Two special cases of human thelaziasis were reported in China: an old farmer with heavy infection by 36 worms and a 7-year-old boy with infection by eight worms. Thelazia callipaeda was morphologically identified and confirmed by mitochondrial cox1 gene sequencing.
Pneumocystis spp. are opportunistic fungal pathogens that are closely associated with severe pneumonia and pulmonary complications in patients with impaired immunity. In this study, the antigenic epitopes of the gene encoding the 55 kDa antigen fragment of Pneumocystis (p55), which may play an important role in Pneumocystis pneumonia, were analyzed. A gene containing tandem variants of the p55 antigen was synthesized and named the tandem antigen gene (TAG). TAG's potential as a DNA vaccine was assessed in immunosuppressed rats. Immunization with p55-TAG DNA vaccine significantly reduced both the pathogen burden and lung-weight to body-weight ratios. Additionally, p55-TAG vaccination in immunosuppressed rats elicited both cell-mediated and humoral immunity.
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