Overview of hymenolepis diminuta infection among Thai patients. (1/13)

CONTEXT: Hymenolepis diminuta infection is a very rare cestode infection. Until present, fewer than 500 cases have been observed worldwide. OBJECTIVE: The author performed a literature review on the reports of H diminuta in Thailand in order to summarize the characteristics of this infection among Thai patients. DESIGN: This study was designed as a descriptive retrospective study. A literature review of the papers concerning H diminuta infections in Thailand was performed. RESULTS: According to this study, there have been at least 6 reports in the literature of 10 individual cases of H diminuta infection, of which 1 case was lethal. Of 4 cases that documented patients' age, the ages ranged from 20 months to 55 years. Of 5 cases that documented patients' sex, 3 were males and 2 were females. Most (9/10) were asymptomatic; however, there was 1 inpatient case, concomitant with metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Antiparasitic drugs were prescribed in 3 cases: niclosamide in 2 cases and praziquantel in 1 case. The 2 patients receiving niclosamide passed the parasites after treatment. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the H diminuta infection is a rare cestode infection that is sporadically reported in Thailand. The diagnosis of H diminuta infection is usually by accident during a field survey. The prognosis outcome is usually good, and the treatment does not appear to affect outcome, as there is good survival without treatment.  (+info)

Costly resistance to parasitism: evidence from simultaneous quantitative trait loci mapping for resistance and fitness in Tribolium castaneum. (2/13)

Information on the molecular basis of resistance and the evolution of resistance is crucial to an understanding of the appearance, spread, and distribution of resistance genes and of the mechanisms of host adaptation in natural populations. One potential important genetic constraint for the evolution of resistance is fitness cost associated with resistance. To determine whether host resistance to parasite infection is associated with fitness costs, we conducted simultaneous quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping of resistance to parasite infection and fitness traits using the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) and the tapeworm parasite (Hymenolepis diminuta) system in two independent segregating populations. A genome-wide QTL scan using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers revealed three QTL for beetle resistance to tapeworm infection. These three QTL account for 44-58% variance in beetle infection intensity. We identified five QTL for fecundity and five QTL for egg-to-adult viability, which accounted for 36-57% and 36-49%, respectively, of the phenotypic variance in fecundity and egg-to-adult viability. The three QTL conferring resistance were colocalized with the QTL affecting beetle fitness. The genome regions that contain the QTL for parasite resistance explained the majority of the variance in fecundity and egg-to-adult viability in the mapping populations. Colocalization of QTL conferring resistance to parasite infection and beetle fitness may result from the pleiotropic effects of the resistance genes on host fitness or from tight linkages between resistance genes and adverse deleterious mutations. Therefore, our results provide evidence that the genome regions conferring resistance to tapeworm infection are partially responsible for fitness costs in the resistant beetle populations.  (+info)

Neutralizing anti-IL-10 antibody blocks the protective effect of tapeworm infection in a murine model of chemically induced colitis. (3/13)

There is increasing evidence that parasitic helminth infection has the ability to ameliorate other disease conditions. In this study the ability of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, to modulate dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (DNBS)-induced colitis in mice is assessed. Mice receiving DNBS (3 mg intrarectally) developed colitis by 72 h after treatment. Mice infected 8 days before DNBS with five H. diminuta larvae were significantly protected from the colitis, as gauged by reduced clinical disease, histological damage scores, and myeloperoxidase levels. This anticolitic effect was dependent on a viable infection and helminth rejection, because no benefit was observed in mice given killed larvae or in infected STAT6 knockout mice or rats, neither of which eliminate H. diminuta. The anticolitic effect of H. diminuta was associated with increased colonic IL-10 mRNA and stimulated splenocytes from H. diminuta- plus DNBS-treated mice produced more IL-10 than splenocytes from DNBS-only treated mice. Coadministration of an anti-IL-10 Ab blocked the anticolitic effect of prophylactic H. diminuta infection. Also, mice infected 48 h after DNBS treatment showed an enhanced recovery response. Finally, using a model of OVA hypersensitivity, we found no evidence of concomitant H. diminuta infection enhancing enteric responsiveness to subsequent ex vivo OVA challenge. The data show that a viable infection of H. diminuta in a nonpermissive system exerts a profound anticolitic effect (both prophylactically and as a treatment) that is mediated at least in part via IL-10 and does not predispose to enhanced sensitivity to bystander proteins.  (+info)

Hymenolepis diminuta in a child from rural area. (4/13)

We report a rare case of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in a 12-year-old girl from a rural area of Devghar.  (+info)

Increased glial-derived neurotrophic factor in the small intestine of rats infected with the tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta. (5/13)

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Infection with Hymenolepis diminuta is more effective than daily corticosteroids in blocking chemically induced colitis in mice. (6/13)

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Extracts of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, suppress macrophage activation in vitro and alleviate chemically induced colitis in mice. (7/13)

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A human case of Hymenolepis diminuta in a child from eastern Sicily. (8/13)

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