Human babesiosis--a case report.

Babesiosis is an emerging, tick-transmitted, zoonotic disease caused by hematotropic parasites of the genus Babesia. Most cases of Babesial infections in humans have been acquired in temperate regions of the United States, Europe, France and England. A few cases of Babesiosis have been described in other parts of the world, including China, Taiwan, Egypt, South Africa, and Mexico.1,2 We report the first case of human Babesiosis, in a normosplenic, previously healthy individual from India.

Early diagnosis of filarial pleural effusion.

This paper describes a case of pleural effusion due to filariasis. Microfilaria of Wucheraria bancrofti were detected in the pleural fluid on cytological examination. Treatment with diethylcarbamazine cleared the pleural effusion.

Deficiency of the 50 kDa dystrophin-associated-glycoprotein (adhalin) in an Indian autosomal recessive limb girdle muscular dystrophy patient : immunochemical analysis and clinical aspects.

Abnormalities of dystrophin are a common cause of muscular dystrophy and testing for dystrophin gene or protein has become a part of routine diagnostic evaluation of patients who present with progressive proximal muscle weakness, high serum creatine kinase concentrations, and histopathological evidence of a dystrophic process. Patients who have no dystrophin abnormalities are assumed to have autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy. In a family consisting of 5 sibs, 2 mentally normal brothers presented with abnormal gait and protrusion of chest and hips. Muscle biopsy from one of them showed dystrophic changes and reduced patchy binding of dystrophin. No detectable deletion was observed in the patient's DNA and his brother with cDMD probes. Dystrophin associated proteins, beta-dystroglycan showed discontinuous immunostaining in the sarcolemma and alpha-sarcoglycan (adhalin) was totally absent, while beta-, gamma-, and delta-sarcoglycans were highly reduced. Immunoblot analysis showed dystrophin of normal molecular weight but of decreased quantity, beta-dystroglycan was reduced by about 37% while alpha-sarcoglycan was completely absent. This study is a first attempt for a systematic clinical, genetic and molecular investigation of the autosomal recessive LGMD in India.