[Mansonelliasis in the southeast Venezuelan Orinoquia region]. / Mansonelosis en el area Sur-oriental de la Orinoquia Venezolana.

Physical exam and skin biopsy were performed and peripheral blood samples drawn from 10% of the inhabitants of 26 jungle villages of the State of Bolívar, Venezuela. One hundred and fifty three Indians and an inhabitant of mixed blood from 13 different communities were found to be infected with mansonelliasis representing a global index of 36.40% in the endemic area. The parasitosis was found to be concentrated in three areas. The largest, located in the southwest of the country and forming part of an extent infected area embarking neighboring parts of Venezuela and Brazil, contains villages with a parasite index of 80.76% and 94.44%. A second focus is located in the southeast, its carriers, as those of the first, are infected with Mansonella ozzardi. In a third, central eastern focus infections with Mansonella pertans were found. The patients infected with M. ozzardi were apparently asymptomatic and their physical exam was normal, even though individual parasite densities up to 30,000 microfilariae/ml blood and 22,000/gr skin were found.

Onchocerciasis endemic in the State of Bolivar, Venezuela.

Microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus were demonstrated by single shoulder-skin biopsy in 42.8% of inhabitants of seven Amerindian villages in an area of approximately 10,000 km2, near the Brasilian Roraima Territory. The highest prevalence was found among the Yanomama Indians of Chajuraña (84.6%, with a mean of 61.3 microfilariae per mg of skin). The six other communities were affected, but with lower prevalence and microfilaria skin densities. The absence of lymphoedema and the few subcutaneous nodules and eye lesions found among the infected individuals suggest a relatively recent introduction of the disease to the region. Mansonella ozzardi infections were also detected in the area.

Microfilaria bolivarensis: a new species of filaria from man in Venezuela.

An unsheathed microfilaria, unlike any other already described from man, was found in thick blood smears and Knott samples taken from Amerinds living along the upper Caura River in Bolivar State, Venezuela. The mirofilaria, which measures 256 x 7-8 micrometers in thick blood smears and 300 x 8 micrometers in Knott samples, is easily differentiated morphologically from Mansonella ozzardi with which it often occurs concomitantly. It is readily differentiated, on morphological criteria, from all other species of filariae which infect man, as well. The parasite has been named Microfilaria bolivarensis after the geographical locality in which it was discovered.

Mansonella ozzardi infections in Indians of the Southwestern part of the state of Bolivar, Venezuela.

Mansonella ozzardi infections were found in 80/139 (58%) of Indians living in the forest of the upper Caura River Basin located in the southwestern part of Bolivar State, Venezuela. In four (3%) of the blood samples a second type of microfilaria which could not be identified was also found.

Fruiting organs of Cladosporium werneckii.

Submerged mycelia of a strain of Cladosporium werneckii isolated from tinea nigra palmaris, when cultured on enriched corn-meal agar media, developed fruiting bodies resembling perithecia.

The molecular complexity of mu and pi symbiont DNA of Paramecium aurelia.

The molecular size of mu and pi symbionts of Parameciumaurelia has been calculated from renaturation kinetic data. Observed values were 0.78 x 10(9) daltons for mu particle DNA and 0.81 x 10(9) daltons for pi particle DNA. Estimates of analytical complexity were 4.45 x 10(9) and 5.05 x 10(9) daltons respectively. Based on these data, mu and pi symbionts appear to possess multiple genomes and contain a minimum of 5 or 6 copies of each DNA sequence.