 155 (54.20%) were females and 131 (45.80%) were males. At both study locations Anopheles species were greater in number compared to Culex species. Out of the 365 female Anopheles mesquites dissected for parity, 211 (67.00%) were parous while 104 (33.00%) were nulliparous. Out of 445 blood samples examined for malaria parasites 315 (70.80%) were positive while 130 (29.20%) were negative. There was a significant difference in the distribution of mosquito vectors and malaria parasites in the two study areas which is an indication that the area has a high endemicity for malaria and adequate control measures should be undertaken.

Biography:

Xinping Zhu is a Professor at the Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medicine, Capital Medical University. She is also the Dean of Department of Mircrobiology and Parasitology.

Abstract:

Trichinella spiralis infection induces protective immunity against re-infection in animal models. Identification of the antigens eliciting acquired immunity during infection is important for vaccine development against Trichinella infection and immunodiagnosis. The T. spiralis adult cDNA library was immunoscreened with sera from pigs experimentally infected with 20,000 infective T. spiralis larvae. More than 40 positive clones were identified; one of the immunodominant proteins was 20 kDa Ts-ES-1 secreted by Trichinella stichocytes and existing in the excretory/secretory (ES) products of T. spiralis adult and muscle larval worms. Ts-ES-1 contains 172 amino acids with a typical signal peptide in the first 20 amino acids. The expression of Ts-ES-1 was detected in both the adult and muscle larval stages at the mRNA and protein expression levels. Mice immunized with recombinant Ts-ES-1 (rTs-ES-1) formulated with ISA50v2 adjuvant exhibited a significant worm reduction in both the adult worm (27%) and muscle larvae burden (42.1%) after a challenge with T. spiralis compared to the adjuvant control group (p<0.01). The rTs-ES-1-induced protection was associated with a high level of specific anti-Ts-ES-1 IgG antibodies and a Th1/Th2 mixed immune response. The newly identified rTs-ES-1 is an immunodominant protein secreted by Trichinella stichocytes during natural infection and enables the induction of partial protective immunity in vaccinated mice against Trichinella infection. Therefore, rTs-ES-1 is a promising candidate for vaccine development against trichinellosis.

Biography:

Yong-long Li was graduated from Tongji Medical College in 1969. He was the director of the Department of Parasitolgy at tongji Medical College. He has published more than 75 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as editorial bord members of journals in China.

Abstract:

Leukemia is a malignancy disorder in leukocytes which occurs in animals as well as human. Current therapeutic for the disease remains unsatisfactory and fatality percentage is higher. Developing new therapeutic strategies for the disease is needed. It has been reported that malaria parasite infection is efficacious to combat some cancers in experimental animals. In the present paper, we studied anti-leukemia activity of malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii infection in leukemia WEHI-3 cells bearing mice and found that P. yoelii infection significantly inhibited the development of leukemia WEHI-3 cells in the mice and the neoplasm cells infiltrations in the liver and spleen were obviously reduced. Also we demonstrated that malaria infection provided anti-leukemia activity by promotion of immune responses which included increasing percentages cell surface markers of T cell (CD3e) and B cell (CD19), decreasing the amount of the percentage of the cell surface markers of monocytes, (CD11b) and macrophages (Mac-3), inducing the secretion of IFN-r and TNF-α and promotion of natural killer (NK) cell activity.

Biography:

Aderinola, Adeyinka Aderonke has completed her Master of Science from University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria and is currently undertaking her PhD program at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. She is a lecturer at the department of Pharmacology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-iwoye, Nigeria.

Abstract:

Malaria caused by the parasite-P.falciparum is an acute disease which kill an estimated 863,000 people per-year according to WHO report. Malaria chemotherapy failure is beginning to give medical practitioners concern. The continuing spread of multi-drug resistant P.falciparum-malaria now poses a major threat to the tropics. Natural-products are the source of the two most important-drugs currently available to treat severe falciparum-malaria , quinine and artemisinin derivatives, the development of these two important-drugs and utilization of many plants traditionally in various part of the world triggered the search for new, effective antimalarial drugs of natural origin. In this study, Swiss-albino mice ranging from 25-35g were used. The mice were randomly assigned into treatments and controls (negative and positive-control) with five mice per group. Plasmodium-berghei obtained from Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, Lagos were used as donor. Each mouse received 0.1ml of diluted-blood containing 1x 106 P.berghei infected erythrocyte by intraperitoneal-route. Three hours after inoculation of the parasite, the mice in the three treatment groups received the extracts of Newbouldia laevis and cocos nucifera in doses of 200, 400, 600 mg/kg orally for four consecutive-days while the negative and the positive control received normal-saline and 25mg/kg chloroquine-phosphate orally daily for four-consecutive days. On the fifth day, blood sample was collected from tail snip of each mouse, thin smears were prepared, stained with 10%- Giemsa-solution and examined under microscope with an oil immersion objective of 100x magnification power to evaluate percentage suppression. The extract treated mice (200, 400, 600mg/kg) showed decreased parasitemia-level to a highly significant level (p< 0.05).

Biography:

Jiahui Lei has completed her PhD at the age of 32 years from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. She is Associate Professor in Department of Parasitology. She has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals. And her main research fields are interaction between parasite infection and host and immunological diagnosis of parasite infection.

Abstract:

Cardiac transplantation has been widely accepted as treatment of choice for end-stage heart failure, but organ survival is limited by immune rejection and side effects of traditional immunosuppressants. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel immunosuppressants with few side effects and strong immuosuppression. Several studies show that Toxoplasma gondii infection and administration of soluble tachyzoite antigens (STAg) of T. gondii before transplantation can prolong cardiac allograft survival. However, the effective antigens inducing the protective effects on cardiac allograft are still unclear. In the present study, recombinant surface antigen 1 (rSAG1) , one of the major components in STAg was prepared and injected at 4 d before transplatation. Its effect on cardiac allograft survival was investigated in a mouse model. Moreover, the influence of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) caused by rSAG1 in the recipient was explored. The results showed that administration of rSAG1 could prolong cardiac graft survival associated with an increased Treg population in splenocytes. This effect coincided with low expression of IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-17 while increased production of IL-10, TGF-β and IL-12 by splenocytes in the experiment group. Depletion of Treg abrogated the prolonged allograft survival induced by rSAG1 and this effect was associated with decreased expansion of Treg, along with higher levels of IFN-γ, IL-12 and IL-17 and lower levels of IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β produced by spenocytes. These data suggest that exposure to rSAG1 before cardiac transplantion may induce prolonged allografts survival, which is related to upregulation of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells.

Biography:

Hongwei Zhang has completed his PhD at the age of 39 years from Zhengzhou University and postdoctoral studies from Center for Disease Prevention and Control in USA. He is the director of Institute of Parasite Disease Prevention and Control, Henan Center for Disease Prevention and Control. He has published more than 41 papers in reputed journals and 6 books.

Abstract:

Artemisinin resistance has been confirmed at Cambodia and Thailand. This paper reports the first case of Artemisinin resistance in a 35-year-old Chinese male construction worker with imported falciparum malaria. The patient suffered two days of febrile illness after returning from Nigeria on Oct 1, 2014. The main symptoms were febrile with the highest axillary temperature of 40℃, headache, and chill. A peripheral blood smear showed parasitemia (2000 asexual parasites/μl) with Plasmodium falciparum. The patient had three times medical history of malaria and was administrated quinine, and stopped treatment after he was afebrile in Nigeria during 2009-2014. The patient was administrated oral total 320mg/2.56g Dihydroartemisinin- Piperaquine (40mg/0.32g per tablet) for 2 days and intravenous total 3060mg artesunate for 19 days, which was 60mg artesunate every 6 hours for 3 days(first dosage double), then every 8 hours for 8 days and then each day for 8 days. Axillary temperature of the patient was 37.5-37.8℃ on Day 1-Day 4 and the patient was afebrile on Day 5. Blood microscopy revealed falciparum parasitemia (10000-20000 asexual parasites/μl) during Day 1 to Day 12. Then falciparum parasitemia decreased and was negative on Day 19. The patient was cured and leaved hospital on Day 24. According to WHO classification of antimalarial drug efficacy(Parasitemia on Day 3 with axillary temperature ≥37.5℃) , the patient must be considered an early treatment failure. With increasing number of workers and travelers into malaria endemic areas more attention should be paid in detect the emergence of artemisinin resistance.

Biography:

Zhiyue Lv has completed his PhD at the age of 30 years from Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, China and postdoctoral studies from Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University in 2007. He had researched as a visiting scholar at School of Medicine, Wayne State University 2012- 2013. Dr. Lv currently is the deputy secretary general of Guangdong Society of Parasitology and vice-chairman of Post-doctoral Fellowship of Guangdong Province, China and he has published more than 20 papers on prevention and control of angiostrongyliasis and schistosomiasis.

Abstract:

The rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a food-borne nematode parasite, is the primary cause of human eosinophilic meningitis, meningoencephalitis and other neurological disorders in many tropical and subtropical regions. Genome-scale investigation of permissive hosts (rat) and non-permissive hosts (mouse and human) for A. cantonensis revealed CCL8, a non-permissive host-specific eosinophil chemotactic chemokine, with an extremely high-level expression in central nerve sysytem (CNS) of A. cantonensis infected mice. Here, we aim to determine the effects of CCL8 on mouse and rat models infected with A. cantonensis. Blocking of CCL8 by injection of anti-CCL8 monoclonal antibodies markedly reduced eosinophil infiltration in peripheral blood and brain of mice infected by A. cantonensis, and the larvae migrated into the pulmonary artery of the infected mice after administration of monoclonal antibodies. In addition, cerebral stereotaxis and microinjection of the infected rats with mouse CCL8 significantly increased eosinophil counts in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of the treated rats, and obviously inhibited larval migration from the rat brain to lung. Moreover, hamster, another mammal with deletion of CCL8 gene, could served as an permissive host for A. cantonensis. In summary, a deletion of CCL8 contributes to larvae migration from brain to lung and adult development of A. cantonensis in permissive hosts and determines host- A. cantonensis adaption, which demonstrates a novel potential drug target for angiostrongyliasis and enriches a comprehensive understanding of host-parasite coevolution.

Biography:

Chandra Dev Pati Tripathi has completed his M.Sc. at the age of 24 years from Dr. R. M. L. Avadh University, Faizabad, U.P., India and currently pursuing his Ph.D. from KingGeorge’s Medical University, Lucknow, India. He has published 7 papers in reputed journals and 5 sequences submitted to NCBI.

Abstract:

Rickettsiosis consists of spectrum of vector borne diseases caused by small Gram negative obligate intracellular bacteria which includes epidemic typhus, scrub typhus and spotted fever. Rickettsial diseases have been reported from various parts of India. Here, this is the first case series belonging to ‘‘spotted fever’’ group being reported from Uttar Pradesh, a Northern state of India. A total of four cases were from rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, referred with history of high grade fever with chills, rigor and irritability, headache, myalgia, vomiting followed by cold and cough, abrupt onset of generalised erythematous macular/maculopapular rash and swelling all over body. Vital parameters noted were as follows: pulse rate 140-150/minute, blood pressure ranging from 90/60 - 110/70 mm Hg, respiratory rate varied from 30 – 60/min. Systemic examination of abdomen revealed mild hepatosplenomegaly in all. Routine blood testing revealed Hemoglobin (Hb) varied from 8-10 gm%, total white cell count between 11,000 – 13,500/cu mm. Serology for typhoid, malaria and dengue were negative. Blood samples were tested for Rickettsia conorii IgM by ELISA and were positive. Rickettsia conorii IgG was negative for all patients. Further, the blood samples were also tested by Weil Felix Test which were positive against OXK & OX2 on days 1 and 6 both. All patients were empirically treated with injection ceftriaxone and amikacin. Once reports were available, patients were also given oral doxycycline 5 mg/kg/day in two divided doses for 5-7 days. There was dramatic improvement in patient\'s condition and they were all discharged within next 7-9 days.

Biography:

Ying Liu has completed her Master's degree at the age of 31 years from Zhengzhou University, She has engaged in malaria prevention and control work for ten years. She has published more than 13 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Plasmodium vivax（P.v） malaria is one of major parasitic diseases with a long history in Henan, China, but little is known about the genotypic polymorphism of P.v in this area. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of circumsporozoite protein (CSP) gene in P.v from Henan, China. Thirty-two P.v isolates from Henan province were characterized by analysing the genetic polymorphism of the CSP gene, all the isolates were found to belong to the VK210 type. The isolates tested displayed variations in the peptide repeat motifs with different size（20-22）or different order, eight different sub-types were observed in the isolates analysed. Compared with the VK210 basic repeat units (GDRADGQPA), more than 75% repeat units have base transition non silence at least one time. seven types of repeat elements were observed in the central repeat units, the change mainly occurred in 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 21, 22 nucleotides, among which,3,21 often silent while 4,7,9,14,22 often non silent, and the sixth nucleotide can occur base transform both silent and non silent base transform. The nucleotide sequences of Henan isolates were compared with the published sequences, from the genetic distance, isolates from Henan were further with those from Africa and Southeast Asia. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the P. v parasite population is highly diverse in Henan province, and the genotyping protocols used in this study may be useful for differentiating the imported cases from the indigenous ones in vivax malaria.

Biography:

Zhu HM has completed her PhD at the age of 32 years from the Second Military Medical University. She is the professor in Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, and the head of the Joint Diagnostic Lab. on Parasitic Diseases of SMMU.

Abstract:

Patients with fever of unknown origin, were found infection with new human parasites. Apart from fever ,they displayed space occupying focus or spots on lung, liver, Multiple “calcified spots” in kidney, splenomegaly, and systemic lymph node enlargement, etc., which vary between individuals. Some pepole are look normal, and were found abnormalities on physical examinations. Others were sever ill, some of them died. On examing the samples taking from lung or liver punctures, bronchioloalveolar lavage fluid(BLF), faeces, urine,and blood, we found single celled parasites which showing various forms, which caused tissue necrosis. With PCR technique, the amplified fragment proved to be Acanthamoeba sp., having highly similarity(99%) with A. griffini, and A. polyphagus, on sequence alignment. Microscopically, parasites in the samples had morphological diversity. Those with forms inconsistant with Acanthamoeba sp. had not been identified.

Biography:

Wenqi Liu has completed her PhD from Tongji Medical College. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Excretory-secretory products (ESPs) are the majority of worm components which can be directly recognized by host immune system.In our current study, a proteomic approach combined by MS with Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) was used to identify ESPs of S.japonicum. By 2-DE, we identified 166 protein spots from adult ESPs and 138 protein spots from egg ESPs. Of these spots, twelve protein spots were identical in both eggs and adult worms, 24 spots were stage-specifically expressed in adult worms and 16 spots were egg-specifical. In analysis of MALDI-TOF/TOF，the abundant proteins of adult worms revealed a confident constitutent of enzymes， structural proteins，and response elements. Of which, four molecules could be recognized by infective sera of two weeks, and two were reactive with sera of six weeks post infection. An enolase screened from egg ESPs was found to strongly react with early-infected sera, and another putative CAP-Gly-domain protein from egg ESPs was also weakly recognized by sera of early infection. Transposase, abhydrolase domain-containing protein 8 (ABHD-8), and other five hypothetic proteins were not be detected by immunoblotting. In brief, and also notably, we identified total 166 and 138 proteins from ESPs of adult worms and eggs, respectively, which mainly involved in redox balance, protein folding, development and signaling, scavenging, metabolic pathways, and immune response modulation. Several uncharacterized S. japonicum proteins have also been reported in present study. Moreover, five antigens, including confident proteins and putative proteins, have been screened to be potential in early diagnosis for schistosomiasis.

Biography:

Kgomotso P Sibeko-Matjila has completed her PhD in 2009 from University of Pretoria, South Africa. Subsequently, she was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria. She has authored and co-authored nine papers in reputed journals and is currently a Primary Supervisor to three PhD and four MSc students.

Abstract:

Theileria parva, an apicomplexan intracellular protozoan parasite, infects and transforms bovine and buffalo lymphocytes causing 2 recognized disease syndromes in cattle, East Coast Fever (ECF) and Corridor Disease (CD). It is still not clear as to why T. parva infections cause different disease syndromes in cattle. In order to study strain-specific changes in gene expression in ECF and CD isolates, Next Generation Sequencing was used to analyze transcriptome of T. parva Muguga and T. parva 7014, respectively. RNA sequence analysis revealed differential expression of 1048 genes between the two isolates. The majority of DEGs were genes encoding sub-telomeric fragment-related protein family (SVSP) (n=85) followed by ribosomal proteins (n=33), membrane/inter-membrane proteins (n=32), signal peptide containing proteins (n=24), transcription/translation/elongation factors (n=23), transporters (n=15) and antigens (n=13). Forty pathways were affected by products of DEGs. The findings of this study provide evidence of variations in gene expression between ECF and CD strains investigated, with most DEGs down-regulated in T. parva 7014 (n=742, 70.8%). Furthermore, genes involved in the ability of the parasite to transform host cells, including members of CD8+ T-cell target antigens, TA9/TP9, SVSP and TashAT gene families, may be the objects of further investigations into understanding the molecular dynamics of ECF and Corridor disease. Many of the DE genes were hypothetical proteins (340), emphasising the need to identify their biological function in order to elucidate their molecular importance in the genetic diversity of T. parva parasites.

Biography:

Heng Wang used to work as physician for 12 yeas and did her postdoctoral studies from Naval Medical Research Institute, U.S.A. She is the director of the laboratory of molecular parasitology at Institute of Basic Medical Sciences/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine/Peking Union Medical College. She is vise-president of Chinese Academy of Parasitology/ Chinese Academy of Zoology, has published 25 papers in SCI journals and more in Chinese.

Abstract:

Red blood cells (RBCs) targeted by Haemosporina parasites especially the Plasmodium parasites, can shed vesicles to regulate host immune response. In this study, we demonstrated that under the conditions of Plasmodium invasion, normal RBCs (with normal hemoglobin A) could actively export a large number of microparticles (MPs) to infected RBCs. We found that in the infected RBCs, human argonaute 2 (hAgo2) protein complexes with hundreds of human miRNAs (hmiRNAs) inside the parasites, and these hAgo2-miRNA complexes were transferred from uninfected RBCs by MPs. The hAgo-binding miRNAs were immunoprecipitated with anti-hAgo2 antibody and sequenced by high throughput RNA-seq. Among the identified miRNAs, miR-451 and miR-140 are predicted to target the mRNAs of a critical parasite antigen - Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1). Our data indicate that miR-451 and miR-140 can down-regulate the expression of var genes of malaria by targeting the untranslated regions (UTR) of their mRNAs; depleting hAgo2 leads to accelerated parasite infection in culture; and MPs can protect RBCs from the infection. Our results demonstrate for the first time that normal RBCs are able to export Ago2-miRNA complexes via MPs to infected RBCs, providing evidence that mature RBCs have the innate ability of resisting malaria infection. This study may also help explain why RBC-related genetic mutations tend to exist in malaria endemic areas with a long history of heavy disease burden.

Biography:

Wafaa has completed her PhD at the age of 35 years from Cairo University and postdoctoral studies from Theodor Bilharz Research Inst. She is the Associate Prof in Parasitology, a premier science and helath service organization. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Cysteine proteases are important virulence factors for parasites. Cathepsin B (Sm CB) proteases are abundant in different stages of Schistosoma and it have been identified to induce a level of host-protective immune responses with amelioration of morbidity. In this study, the parasitological parameters, level of immunoglobulins, cytokines profile and hepatic granuloma were assessed to study the effect of immunization of mice with cathepsin B antigen with or without treatment using anti-helminthic drug (PZQ). Multiple small doses of cathepsin B were intraperitoneally injected into naive mice; the first dose of a 100μg of purified (Sm CB) was followed by two booster doses of 50μg each, at weekly intervals. The experimental design included five groups of 10 mice each; four batches of them were infected with a 100 S. mansoni cercariae as follows: One batch served as infected control, another one was immunized prior to infection, the third was pre-immunized and post-PZQ treated and finally the fourth one was post-treated with PZQ only. The fifth group was mice immunized with cathepsin B only. All groups were sacrificed 8 and 12 weeks post infection. The histopathological and parasitological examinations revealed the highest remarkable increase in the percentage of degenerated ova (12%) within the diminished hepatic granulomas and the most significant decline percentage of the worm burden (46%), tissue egg loads (42.8% and 50% for hepatic and intestinal ova, respectively) were experienced by the infected pre-immunized and post-treated mice. The data collected from this research study might be useful in developing potential vaccine against S. mansoni.

Biography:

Ankita Thakur is pursuing her Ph.D. degree. She is working as Senior Research Fellow (fellowship granted by DST INSPIRE, India) in Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. Presently, she has published four papers in reputed journals. Major part of her research is focussed on designing of anti-leishmanial vaccines. As a part of her research she is testing the immunoprophylactic potential of killed parasite antigens as vaccine candidates against murine visceral leishmaniasis.

Abstract:

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex. An estimated 200 000 to 400 000 new cases are reported annually. Control of VL infection till date relies on chemotherapy. The therapeutic armamentarium for VL is currently plagued with several limitations as the available drugs are toxic, expensive and need to be administered for extended periods. So there is an urgent need to find another alternative in the form of a vaccine. Killed vaccines composed of parasite fractions or whole killed parasites reached phase 3 clinical trials, but showed a limited prophylactic efficacy. It seems that major limiting factor for the development of killed vaccines is lack of a suitable adjuvant. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to enhance the protective efficacy of Killed Leishmania donovani (KLD) antigen by using different adjuvants. Inbred BALB/c mice were immunized with KLD antigen alone and in combination with four different adjuvants i.e. alum, saponin, MPL-A and cationic liposomes. Three immunizations were carried out at an interval of two weeks. Two weeks after last booster challenge infection was given and mice were sacrificed on different post challenge days. Protective efficacy of vaccines was analyzed by assessment of parasite burden and generation of cellular and humoral immune responses. All the formulations were found to be immunogenic and imparted significant protection. However, level of protection varied with the type of adjuvant used. Our findings suggest promising antileishmanial potential of KLD as an antigen candidate in combination with cationic liposomes and MPL-A as adjuvants against murine visceral leishmaniasis.

Biography:

Harpreet Kaur is a PhD student in Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh (India). She is awarded with UGC-MANF fellowship. She has published 4 papers in reputed journals. She has given oral/poster presentations in different national and international conferences.

Abstract:

Leishmaniasis is a disease that ranges in severity from skin lesions to serious disfigurement and fatal systemic infection. Current treatment is based on chemotherapy which relies on a handful of drugs with serious limitations. Vaccination remains the best hope for control of all forms of the disease. A substantial number of antigens have been identified in past which include gp63, p36/LACK, (CP) B and CPA, HASPB1, LCR1, PSA-2, LeIF, LmSTI1 and TSA, which induce protection against the target parasite; although very few achieve a degree of efficacy likely to make them candidates for single-antigen vaccines. Therefore, multi-antigen/‘cocktail’ vaccines are proposed based on the assumption that such cocktails will show enhanced efficacy. Till date, only one multicomponent vaccine LEISH-F3+GLA-SE has reached clinical trials. Recently studies have been carried out on LD31 and LD51 polypeptides from L. donovani promastigotes which have proven to be potential vaccine candidates. The 36 kDa-glycoprotein is major FML antigenic fraction and designated \'GP36\'. The present study is designed to check the protective efficacy of cocktail of low molecular weight antigens. Protective efficacy of different vaccine formulations i.e. 36+51 kDa, 36+51 kDa+ALD, 36+51 kDa+saponin and 36+51kDa+liposome was revealed by significant decline in parasite burden and increased DTH responses. The antibody response was of IgG type with elevated IgG2a and decreased production of IgG1 whereas cytokine levels pointed towards the generation of protective Th1 type of immune response. Among all three vaccine formulations, cocktail of 36+51 kDa+liposome was found to be highly immunogenic and imparted maximum protection.

Biography:

Manizheh Nourian is Nursing Phd Candidate, Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences University, Tehran, Iran, 2011 and has completed his Master of Science in Pediatric Nursing from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran from 1993-1997. And Bachelor of Science in Nursing, from Iran University of Medical Sciences,Tehran, Iran. He is working on Pediatric nursing using preventive care approaches.

Abstract:

Introduction: Oxiuoriasis is one of the most prevalent human parasitic infections worldwide especially in temperate climates. This infection is frequently reported among children mainly in day care centers and kindergartens. The most common symptoms are loss of appetite, irritability and the pruritus ani. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of health education in preventing Enterobious vermicolaris reinfection in children settling in kindergartens.
Materials & Methods: A total of 60 children infected with symptomatic Enterobious vermicolaris were enrolled. They were divided randomly in two case and control groups. Both groups were treated with single dose of mebendazol. Case group children and their parents received health education including: Doing frequent hand wash, changing bed sheets daily and cleaning the anus area every morning as soon as waking up, while control group received no educational program. After one month of treatment, all children were tested by Graham method for oxiuor ova/ parasite in the three consequence days.
Results: The rate of oxiuor infection was 6% and 11% in case and control groups, respectively. In conclusion, the findings of this study confirmed the effectiveness of health education in decrease of Enterobious vermicolaris reinfection in children of Iranian kindergartens.

Biography:

Abstract:

Nosocomial and community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections are signifi cant burdens to our health care systems. Th ese infections are associated with signifi cant morbidity and mortality, increased length of hospitalization and increase treatment costs. A study on Staphylococcus aureus was carried out with a view to isolating, determining the prevalence and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates present in clinical and environmental samples in Limbe Health District. Th e results obtained indicated that 231 samples examined (104 environmental, 102 from patients and 25 from health workers), 85(36.8%) were positive for Staphylococcus aureus. Fift y three (41.7%) and thirty-two (30.8%) represented positive cases from clinical and environmental samples respectively. Of the clinical samples examined, gentile secretions (68.2%) had the highest isolation rate while furniture had the highest isolation rate (40.6%) of S. aureus in environmental samples. Females were more predisposed to infection as well as individuals of the age group 31-40years. Results of antibiotic sensitivity tests carried out showed that vancomycin was most eff ective (100% susceptible) closely followed by ofl oxacin (71.8% susceptible). Isolates exhibited complete resistance (100%) to ampcillin, bacitacin and penicillin. Marked resistance was also observed in methicitin (94.1% resistance), gentamicin (83.5% resistance) and oxacillin (75.3% resistance). Twenty-one antibiotyes were identifi ed. A composite biochemical-antimicrobial profi le revealed fi ve biotypes (I, II, III, IV and V) with biotype I being the most frequently encountered, biotype II had the highest occurrence of seven antibiotypes while biotypes IV and V had the least number of antiobiotypes (two each). Th e multiple resistances observed are not surprising as multi-drug resistant strains are steady increasing over the years. As such, hospital infection control strategies will have to be redefi ned and community approaches developed to reduce transmission.

Biography:

Abstract:

RNA interference (RNAi) technique was widely used in variety of organisms, including parasites, as a powerful tool for gene functional study. Th e aim of this study was to investigate the functions of T. spiralis Nudix hydrolase (TsNd) during the larval invasion of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), development and survival in host by RNAi. Th e TsNd-specifi c doublestranded RNA (dsRNA) was designed to silence the expression of TsNd in T. spiralis larvae. DsRNA were delivered to the larvae by soaking incubation or electroporation. Silencing eff ect of TsNd transcription and expression was determined by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Th e infectivity of larvae treated with dsRNA was investigated by the in vitro larval invasion of IECs and experimental infection in mice. Aft er being soaked with 40 ng/μl of dsRNA-TsNd, the transcription and expression level of TsNd gene was inhibited 65.8% and 56.4%, respectively (P<0.05). Aft er being electroporated with 40 ng/μl of dsRNA-TsNd, the transcription and expression level of TsNd gene was inhibited 74.2% and 58.2%, respectively (P<0.05). Silencing TsNd expression by both soaking and electroporation inhibited signifi cantly the larval invasion of IECs in a dose-dependent manner (r1= -0.96798, r2=-0.98707). Th e invasion rate of the larvae soaked with 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 ng/μl dsRNA-TsNd for 18 h was 54.4%, 44.7%, 39.2%, 35.3%, and 32.7%, respectively; while the invasion rate of the larvae treated with lip2000 or untreated was 61.7% and 63.1%, respectively. Th e invasion rate of the larvae eletroporated with the above-mentioned dose of dsRNA-TsNd for 18 h was 54.4%, 44.7%, 39.2%, 35.3%, and 32.7%, respectively; while the invasion rate of the larvae untreated was 58.3%. Mice inoculated with larvae soaked with TsNd dsRNA displayed a 49.9% reduction in intestinal adult worm burden and 39.9% reduction in muscle larval burden compared with the mice inoculated with untreated larvae (P<0.05). Mice infected with larvae electroporated with TsNd dsRNA displayed an 83.4% reduction in intestinal adult worm burden and 69.5% reduction in muscle larval burden compared with the mice inoculated with untreated larvae (P<0.05), indicating that electroporation had a higher effi ciency than soaking in inhibiting the larval development and survival in mice.Our results showed that silencing TsNd expression in T. spiralis inhibited signifi cantly the larval invasion and survival in host.

Biography:

Currently Mohammed Tarique is working as pre-doctoral fellow (Senior Research Fellow) in the Malaria Group, International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. He did his B.Sc. (Chemistry and Botany) in 2006 from Shibli National College, Azamgarh, UP and M.Sc. (Biotechnology) in 2008 from the department of biotechnology, Hamdard University, Delhi, India. After completion of M.Sc. program, he joined the ICGEB, New Delhi as pre-doctoral fellow and he focused the research on understanding the mismatch repair complex of malaria parasite. He published 10 peer reviewed original research publications and several abstracts in National and International meeting and conferences.

Abstract:

Malaria is of one of the major public health problem especially in tropical and subtropical region of the world including India. The disease is caused by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium species and responsible for more than six million human deaths worldwide. Although some drugs are available for the treatment of malaria but the development of resistance to the currently available drugs is a major concern. Thus there is an urgent need to identify suitable chemotherapeutic targets in order to develop newer class of antimalarials. Recently major components of the DNA mismatch repair like PfMLH and Plasmodium specific UvrD have been identified and characterized. PfUvrD helicase interact with PfMLH and seems crucial for the parasite survival thus can emerge as suitable drug target. Recently we have reported that Plasmodium falciparum contains UvrD, which is absent in the human host and their interplay with MLH is crucial for the modulation of each other’s biochemical activities. PfUvrD knockdown showed that it is required for the parasite during intraerythrocytic development. In this study we focused on the MLH to find some inhibitor molecule of their biochemical activities. In order to find the inhibitor for the biochemical activities of PfMLH, we have screened the various DNA interacting compounds and our data reveal that Etoposide, Nogalamycin, Netropsin, Daunorubicin and ethidium bromide inhibit the ATPase activity of MLH in the in vitro assay. Identified compounds were further in silico-studied and docking result show some crucial amino acid of the ATPase active site. In silico analysis of the binding of Etoposide, Nogalamycin, Netropsin, Daunorubicin and with synthetic PfMLH protein clearly reveals that Asp83 (D-83) of ATPase domain-I is involved in polar interaction with these compounds and may be crucial for ATPase activity. Thus our results suggest that Etoposide, Nogalamycin, Netropsin, Daunorubicin and ethidium bromide are the crucial inhibitors of the ATPase activity of PfMLH. These data from this study can be further utilized to design analogs or novel inhibitors to specifically target the crucial component of MMR machinery i.e. PfMLH proteins. Considering the previous and current finding about PfMLH and PfUvrD, it seems that targeting their interaction and or their biochemical activities may emerge as suitable therapeutic target for the control of malaria.