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In preparation for the upcoming World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day on January 30, I will tweet about the different countries that we are researching the devastating effects of NTDs. @mebottazzi @PeterHotez #NTD #WorldNTDDay
First up is my home country of the United States of America. The USA has areas of poverty and issues with sanitation that allow the spread of tropical diseases.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/01/22/959204833/why-it-can-be-harder-to-fight-hookworms-in-alabama-than-in-argentina
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/30/the-heavy-toll-of-the-black-belts-wastewater-crisis https://www.vice.com/en/article/pa5wdg/scientists-raised-the-alarm-about-hookworm-in-alabama-a-year-ago-the-state-has-done-little-about-it
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/01/22/959204833/why-it-can-be-harder-to-fight-hookworms-in-alabama-than-in-argentina
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/30/the-heavy-toll-of-the-black-belts-wastewater-crisis https://www.vice.com/en/article/pa5wdg/scientists-raised-the-alarm-about-hookworm-in-alabama-a-year-ago-the-state-has-done-little-about-it
Our Alabama study detected a third of Alabamians that have poor access to proper sanitation had hookworm, a dangerous parasite causing blood loss. @MckennaMeg1 @patriciaebryan @RebeccaJeun @mebottazzi @PeterHotez @CathFlowers
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/97/5/article-p1623.xml
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/97/5/article-p1623.xml
Next in Central Texas we detected 16.5% of people with inadequate sanitation were infected with Strongyloides stercoralis, a parasite that can migrate into multiple organs causing death. @SingerSays @TeenaXuMD @nicosherrera @villarmj96 @PeterHotez https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/102/6/article-p1386.xml
In Houston, Texas we associated Strongyloidiasis with activation of eosinophils and subsequent intestinal inflammation in solid-organ transplant patients. @EvaClarkMD @Strongylady @karlajbautista_ @a5hi5h
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/71/10/e580/5802673
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/71/10/e580/5802673
Also in Texas, we reported our experience diagnosing and treating patients with the brain parasite, Taenia solium, that causes neurocysticercosis. @BCM_TropMed
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/92/6/article-p1261.xml
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/92/6/article-p1261.xml
Heading north to Maryland, we detected 25% of people living with HIV were co-infected with the Strongyloides parasite, we also showed that eosinophilia is a good biomarker for strongyloidiasis and for post-treatment test of cure.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047773212Y.0000000031?journalCode=ypgh20
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047773212Y.0000000031?journalCode=ypgh20
In neighboring Washington D.C. we detected 5% of clinic patients infected with Strongyloides. I was honored to work with Mary’s Center, a hub that combines health,
social and educational services to a large group of immigrants. @Grace_Ostera @RebeccaJeun https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-helminthology/article/abs/strongyloidiasis-in-latin-american-immigrants-a-pilot-study/88B89300F0B1EC1E50F2CC40B6D71A30
social and educational services to a large group of immigrants. @Grace_Ostera @RebeccaJeun https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-helminthology/article/abs/strongyloidiasis-in-latin-american-immigrants-a-pilot-study/88B89300F0B1EC1E50F2CC40B6D71A30
Also in the DMV region, we started our work on perilesional edema that occurs in calcifications in neurocysticercosis. Indicating an immune mediated response to residual parasite antigen.
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/89/5/article-p919.xml?tab_body=fulltext
https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/89/5/article-p919.xml?tab_body=fulltext
Also in Maryland, we were able to describe one of the first stem cell transplant contaminated with the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. This parasite causes malaria and kills hundreds of thousands a year.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2012.03673.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2012.03673.x
In Chicago, we detected 12% of an at-risk population was infected with a pathogenic parasite. Intersting we also found the presence of Blastocysits, a heterokont parasite that is a marker of exposure. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-020-06608-4
and most recently in New York City, we associated Toxocara contamination in city parks with poorer boroughs. The parasite Toxocara can cause blindness, pulmonary, and neurological problems. @ToxocaraProject @dwmccormick @PeterHotez
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-020-06608-4
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-020-06608-4
These 10 publications are the beginning of our work in the USA. NTDs are a major problem in the USA and are unmasking a deeper issue with inadequate sanitation and marginalization of our population.
Special thanks to all the co-authors, collaborators, and friends on these studies. A big thank you to @mcuban @alexosh @costplusdrugs that are helping to solve these issues alongside @BCM_TropMed.
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