International Health & Lifestyle
James M. Rippe in Lifestyle Medicine, 2019
Health and well-being are becoming a global issue for countries, multi-national employers and other stakeholders who are focusing on the health and productivity/performance of their populations. Communicable as well as non-communicable diseases vary in prevalence and importance from country to country. Communicable diseases include a wide range of bacterial, viral, fungal and protozoan infections. However, this section will focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which are chronic diseases resulting from a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, among others. NCDs result in the deaths of 40 million people around the world each year and account for about 70% of all deaths. The cumulative economic impact to the global economy is estimated to be $30 trillion by the year 2030 according to an analysis by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health. NCDs like heart disease can develop in emerging-market countries in much younger populations. For example, in India, people aged 25–35 years old have nearly five times the prevalence of heart disease compared with American workers of the same age. American workers tend to develop heart disease in their forties, fifties and sixties.
Fenugreek in Management of Immunological, Infectious, and Malignant Disorders
Dilip Ghosh, Prasad Thakurdesai in Fenugreek, 2022
Protozoal infections are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide for many years (Fletcher et al. 2012). One of the significant causes of protozoal infection is malnutrition, making the individual vulnerable to diarrheal diseases and enteric infections through various mechanisms (Berhe et al. 2020; Siddiqui, Belayneh, and Bhutta 2021). Infectious diarrhea is responsible for more deaths than other gastrointestinal tract diseases such as gastrointestinal cancers, peptic ulcers, or inflammatory bowel disease (Siciliano et al. 2020). However, the actual burden remains unknown as many of the incidences of enteric protozoa are often ignored as a cause of diarrheal illness and never reported (Fletcher et al. 2012).
Emergency Medicine
Akshaya Neil Arya in Preparing for International Health Experiences, 2017
Protozoan infections: Protozoan infections are from ingestion of contaminated food/water. The cysts are ingested, and excystation occurs in the bowel lumen. The resulting trophozoites then form more cysts, which then cause the symptoms and are also excreted, thus repeating the cycle. A summary of the common protozoan infections is provided in the following table, including common presentations, complications to be aware of and treatment (the medications listed may not be available where you are working, so check with local resources who will have a better idea of what can be used) (Guerrant, 2011) (Table 13.2).
Novel therapeutic opportunities for Toxoplasma gondii, Trichomonas vaginalis, and Giardia intestinalis infections
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, 2023
Francesca Arrighi, Arianna Granese, Paola Chimenti, Paolo Guglielmi
Toxoplasma gondii, Trichomonas vaginalis, and Giardia intestinalis are protozoan infections affecting millions of people worldwide. Even if these infections are usually controlled by immune system in immunocompetent patients, they could represent a threatening health for immunocompromised people. One of the main aspects that has to be considered about the treatments currently employed for the management of these infections is the absence of novel and effective drugs, where ‘novel’ has not to be exclusively intended for the chemical scaffold, but also (and maybe mainly) for novel mechanisms of actions. Drugs with innovative mechanisms are needed and this urgence arises from the increasing drug resistance along with cross resistance, affecting antibiotic as well as antiprotozoal therapies, parasites developing innovative and creative mechanisms to escape from drugs, which needs more research and investment to fight it. In this regard, some of the drugs employed for the treatment of these infections have been discovered in the second half of last century (for example the anti-T. gondii drugs), thus underlying the insufficient efforts spent in these years for the research and discovery of novel therapies. Along with this, also a scarce knowledge of these infections contributed to their spread, toxoplasmosis and trichomoniasis being considered neglected parasitic infections by U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on the bases of infected numbers of people, severity of the illnesses, and the ability to prevent and treat them.
Antiprotozoal drugs: challenges and opportunities
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, 2023
This special issue of Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents presents a topical collection of review articles dealing with most of the protozoan pathogenic organisms mentioned in the introduction. Vermelho’s group discusses Chagas disease treatment options in a paper where both scientific and patent literature is documented [23]. Drugs and nanoformulations for the management of Leishmania infection are dealt with in a review article from Nico’s group [24], whereas the management of malaria with drugs [25] and vaccines [26] is extensively documented in two different review articles. Indeed, immunization with recombinant proteins and multiantigen antimalaria vaccines have shown promising results in several clinical trials, which are discussed in detail in the review from Rovero’s group [26]. The management of babesia, amoeba, and other zoonotic diseases provoked by protozoans are discussed by Capasso and Supuran [27], whereas drugs for the treatment of Trichomonas, giardia, toxoplasma, and other ‘minor’ protozoan infections: are dealt with in a paper by Guglielmi [28]. Carradori presents a detailed review on emerging strategies to design new anti-Trypanosoma brucei agents [29].
Association of Helicobacter pylori and protozoal parasites in patients with chronic diarrhoea
Published in British Journal of Biomedical Science, 2018
J Yakoob, Z Abbas, R Khan, K Tariq, S Awan, MA Beg
Helicobacter pylori is a common Gram negative bacterium associated with infection of the stomach, and which causes gastritis, peptic ulcer, carcinoma and lymphoma [9]. Locally, H. pylori seroprevalence in children aged 11–15 years of 54% is linked with age and poor socioeconomic condition [10–12], a figure very close to the prevalence of intestinal parasites [2], leading to the strong likelihood of co-infection. The gastrointestinal tract is populated by commensal bacteria that influence the behaviour of the protozoan parasites with which they directly interact. H. pylori may influence the presence, virulence and pathophysiology of parasitic protozoan infections.
Related Knowledge Centers
- African Trypanosomiasis
- Eukaryote
- Malaria
- Parasitic Disease
- Amoebiasis
- Motility
- Medical Classification