Detection of Mansonella ozzardi among blood donors from highly endemic interior cities of Amazonas state, northern Brazil.

BACKGROUND: In the Brazilian Amazon, the filarial nematode Mansonella ozzardi co-exists with malaria parasites and thick blood smear microscopy is considered the diagnostic gold standard. Transfusion of M. ozzardi microfilariae does not establish new infections, however microfilariae can survive approximately 2 years in blood-recipients with unknown risk of pathology. Data on transfusion-transmitted filariasis are lacking. This study investigated M. ozzardi parasitemias in blood donors from decentralized centers of "Fundação Hematologia e Hemoterapia do Estado do Amazonas/HEMOAM," Northern Brazil. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional investigation employing blood smear microscopy (n = 356) and qualitative nested-M. ozzardi-PCR (227 out of 356) in donor candidates from 19 hemocenters in interior/rural municipalities of Amazonas state. FINDINGS: Participants were mostly young males. Positivity by microscopy was 7.9% (28 out of 356) and 23.8% by M. ozzardi-PCR (54 out of 227). Parasitaemias were found in 16 out of 19 municipalities. In 54 M. ozzardi-positives, 24 were ineligible; among 30 that donated, 27 were interdicted by seropositivity (22 anti-HBc, 3 anti-HBc + HBsAg, 1 Chagas+malaria, 1 VDRL). Seropositivty was higher in M. ozzardi-PCR-positives vs M. ozzardi-PCR-negatives (OR = 15.8, 95% CI 4.5-56.1, p < 0.0001). Three M. ozzardi contaminated blood units were transfused, but no follow-up information on the recipients is available. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides important baseline data on M. ozzardi among blood donors from the Brazilian Amazon. Further investigations in endemic areas are necessary to clarify possible association between M. ozzardi and other infections and also to elucidate whether there is any significant clinical effect upon transfusion of contaminated blood.

Onchocercosis mansonella co-infection presenting as a subcutaneous nodule in a child.

A 11-year-old girl presented with a subcutaneous lesion on the forehead, thought to be an implantation dermoid cyst. Microscopic examination revealed an onchocercoma. Microfilariae were found in the blood indicating a co-infection with Mansonella perstans. This case demonstrates the diagnostic difficulties of a parasitic co-infection uncommonly encountered in Europe.

Pigmentación grisácea persistente en un niño / Persistent grayish pigmentation in a child

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An unexpected guest in follicular fluid.

Parasitic infection as the only or concomitant cause of infertility in Caucasian women is rare. A parasitic infection may also present itself quite unexpectedly as a coincidental finding as shown with this case report. Moving microfilariae of Mansonella perstans were found in the aspirated follicular fluid of a patient who underwent in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with embryo transfer because of tubal pathology due to Chlamydia trachomatis. The patient also appeared to have a Schistosoma infection. To our knowledge, the presence of parasites in follicular fluid has never been reported before. We expect that infertility physicians may be confronted with parasitic infections more often, not only in patients originating from tropical countries but also in Western women as a result of a tendency to travel more frequently to exotic and (sub)tropical countries.

Filariasis en Colombia: prevalencia de Mansonella ozzardi en el Departamento del Meta, Intendencia del Casanare y Comisaria del Vichada / Filarial infections in Colombia: prevalence of Mansonella ozzardi in Meta, Casanare and Vichada

Se determinaron la prevalencia y la distribucion de filariasis entre los habitantes de regiones vecinas en el Departamento del Meta, la Intendencia del Casanare y la Comisaria del Vichada, en el oriente colombiano, mediante la recoleccion de muestras de sangre y su examen con el metodo de Knott. La Mansonella Ozzardi, la unica especie descubierta, se encontro en 2.5% de las muestras obtenidas en el Meta (6/243), en 4.9% de las de Casanare (12/247) y en 2.5% del Vichada (3/137). Todos los casos de microfilarias eran de indios que habian migrado de otras partes del oriente de Colombia, sobre todo del interior de Meta y Vichada. Estos resultados indican que las filariasis no son endemicas en las regiones examinadas y sugieren que la entrada de portadores con microfilaremias suficientemente altas pueden establecer focos nuevos de transmision en areas donde los vectores apropiados sean abundantes

Susceptibility of laboratory primates to infection with Mansonella ozzardi from man.

The study was undertaken to determine primates were susceptible to infection with Caribbean and/or Amazon strains of Mansonella ozzardi of man. Twenty-three animals including three chimpanzees, four squirrel monkeys, one capuchin, five rhesus and 10 patas monkeys each received, by subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection, 25-170 infective larvae of M. ozzardi harvested either from infected Culicoides furens collected in Haiti or Simulium sp. (sanguineum complex) collected in the Colombian Amazon and transported to our laboratories in Louisiana. Patent infections were obtained in seven of 10 patas monkeys but not in any other species of primates. The prepatent period ranged in duration from 149-186 days with a mean of 168 days. All of the patas monkeys developed modest microfilaremias that persisted for as long as 1 year, the duration of our observations. Adult worms were obtained at necropsy from three of four patas monkeys. The worms were recovered from soakings of the carcass and skin rather than from the abdominal cavity and mesenteries. However, their precise habitat was not determined.

Mansonella ozzardi (Filaria tucumana) en la Republica Argentina: revision y encuesta preliminar en la Provincia de Salta / Mansonella ozzardi (Filaria tucumana) at the Republic of Argentina: review and survey at the Province of Salta

Despues de una revision de las publicaciones argentinas sobre MANSONELLA OZZARDI se informan los resultados preliminares de una encuesta en busca de microfilarias de este parasito. Se examinaron 336 varones entre 18 y 24 anos de edad incorporados al Servicio Militar de la Provincia de Salta, Republica Argentina (casi 0.6% del total de los varones en ese grupo etario en la provincia). Se examino un mililitro de sangre concentrada segun el metodo de Knott. Aunque la tercera parte de ellos provenia de la zona oriental de la provincia donde se habian descrito areas endemicas, no se observo infeccion en ningun individuo. Los resultados negativos quizas se deben al pequeno numero de personas examinadas provenientes de regiones de endemicidad o a que se interrumpio la transmision de M.OZZARDI. Se continuara la busqueda de la "microfilaria tucumana" en zonas especificas de Salta, Jujuy y Tucuman y en hogares de ancianos en la ciudad de Salta

Vectores de Onchocerca volvulus y Mansonella ozzardi en Colombia / Onchocerca volvulus and Mansonella ozzardi vectors in Colombia

Los estudios en el foco colombiano de oncocercosis del Rio Micay demostraron que el desarrollo de las microfilarias de Onchocerca volvulus hasta el estadio infectivo tuvo lugar en ejemplares de Simulium Exiguum que se habian alimentado en voluntarios con infecciones naturales. Sin embargo, fue comun observar un desarrollo demorado del parasito y aproximadamente 25% de las larvas tenian una apariencia anormal. Se considera a S. Exiguum, el unico Simulium que se colecto picando al hombre durante 6 visitas al area, como el unico vector de oncocercosis en el Rio Micay aun cuando su eficiencia sea algo reducida. Algunas especies de Simulium de los grupos S. amazonicum y S. sanguineum sirven como huespedes intermediarios y probables vectores de Mansonella ozzardi en 3 regiones endemicas de Colombia. En Puerto Palacios (Rio Arquia, Antioquia), el desarrollo de la microfilaria de M. Ozzardi hasta el estadio infectivo ocurrio en S. sanguineum que habia comido sobre voluntarios con infecciones naturales. El desarrollo en S. Exiguum, la especie que se capturo mas comunmente, no paso del primer estadio en mas de 400 ejemplares de la misma area. En Santa Marta (cerca a Mitu, Vaupes), una especie aparentemente no descrita del grupo S. sanguineum demostro ser un buen huesped intermediario para M. ozzardi y fue el unico Simulido que se obtuvo picando al hombre durante la estacion seca..

Extended cryopreservation of Mansonella ozzardi microfilariae concentrated from human peripheral blood.

Microfilariae of Mansonella ozzardi, concentrated from human blood, frozen with a cryoprotectant chemical, and stored at liquid or vapor-phase liquid nitrogen temperatures were motile when thawed after 2.5 years of preservation.