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Category: publications

Mapping Schistosoma mansoni endemicity in Rwanda: a critical assessment of geographical disparities arising from circulating cathodic antigen versus Kato-Katz diagnostics

Donna Huber on September 30, 2019

Background Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by Schistosoma parasites. Intervention relies on identifying high-risk regions, yet rapid Schistosoma diagnostics (Kato-Katz stool assays (KK) and circulating cathodic antigen urine assays (CCA)) yield different prevalence estimates. We mapped S. mansoni prevalence and delineated at-risk regions using a survey of schoolchildren in Rwanda, where Schistosoma mansoni is an endemic parasite. We asked if different diagnostics …

Metabolic dependency of chorismate in Plasmodium falciparum suggests an alternative source for the ubiquinone biosynthesis precursor

Donna Huber on September 26, 2019

The shikimate pathway, a metabolic pathway absent in humans, is responsible for the production of chorismate, a branch point metabolite. In the malaria parasite, chorismate is postulated to be a direct precursor in the synthesis of p-aminobenzoic acid (folate biosynthesis), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (ubiquinone biosynthesis), menaquinone, and aromatic amino acids. While the potential value of the …

Humoral immunity prevents clinical malaria during Plasmodium relapses without eliminating gametocytes

Donna Huber on September 19, 2019

Plasmodium relapses are attributed to the activation of dormant liver-stage parasites and are responsible for a significant number of recurring malaria blood-stage infections. While characteristic of human infections caused by P. vivax and P. ovale, their relative contribution to malaria disease burden and transmission remains poorly understood. This is largely because it is difficult to identify ‘bona fide’ relapse infections due …

Is reliance on an inaccurate genome sequence sabotaging your experiments?

Donna Huber on September 12, 2019

Advances in genomics have made whole genome studies increasingly feasible across the life sciences. However, new technologies and algorithmic advances do not guarantee flawless genomic sequences or annotation. Bias, errors, and artifacts can enter at any stage of the process from library preparation to annotation. When planning an experiment that utilizes a genome sequence as …

Accessing Cryptosporidium Omic and Isolate Data via CryptoDB.org

Donna Huber on August 27, 2019

Cryptosporidium has historically been a difficult organism to work with, and molecular genomic data for this important pathogen have typically lagged behind other prominent protist pathogens. CryptoDB ( http://cryptodb.org/ ) was launched in 2004 following the appearance of draft genome sequences for both C. parvum and C. hominis. CryptoDB merged with the EuPathDB Bioinformatics Resource …

Protozoan persister-like cells and drug treatment failure

Donna Huber on August 23, 2019

Antimicrobial treatment failure threatens our ability to control infections. In addition to antimicrobial resistance, treatment failures are increasingly understood to derive from cells that survive drug treatment without selection of genetically heritable mutations. Parasitic protozoa, such as Plasmodium species that cause malaria, Toxoplasma gondii and kinetoplastid protozoa, including Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmaniaspp., cause millions of deaths globally. These organisms can evolve drug …

Enteropathogen antibody dynamics and force of infection among children in low-resource settings

Donna Huber on August 19, 2019

Little is known about enteropathogen seroepidemiology among children in low-resource settings. We measured serological IgG responses to eight enteropathogens (Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Entamoeba histolytica, Salmonella enterica, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Campylobacter jejuni, norovirus) in cohorts from Haiti, Kenya, and Tanzania. We studied antibody dynamics and force of infection across pathogens and cohorts. Enteropathogens shared common …

Five-Year Impact of Different Multi-Year Mass Drug Administration Strategies on Childhood Schistosoma mansoni-Associated Morbidity: A Combined Analysis from the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation Cohort Studies in the Lake Victoria Regions of Kenya and Tanzania

Donna Huber on August 12, 2019

The WHO recommends mass treatment with praziquantel as the primary approach for Schistosoma mansoni-related morbidity control in endemic populations. The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation implemented multi-country, cluster-randomized trials to compare effectiveness of community-wide and school-based treatment (SBT) regimens on prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis. To assess the impact of two different treatment schedules …

Robust continuous in vitro culture of the Plasmodium cynomolgi erythrocytic stages

Donna Huber on August 12, 2019

The ability to culture pathogenic organisms substantially enhances the quest for fundamental knowledge and the development of vaccines and drugs. Thus, the elaboration of a protocol for the in vitro cultivation of the erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum revolutionized research on this important parasite. However, for P. vivax, the most widely distributed and difficult to …

Isolation and characterization of antiplasmodial constituents from the marine sponge Coscinoderma sp.

Donna Huber on August 6, 2019

Six known compounds, namely two halisulfates 1 and 2 and four epidioxy sterols 3–6, were isolated from the marine sponge Coscinoderma sp. The structures of these compounds were confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR) spectroscopy, and their antiplasmodial activities were determined against the chloroquine-resistant Dd2 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The epidioxy steroids 3–6 all showed moderate to weak antiplasmodial activity, with IC50 values of …