African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic disease of humans and other animals. It is caused by protozoa of the species Trypanosoma brucei. There are two types that infect humans, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (TbG) and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (TbR). TbG causes over 98% of reported cases. Both are usually transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly and are most common in rural areas.
Kinetoplastida is a group of flagellated protists belonging to the phylum Euglenozoa, and characterised by the presence of an organelle with a large massed DNA called kinetoplast. The organisms are commonly referred to as "kinetoplastids" or "kinetoplasts" The group includes a number of parasites responsible for serious diseases in humans and other animals, as well as various forms found in soil and aquatic environments. Their distinguishing feature, the presence of a kinetoplast, is an unusual DNA-containing granule located within the single mitochondrion associated with the base of the cell's flagella. The kinetoplast contains many copies of the mitochondrial genome.
Tsetse, sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus Glossina, which are placed in their own family, Glossinidae. The tsetse are obligate parasites that live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals. Tsetse have been extensively studied because of their role in transmitting disease. They have a prominent economic impact in sub-Saharan Africa as the biological vectors of trypanosomes, which cause human sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiasis. Tsetse are multivoltine and long-lived, typically producing about four broods per year, and up to 31 broods over their lifespans.
Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseases occur in other animals.
Melarsoprol is a medication used for the treatment of sleeping sickness. It is specifically used for second-stage disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense when the central nervous system is involved. For Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, the medication eflornithine is usually preferred. It is effective in about 95% of people. It is given by injection into a vein.
Trypanosoma evansi is a species of excavate trypanosome in the genus Trypanosoma that causes one form of surra in animals. It has been proposed that T. evansi is—like T. equiperdum—a derivative of T. brucei. Due to this loss of part of the mitochondrial (kinetoplast) DNA T. evansi is not capable of infecting the invertebrate vector and establishing the subsequent life-stages. Due to its mechanical transmission T. evansi is not restricted to transmission via the tsetse fly but shows a very broad vector specificity including the genera Tabanus, Stomoxys, Haematopota, Chrysops and Lyperosia.
It rarely causes disease in humans, indeed, it has only been recorded in cases where the patient lacks a normal component of human serum, Apolipoprotein L1. T. evansi is very common in India and Iran and causes acute disease in camels and horses, and chronic disease in cattle and buffalo. In Pakistan, it has been found to be the most prevalent trypanosome species in donkeys.
Surra is a disease of vertebrate animals. The disease is caused by protozoan trypanosomes, specifically Trypanosoma evansi, of several species which infect the blood of the vertebrate host, causing fever, weakness, and lethargy which lead to weight loss and anemia. In some animals the disease is fatal unless treated.
Trypanosoma suis is a species of excavate trypanosome in the genus Trypanosoma that causes one form of the surra disease in animals. It infects pigs. It does not infect humans.
Animal trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana and nagana pest, or sleeping sickness, is a disease of vertebrates. The disease is caused by trypanosomes of several species in the genus Trypanosoma such as Trypanosoma brucei. Trypanosoma vivax causes nagana mainly in West Africa, although it has spread to South America. The trypanosomes infect the blood of the vertebrate host, causing fever, weakness, and lethargy, which lead to weight loss and anemia; in some animals the disease is fatal unless treated. The trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse flies.
Pneumocystis jirovecii is a yeast-like fungus of the genus Pneumocystis. The causative organism of Pneumocystis pneumonia, it is an important human pathogen, particularly among immunocompromised hosts. Prior to its discovery as a human-specific pathogen, P. jirovecii was known as P. carinii.
In epidemiology, a disease vector is any agent who carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism; most agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as intermediate parasites or microbes, but it could be an inanimate medium of infection such as dust particles.
Trypanosoma congolense is a species of trypanosomes and is the major pathogen responsible for the disease nagana in cattle and other animals including sheep, pigs, goats, horses and camels, dogs, as well as laboratory mice. It is the most common cause of nagana in east Africa, but is also a major cause of nagana in west Africa. This parasite is spread by tsetse flies. In its mammalian host, Trypanosoma congolense only lives in blood vessels, and causes in particular anaemia.
Trypanosoma antiquus is an extinct species of kinetoplastid, a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa.
Antonio Carini (1872–1950) was an Italian physician, bacteriologist and professor. He worked in the public health services of São Paulo, Brazil for over forty years.
Carini showed that rabies of herbivores could be transmitted by bats, and discovered a parasite, which causes pneumocystosis.
Trypanosoma lewisi is a parasite of Rattus species and other rodents such as mice and kangaroo rats in America. Among these host species were two endemic species of rats: Rattus macleari and Rattus nativitatis. Both are now believed to be extinct. It is not very clear whether or not the same parasite infected both species. However, both parasites are very similar. The northern rat flea, Nosopsyllus fasciatus acts as the vector for the parasite, harboring the epimastigote stage in its midgut. The trypomastigote is the stage that is present in the main host, the rodent. The epimastigote form attaches itself to the rectum of the insect using its flagella to burrow through the rectal walls. The parasites also appear in the flea's feces. Ingestion of either the flea or its feces during grooming infects the host rodent with the parasites. T. lewisi is normally non-pathogenic but is known to have produced fatal infections in rats.
In biology, a pathogen, in the oldest and broadest sense, is anything that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ.
