Genetic composition of Plasmodium falciparum infections in Zanzibar, travel and transmission: a follow-up to the RADZEC study (Projects)
https://www.swisstph.ch/en/projects/project-detail/project/genetic-composition-of-plasmodium-falciparum-infections-in-zanzibar-travel-and-transmission-a-follow-up-to-the-radzec-study
of Zanzibar. In this study, we will investigate the genetic composition of Plasmoidium falciparum parasite populations in Zanzibar from samples collected during the RADZEC rolling cross-sectional survey [...] particular travel patterns with malaria infection status in general, and infection with particular parasite genotypes in particular. This will be complemented by modeling of the improtance of imported for
Reduced Efficacy of Anthelmintic Drugs (Page)
https://www.swisstph.ch/en/news/20170926-reduced-efficacy-of-anthelmintic-drugs
the British Medical Journal (BMJ). New drugs are therefore urgently needed to effectively fight parasitic worms. Currently four main drugs are used to treat soil-transmitted helminthiasis: albendazole, [...] soil-transmitted helminths: Ascaris lumbricoides , hookworm and T. trichiura . They are caused by parasitic worms which are transmitted by eggs present in human feces, which contaminate the soil in areas [...] where sanitation is poor. Infected children are physically, nutritionally and...
<em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> sexual commitment rate variation among clinical isolates and diverse laboratory-adapted lines (Publications)
Asexual blood-stage malaria parasites must produce sexual progeny to infect mosquitoes. It is important to understand the scope and causes of intraspecific variation in sexual commitment rates, particularly [...] particularly for the major human parasite P. falciparum. First, two alternative assay methods of measuring sexual commitment were compared to test a genetically modified P. falciparum line with elevated commitment [...] early gametocyte differentiation marker Pfs16. Thus, this was used...
Evidence of blood stage efficacy with a virosomal malaria vaccine in a phase IIa clinical trial (Publications)
major observations support an effect of the vaccine-induced response on blood stage parasites: (i) Lower rates of parasite growth were observed in volunteers vaccinated with PEV3A compared to unvaccinated [...] was protection from malaria in a sporozoite challenge model. Other outcomes included measures of parasite specific immune responses induced by either vaccine; and safety, assessed by collection of adverse [...] were completely protected from malaria. PEV3A induced high antibody titres,...
Stowaways – Or What Diagnostics Has to Do with Zoo Animals (Page)
https://www.swisstph.ch/en/impact-stories/stowaways-or-what-diagnostics-has-to-do-with-zoo-animals
centre for malaria diagnosis and other imported parasitic diseases, the Diagnostic Centre of Swiss TPH is specialised in the diagnosis of human parasitic infections, also for rare pathogens. Every year [...] Also monkeys can get sick… But even those who are not travelling can get infected by a parasite. Some of these parasites, such as the fox tapeworm, are also found in Switzerland and other European countries [...] samples of the apes are analysed in the laboratory by microscopy and PCR for...
Evidence of blood stage efficacy with a virosomal malaria vaccine in a phase IIa clinical trial (Publications)
major observations support an effect of the vaccine-induced response on blood stage parasites: (i) Lower rates of parasite growth were observed in volunteers vaccinated with PEV3A compared to unvaccinated [...] was protection from malaria in a sporozoite challenge model. Other outcomes included measures of parasite specific immune responses induced by either vaccine; and safety, assessed by collection of adverse [...] were completely protected from malaria. PEV3A induced high antibody titres,...
<em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> sexual commitment rate variation among clinical isolates and diverse laboratory-adapted lines (Publications)
Asexual blood-stage malaria parasites must produce sexual progeny to infect mosquitoes. It is important to understand the scope and causes of intraspecific variation in sexual commitment rates, particularly [...] particularly for the major human parasite P. falciparum. First, two alternative assay methods of measuring sexual commitment were compared to test a genetically modified P. falciparum line with elevated commitment [...] early gametocyte differentiation marker Pfs16. Thus, this was used...
Promising Genotyping Technique for Assessing Antimalarial Drug Efficacy (News)
https://www.swisstph.ch/en/news/news-detail/news/promising-genotyping-technique-for-assessing-antimalarial-drug-efficacy
combination therapies (ACTs) are currently one of the main strategies in the fight against this parasitic disease. However, the emergence of partial artemisinin resistance in Africa is threatening the [...] continued effectiveness of antimalarial drugs, it is important to determine whether the malaria parasites in a patient's blood after malaria treatment are the same or different from those before treatment [...] y assessed the most commonly used techniques and markers for PCR correction...
Proteomic analysis of exported chaperone/co-chaperone complexes of <em>P. falciparum</em> reveals an array of complex protein-protein interactions (Publications)
Malaria parasites modify their human host cell, the mature erythrocyte. This modification is mediated by a large number of parasite proteins that are exported to the host cell, and is also the underlying [...] weight protein complexes. These complexes are found both in the infected erythrocyte, and within the parasite-derived compartment referred to as the parasitophorous vacuole. Surprisingly, our data also reveal
8,8-dialkyldihydroberberines with potent antiprotozoal activity (Publications)
nM against these three parasites, respectively. In turn, two 8,8-dialkylcanadines, obtained by reduction of the corresponding 8,8-DDBs, were much less potent against these parasites in vitro. While the natural [...] 8-DDBs) were found to possess mid- to low-nanomolar potency against Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage parasites, Leishmania donovani intracellular amastigotes, and Trypanosoma brucei brucei bloodstream forms
