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Plasmodium vivax is the second most prevalent global Plasmodium species causing malaria after P. falciparum. These two Plasmodium spp. co-exist in most endemic areas, apart from west and central Africa, which has only P. falciparum. However, southeastern Turkey is one of the exceptional regions with the sole presence of P. vivax infection, where a thorough epidemiologic survey has not been performed. Here, we report for the first time the identification of naturally acquired antibodies against the 19-kd C-terminal region of the merozoite surface protein-1 of P. vivax (PvMSP1(19)), using ELISA, from residents in the Sanliurfa region of southeastern Turkey. Among the 82 samples from patients with patent P. vivax malaria, 85% of the individuals were sero-reactive to PvMSP1(19). Particularly, 69.5% of the subjects were positive for IgM, 53.6% were positive for IgG (predominantly IgG1 and IgG3), and 7.3% were positive for IgA.

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Central nervous system involvement in trichinosis is not rare. Brain lesions in trichinosis have been defined on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as multifocal small lesions located in the cerebral cortex and white matter. We present a case of trichinosis with multifocal lesions of the brain detected by MRI and diffusion weighted MRI. Evolutions of these lesions from acute through chronic stages on follow up studies are also presented. This is the first report describing sequential MRI findings and diffusion weighted imaging appearance of brain lesions in trichinosis. Sequential evaluation of conventional and diffusion MR data allowed us to conclude that multifocal lesions in the brain were related to multiple infarctions rather than true inflammatory infiltration of the brain parenchyma.

Objective:We aimed to describe the clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in our region to find additional clues that can help diagnosis. Materials and Methods:All the patients with VL who admitted to our clinic between January 2010 and January 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. The patients with symptoms and signs suggestive of VL and a positive indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFA) or rapid diagnostic test, and/or direct parasitology consisting of the presence of amastigotes of Leishmania in bone marrow aspirate were included in the study. We collected the demographic and clinical features, laboratory, and radiological information from the hospital database. Results:We present ten (seven males and three females) cases of VL, with the mean age of 53 (range of 31-75). Serological tests such as IFA or rapid diagnostic tests were positive in all patients. Amastigotes of Leishmania were present in only three of eight patients who underwent bone marrow biopsy. Abdominal magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography revealed that all patients (10/10) had splenomegaly, eight of 10 patients had hepatomegaly, and seven patients had intraabdominal lymphadenopathy. Seven patients had multiple hypodense nodular lesions in the spleen with homogeneous parenchyma. Two patients had nodular lesions in the liver. Two patients died because of multiorgan failure before completing their treatment. The remaining patients completed liposomal amphotericin B treatment and cured.Conclusion: VL should be suspected in the diagnosis of the patients, who had long-term fever, splenomegaly, pancytopenia associated with multiple nodular lesions in the spleen with/without liver involvement.