Recognition of Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae antigens by sera from human infected with this parasite and its potential use in diagnosis.

Human antibody response to total soluble extract of Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae (TSE) was analyzed by Western blot. The most frequently recognized antigens had molecular weights of 96, 67, 63, 60, 55 and 47 kDa. An antigenic fraction containing two peptides with M.W. of 43, 47 kDa from the parasite (p43, 47 Ts L1) was isolated by elution from polyacrylamide gel slabs. It was used as antigen in an ELISA test and compared to that of TSE. Serum samples from 51 symptomatic trichinellosis patients--43 with high antibody levels to TSE, 5 of them with positive biopsy and 8 with low levels of these antibodies--as well as 38 from asymptomatic individuals from the area where the trichinellosis outbreaks had occurred and 43 from apparently healthy individuals from a non-endemic area, 37 from patients with intestinal parasitic infections caused by helminth and protozoan parasites--11 from recurrent and 26 from non-recurrent disease--were analyzed by ELISA using both antigens. The ELISA using p43, 47 Ts L1 detected all trichinellosis patients with high antibody levels as well as 6 out of 8 of those with low antibody levels. All control groups were negative. Therefore, this purified fraction allowed the ELISA to be more specific and sensitive for human trichinellosis diagnosis.

[Gnathostomiasis in Mexico]. / La gnatostomiasis en México.

Since 1975, increasing numbers of patients with inflammatory, migrant, recidivant nodules were observed in the towns of Temazcal, state of Oaxaca, Tierra Blanca, Veracruz and others along the Papaloapan river. Larvae of Gnathostoma sp. have been obtained from some of them. The local species, although not completely identified, must be very close to G. spinigerum. Infection is related to ingestion of "ceviche", a very popular mexican delicacy made with raw Cyclid fishes of the Miguel Aleman dam. Ecological and social changes provoked by the construction of the dam and hypotheticaly related to the dissemination of the parasite are described. As the Temazcal Fish Culture Center has delivered tilapia fishes to many secondary culture centers, it is feared that the infection could spread through the country, so signs and symptoms of the disease are described in order to help Mexican doctors make the diagnosis if they were to encounter the disease.

Cuatro nuevos casos de triquinosis aguda en Naucalpan.Consideraciones sobre la frecuencia real de la enfermedad n Mexico / Four new cases of acute trichinosis in Naucalpan. Considerations about the real frequency of the disease in Mexico

Se comunica el descubrimiento de cuatro casos de triquinosis en la zona de Ciudad Satelite, Estado de Mexico. En una familia se presento un caso aislado y en otra tres todos simultaneos debido posiblemente a la exposicion a la misma de infeccion, aunque esta no pude identificarse. A proposito de estos hallazgos se revisa la sintomatologia de la enfermedad subrayando los sintomas y signos de interes diagnostico y los examenes que el medico puede utilizar para confirmala. Se exponen argumentos para apoyar la hipotesis de que su incidencia es mas frecuente en nuestro medio de lo que habitualmente se supone, pues no se incluye como posibilidad diagnostica entre los cuadros febriles agudos

Urna olmeca que podria representar la leishmaniasis tegumentaria diseminada / An olmec figure representing diffuse skin leishmaninasis

En el museo Carlos Pellicer de Villahermosa existe una urna olmeca del periodo preclasico con "lesiones cutaneas" que podrian reproducir la leishmaniasis tegumentaria difusa. Se exponen las razones que hacen considerar mas probable que se trate de esta enfermedad y no de diversos padecimientos o de otras cosas que tambien podrian representarse asi. Hay dos pequenas esculturas mas de este mismo pueblo que se pueden interpretar como imagenes de otras formas de esta misma enfermedad. En varias culturas mesoamericanas y aun andinas existen figuras semejantes, algunas de las cuales, del altiplano mexicano, se consideran imagenes de Nanahuatzin, el Dios Buboso. Se sugiere la posibilidad de que se hayan originado en representaciones realistas de esta enfermedad procedentes de regiones de endemia leishmaniasica. Debido a la similitud clinica de sus lesiones, si la leishmaniasis tegumentaria diseminada existio en America Precolombina, esto implicaria entre otras cosas que la presencia de lepra en esos pueblos solo podria probarse encontrando en huesos o en momias lesiones patologicas inconfundiblemente debidas a este padecimiento. Es muy probable que en las poblaciones pequenas de Mexico, incluso actualmente, muchos enfermos de leishmaniasis tegumentaria diseminada sean considerados leprosos, como sucedio en Etiopia

The mechanism of the paralysing action of tetramisole on Ascaris somatic muscle.

1. Tetramisole (100 mug/ml) paralysed live Ascaris in 3 min.2. Tetramisole (10 mug/ml) caused a sustained contraction of the isolated somatic muscles of the worm. This contraction was not blocked by curare nor by piperazine.3. Tetramisole reduced the resting potential of Ascaris muscle from 34+/-4 to 10+/-1 mV.4. Tetramisole caused contraction of Ascaris muscle previously depolarized with high K(+) solutions. This observation suggests that tetramisole can induce a contracture that is independent of membrane depolarization.