African trypanosomiasis is a rare but well-documented cause of fever in United States travelers returning from areas where it is endemic. We report two recently diagnosed cases that involved tourists who went on safari in Tanzania. Review of these and 29 other published cases indicates that disease in returning United States travelers is nearly always of the East African form, a fulminant illness for which prompt diagnosis is necessary. In the United States, timely and appropriate therapy for this disease has resulted in favorable outcomes for most patients. Chemoprophylaxis for East African trypanosomiasis is not recommended, but travelers visiting areas of endemicity should practice appropriate preventive measures to prevent tsetse fly bites.
MBL may be an important component of innate immune protection against Cryptosporidium infection in young children. Additional studies are necessary to determine whether MBL intestinal losses, deficient epithelial expression, and/or genetic polymorphisms in the MBL gene contribute to MBL deficiency in cryptosporidiosis and other enteric infections in young children.
Cryptosporidiosis in young children prompts local inflammation in the intestinal tract. We studied a cohort of young children with cryptosporidiosis to determine whether systemic inflammatory responses occur and, if so, to evaluate whether inflammation persists after infection. Cryptosporidiosis was associated with increased levels of interleukin-8 and tumor necrosis factor- alpha systemically, which persisted at 6 months after enrollment. The level of intestinal tumor necrosis factor- alpha was elevated at enrollment, but elevated levels did not persist. Worsening of malnutrition, particularly stunting, was observed after infection. The association of cryptosporidiosis, inflammation, and stunting in children with cryptosporidiosis warrants further evaluation.
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