Published Date: 1999-07-11 23:50:00
Subject: PRO> Trypanosomiasis? - Sri Lanka (03)
Archive Number: 19990711.1161
TRYPANOSOMIASIS? - SRI LANKA (04)
*********************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.healthnet.org/programs/promed.html>
See Also
Trypanosomiasis? - Sri Lanka (02) 990707230826Trypanosomiasis? - Sri Lanka: RFI 990707004230
[1
Date: Thu 8 Jul 1999
From: Fernando Dias de Avila Pires <favila@matrix.com.br>
I recall a similar incident in Peru, some twenty years ago. The malaria
people found a Trypanosome in a slide with a sample of blood from a region
where no trypanosomiasis had been recorded previously. It was _Trypanosoma
lewisi_.
_T.lewisi_ is found in rats (_Rattus rattus_, _R.norvegicus_, and related
species), common everywhere, specially in Asia. Transmitted by fleas, not
pathogenic, and occasionally found in man, but causing no harm. I have used
it in the classroom to demonstrate the mechanism of infection, as there is
no risk of contaminating maladroit students.
The Peruvian case was not published, but I found my field notes. A malaria
technician from Lambayeque found it on a routine examination of slides in
November 1972. A party was sent by the director of the Zona de Salud Piura
y Tumbes to check on it. At the time, El Nino was playing its tricks, and
the desert was green, with rodents, mosquitos, etc. multiplying freely. The
slide was at the [health post Area de Salud de Chiclayo. From there we
proceeded to Ferrenafe, where the boy had been taken and kept at the local
hospital. He had discharged himself and returned to his village on the
Andean slope, about two hours climbing from Ferrenafe.
His village, Montecarlo, was located near the border of Lambayeque and
Cajamarca, across the river Sangana. Montecarlo was a dilapidated farm with
four houses. (We slept at the "farmhouse", a crumbling building with no
windows or furniture, but with a rotting spectacle bear skin on the open
verandah wall). The first person we met was the young man. We found one
'barbeiro' [cone-nosed bug of the family _Reduviidae_, vector of American
trypanosomiasis - Mod.JW in one of the houses, but somebody misplaced it
before it could be identified.
Chagas' disease [only occurs thousands of kilometers to the south. We
never heard of the case again. Back at the hospital in Chiclayo we talked
with the local doctor, who stated that it had been an isolated and
accidental event. That day the good doctor was taking care of some
"guerrilleros" arrested higher up the mountains.
Good old times!
--
Prof. Dr. Fernando Dias de Avila Pires
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/UFSC
Rua Bico de Lacre, 79
88050-150 Florianopolis, SC, BRASIL
e-mail: favila@matrix.com.br
***
[2
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:22:10 -0300
From: Carlos Brisola Marcondes <cbrisola@mbox1.ufsc.br>
What trypanosomes have been found in that region? Couldn't _T. evansi_ have
been transmitted by horse flies to the herdsman? Perhaps a _Chrysops_,
which [often attacks [humans.
According to Hoare (1972- 'Trypanosomes of mammals'), _T. theileri_ occurs
in many regions, including India, but experimental infections in other
animals than cattle failed; flies and ticks were suspected as mechanical
vectors. _T. brucei brucei_ and similar species have been found in several
animals; [but experimental inoculations of man were 'almost' absolutely
negative.
--
Carlos Brisola Marcondes
UFSC
Florianopolis (SC)
Brazil
e-mail: cbrisola@mbox1.ufsc.br
***
[3
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 00:56:32 +0000
From: Nick Honhold <nick@plewland.demon.co.uk>
_T. evansi_ is also known to cause disease in domestic buffalos in Asia and
here in Nepal is also reported as affecting cattle, usually milking cattle
of Friesian/Holstein origin. Not common here but not uncommon either,
mostly seen in low lying humid areas. Cattle can also be a reservoir of
infection. It is spread by biting flies. Control is
difficult as there is no specific vector and the reservoir is large and
various. It tends to occur as outbreaks, often with a seasonal incidence,
perhaps stress related. Treatment is described in standard texts. I've not
heard of human cases, but in immune suppressed individuals I would guess it
could cause disease.
My guess is that the report is of _T. evansi_ which wouldn't be unexpected
in the region. It is probably a one-off [unique occurence so controlis not
an issue and treatment should be feasible, though I'm not surewhich
trypanocides work in humans. The best thing to do may be to contact the
local veterinary services for advice.
--
Nick Honhold
EC/HMGN SVSLDC Project
PO Box 11562
Veterinary Complex
Tripureswor, Kathmandu, Nepal
e-mail: gregory@ceu.wlink.com.np
***
[4
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 16:58:41 +0100
From: <dglcv@datatech.toolnet.org>
I would suggest inoculating mice with the blood of the patient for further
differentiation. Tsetse flies being absent from Asia I believe it is a
non-tsetse transmitted tryp. Those are _T.evansi_, _T.vivax_, _T.cruzi_ and
_T.equiperdum_.
_T.vivax_ infects mainly ruminants.
_T.evansi_ infects camels in Africa but a wider range of hosts in Asia e.g.
water buffaloes,pigs cattle, sheep and goats etc. [What species was the
Sri Lankan herding? - Mod.JW
_T.equiperdum_ affects equines and is sexually transmitted.
_T.cruzi_ causes Chagas' disease which is common in South America.
If the parasite can be isolated and grown there are nowadays enough methods
which distinguish the different species.
--
Dr O.Diall
Central Vet. Lab.
Bamako, Mali
pobox 2295
e-mail: dglcv@datatech.toolnet.org
******
[5
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 23:06:14 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Jean DUPOUY-CAMET <dupouyca@imaginet.fr>
In the reference book "Precis de Parasitologie" published in Paris in 1949,
Brumpt reports the finding of trypanosomes by P.O. Johnson in 1933 in a
Malaysian baby . These trypanosomes observed during 5 days, were
morphologically similar to _Trypanosoma lewisi_, but inoculation into rats
failed.
Brumpt also reports that he found in 1909 a new species (_Trypanosoma
vickersae_) in _Macacus cynomolgus_ imported from Malaysia. This species
was morphologically similar to _T. cruzi_. He succeeded in infecting other
Asian monkeys, rats, mice, a dog and guinea-pigs. According to Brumpt, this
same parasite was described a few years later by Terry, in the Rockefeller
Institute in New York, in 28 out of 130 _Macacus rhesus_. This parasite was
also found by Sergent in _Macacus sinicus_ in 1921. Malamos, in
Hamburg (1934), observed this parasite in several _Macacus cynomolgus_
imported from Java and he was successful in infecting _Triatoma infestans_.
He also obtained intracellular forms in mammals muscles. Volunteer patients
with cancer could be infected by this strain. Brumpt concludes that this
species (_Trypanosoma vickersae_) could be an Asian strain of _T. cruzi_
but with an unknown mechanism of transmission to monkeys.
The case described by Dr. Rajan Rajasingham could be due to such strains
and it will be interesting to go back to the patient to obtain the isolate
and to carry out surveys in the macaques of the region.
--
Pr Jean DUPOUY-CAMET (MD, PhD)
Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie UPRES EA 2499
Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire COCHIN PORT-ROYAL,
Université RENE DESCARTES
27 Fbrg St Jacques, 75014, Paris, France
e-mail: dupouyca@imaginet.fr
[This is what ProMED-mail is all about -- a query comes in from Sri Lanka
and within a couple of days expert advice appears from Brazil, France,
Nepal, and Mali! - Mod.JW
.......................................jw/es
--
*##########################################################*
ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that
are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the
information, and of any statements or opinions based
thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in
using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID
and its associated service providers shall not be held
responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any
damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted
or archived material.
************************************************************
Visit ProMED-mail's web site at <http://www.promedmail.org>.
Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org
(NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your
full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send
commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help,
etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a
human being send mail to: owner-promed@promedmail.org.
############################################################
############################################################