[leish-l] Re; Leishmania in Antigua

Antonio Teixeira ateixeir at unb.br
Mon Sep 19 18:17:09 BRT 2005


Dear All:

Iconoclasty isn´t my goal, but I have been reasoning about the Antiguan 
leishmania case since Bob first wrote about it a few weeks ago. In an epoch 
of huricanes here and there the climatic-environmental changes are so abrupt 
that sometimes it appears a chasm separating continents or taking them to 
proximity.  Otherwise, the human population moves around so quickly that the 
epidemics appear to come and go speedy than ever they did before. I keep 
asking myself what could make contagious, infectious disease to move around 
the world so quickly. It appears to me that unconventional means of spread 
needs to be sought, although they may not be important for the sake of 
public health. For example, all the parasites that circulate in the blood 
may show up in the body secretions. Sexual transmission of infectious 
diseases would be an item in the research's agenda of my criative colleagues 
looking for a possible source of leishmania in Antigua. How many saliva 
exchange by kisses would have to be screened with highly sensitive and 
specific biotechnology?
    Serendipity is probably an important issue that has helped the 
sicentists, although some people would prefer to call it intuition.
    Having nothingelse to say, I decided to compliment Professor Richard 
Ashford and to congratulate him for the  important remarks he brougt in the 
case under discussion. I wish you all good luck.

Sincerely,

Antonio



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Ashford" <ashford at liverpool.ac.uk>
To: "Arias, Jorge Dr." <Jorge.Arias at fairfaxcounty.gov>; <leish-l at fat.org.br>
Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2005 4:44 AM
Subject: Re: [leish-l] Re; Leishmania in Antigua


> Dear all,
>
> Interesting correspondence on the supposed Antiguan leish case.  This 
> highlights the problem of having no widely accepted molecular method for 
> describing individual infections so that they can be identified according 
> to a reliable classification.  This is where we came in, of course, some 
> thirty, or even seventy years ago.  I wonder what 'the biopsies have a 
> positive PCR for L mexicana sp complex' actually means.  Is it that the 
> PCR primers used specifically amplify bits of L. mexicana only, so that 
> any product must be L. mexicana 'sp complex', or is it that the product 
> reacted with specific probes, whether DNA or monoclonal probes?  Or is 
> that my understanding is stuck in the dark ages?
>
> I agree, and have often stated, that monoclonals and DNA probes may be 
> very valuable for eco/epidemiological work in circumstances where the 
> range of parasites present is well understood.  But for aberrant cases or 
> cases from special places, full, standardised enzyme description is 
> essential before any useful answer can be suggested.  I wonder if any 
> parasites were even seen in Rob's case?
>
> Go well,
>
> Dick
>
>
>
> --On 16 September 2005 11:11 -0400 "Arias, Jorge Dr." 
> <Jorge.Arias at fairfaxcounty.gov> wrote:
>
>> I agree with Bob Killick Kendrick in that there are no official reports
>> of either sandflies or leishmaniasis from Antigua. If the patients stay
>> on the island was brief, and it did not include the extra-urban area of
>> the island, I would pursue more travel history (Yucatan Peninsula?
>> Cancun, Cozumel, Belize?) even if it was in a previous trip in the last
>> year. There is a _mexicana_ complex parasite in the Dominican Republic
>> that causes DCL, but it is not know to cause CL.
>> In the event there is something new out there that hasn't come to light
>> yet, it may be worthwhile to contact Chris Frederickson (CAREC) at
>> frederch at carec.paho.org to see if he has seen anything new reported.
>> Keep us posted, it is interesting.
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Jorge R. Arias Ph.D.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: leish-l-admin at fat.org.br [mailto:leish-l-admin at fat.org.br] On
>> Behalf Of leish-l-request at fat.org.br
>> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 11:01 AM
>> To: leish-l at fat.org.br
>> Subject: leish-l digest, Vol 1 #250 - 1 msg
>>
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>>    1. Antigua & leishmaniasis (BobKillick-Kendrick)
>>
>> --__--__--
>>
>> Message: 1
>> From: "BobKillick-Kendrick" <killickendrick at wanadoo.fr>
>> To: <leish-l at fat.org.br>
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 11:48:16 +0200
>> Subject: [leish-l] Antigua & leishmaniasis
>>
>> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>>
>> ------=_NextPart_000_009D_01C5B46B.33762BD0
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>>
>> There is no mention of leishmaniasis in Antigua in the comprehensive =
>> review by Arias et al. (1996) [Epidemiologia y control de la =
>> leishmaniasis en las Am=E9ricas, por pais o territorio.OPS, Cuaderno =
>> T=E9cnico 44]. (Google this to see it on line.) Furthermore, there are =
>> no records of phlebotomine sand flies on Antigua in the most up-to-date
>> = book on American phlebotomines [Young & Duncan, 1994.] But this does
>> not = mean there is no leishmaniasis on Antigua. Probably nobody has
>> looked = for sand flies there, and L. mexicana might be on the island in
>> forest = rodents with no human cases yet recorded - as in Trinidad.
>> Confirmation = of the identity of the parasite seems necessary -
>> preferably by = isoenzymes(?)=20 Bob Killick-Kendrick
>> ------=_NextPart_000_009D_01C5B46B.33762BD0
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>
>
>
> R.W. Ashford
> Consultant Biologist
> Professor (Retired) of Parasite and Vector Biology
> c/o Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
> Liverpool L3 5QA
> Tel: +44 151 632 2714
> Fax: +44 151 705 3371
> e-mail: ashford at liv.ac.uk
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