This Week in Parasitism

Vincent and Dickson discuss the spread of P. knowlesi in Malaysia, and how Leishmania parasites protect the sandfly gut from bacterial infection. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Spread of P. knowlesi in Malaysia (NY Times) Climate change in Europe and vector transmitted disease (Infez Med) Colonisation resistance in the sandfly gut (Parasites & Vectors) Car Talk co-host dies Early Career Scientists Symposium Image credit: Anne Marie Letters read on TWiP 79 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson discuss how malaria parasites induce odors in their rodent hosts that attract mosquitoes. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Visceral Leishmaniasis, South Sudan (ProMedMail) Malaria-induced changes in host odors (PNAS) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 77 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson discuss the exchange of messenger RNAs between a parasitic plant and its hosts. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Exchange of mRNAs between parasite and plant (Science) White leaf rust (Wikipedia) Cuscuta (Wikipedia) Fungal haustoria (PNAS) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 77 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson discuss how infection of mice with helminths induces cytokines that reactivate a latent gamma-herpesvirus. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Helminths reactivate herpesvirus (Science) How helminths go viral (Science) Herpesvirus latency protects from bacterial infection (Nature) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 76 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Bobbi Pritt joins Vincent and Dickson to talk about directing a clinical parasitology laboratory and her weekly case reports at Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Guest: Bobbi Pritt Links for this episode: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites Letters read on TWiP 75 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson review a novel malaria vaccine candidate comprising a parasite protein involved in egress from red blood cells. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Egress protein a malaria vaccine candidate (Science) Human proteins (Wikipedia) Plasmodium genomics resource Image: P. falciparum ring forms and gametocytes in blood Letters read on TWiP 74 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson discuss how nibbling of human cells by Entamoeba histolytica, a process called amoebic trogocytosis, contributes to cell killing and tissue invasion. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Trogocytosis by E. histolytica (Nature) Trogocytosis Entamoeba histolytica (TWiP 17) Entamoeba histolytica life cycle (jpg) Image: E. histolytica nibbling a green cell (credit) Letters read on TWiP 73 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Vincent and Dickson discuss five ways that helminths manipulate host tissues to survive. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Links for this episode: Wormholes in host defense (PLoS Path) Lung coin lesion (Wikipedia) Granuloma (Wikipedia) Jar that Dickson is holding (jpg) Letters read on TWiP 72 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review the finding that urocanic acid in the skin is a chemoattractant for the parasitic nematode Strongyloides stercoralis. Download TWiP #71 (60 MB .mp3, 84 minutes). Links for this episode: Strongyloides stercoralis (TWiP #71) Urocanic acid is a S. stercoralis chemoattractant (PNAS) Chemical trails of parasites (PNAS) Urocanic acid (Wikipedia) Candiru (Wikipedia) Your Inner Fish (PBS) Letters read on TWiP 71 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss the finding of Gnathostoma nematodes in Asian swamp eels from US live markets and wild populations. Links for this episode: Guinea worm eradication at risk (Science) Gnathostomiasis (CDC) Asian swamp eel Gnathostoma in live swamp eels (EID) Interview with Rebecca Cole (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 70 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss an increase in the altitude of malaria distribution in warmer years in the highlands of Colombia and Ethiopia. Links for this episode: Altitudinal changes in malaria incidence (Science) El Niño (Wikipedia) NOAA El Niño page Image credit: Science Letters read on TWiP 69 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello Dickson Despommier, and Sagi Shapira Vincent, Dickson, and Sagi discuss evidence that the pathogen Trypanosoma brucei undergoes meiosis and sexual reproduction. Links for this episode: Meiosis and haploid gametes in T. brucei (Curr Biol) Meiosis (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 68 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson explain the genetic and molecular basis of drug resistance in Schistosoma mansonii. Links for this episode: Basis of resistance to oxamniquine (Science) Oxamniquine (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 67 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss reversible inhibitors of cruzipain as new drugs for treating Chagas disease. Links for this episode: Reversible cysteine protease inhibitors for Chagas (AAC) New drug candidates for Chagas (ScienceDaily) Pancake ice (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 66 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson consider the effects of climate change on parasitic diseases. Links for this episode: Climate change and infectious diseases (Science) The more parasites the better? (Science) Host and parasite control disease risk (PNAS) Parasites dominate food web links (PNAS) The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Image credit: PLoS One Letters read on TWiP 65 Dickson's Pick Neglected by Shelly Xie (YouTube) Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review three novel approaches to antimalarial chemotherapy. Links for this episode: Targeting PI(4)K to eliminate malaria (Nature) Antimicrobial peptides to target sporogonic stages of malaria (PLoS Path) Small molecule blocks malaria invasion of mosquito (PLoS Path) Photo credit Letters read on TWiP 64 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss evidence that the malaria parasite originated in gorillas. Links for this episode: Great apes and zoonoses (Science) Source of human malaria (PNAS) Origin of human malaria parasite in gorillas (Nature) Ape Plasmodium in Cameroon not infecting humans (PNAS) No Plasmodium in greater spot-nosed monkey (Int J Parasit) TWiP 13: Toxoplasmosis Image credit Letters read on TWiP 62 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss the high diversity of malaria parasites in West African bats, and a vaccine against hookworm. Links for this episode: High diversity of West African bat malaria parasites (PNAS) Human hookworm vaccine (Vaccine) Gongylonema infection in human (Am J Trop Med Hyg) Letters read on TWiP 62 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review examples of paleoparasitology, the detection of parasites in archaeological material. Links for this episode: T. rex had Trichomonas (PLoS One) King Richard III had worms (CNN) Discovery of toilets in Japan (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Paleoparasitology in the Old World (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Soils from Seoul (J Arachael Sci) Ancient parasite infections in Old World (pdf) Ascaris in coprolites (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Human intestinal parasites in the past (Mem Inst Os Cruz) Letters read on TWiP 61 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss how infection with Toxoplasma gondii causes mice to lose their aversion to cat urine, even after the parasites have been cleared. Links for this episode: T. gondii in mice causes loss of aversion to cat urine (PLoS One) Cyclosporiasis update (CDC) Letters read on TWiP 60 Listener Pick Blaine - The Worm Within Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson update the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, discuss the avian malaria parasite P. lophurae, and review protection against malaria by intravenous immunization with a nonreplicating sporozoite vaccine. Links for this episode: Cyclosporiasis outbreak in US (CDC) Extraordinary history of REV (PLoS Biology) Avian malaria (Ann NY Acad Sci) P. lophurae (J Parasitol) TWiP infects TWiV (TWiV 248) Intravenous malaria vaccine (Science) Unconventional malaria vaccine (Science) Image of apicomplexan structure: Wikipedia Letters read on TWiP 59 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Guest: Cali Despommier Vincent and Dickson update the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, and Dickson reads a chapter from his new book. Links for this episode: Dickson and Cali (jpg) Cyclosporiasis keeps spreading (ProMedMail) Cyclosporiasis is not a virus! (Gawker) Cyclosporiasis is not a virus! (Yahoo) The Global Dispatch People, Parasites, and Plowshares by Dickson Despommier Letters read on TWiP 58 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review a multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis caused by the single-celled coccidian parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis. The day after recording this episode, ProMedMail reported that the outbreak of cyclosporiasis had spread to Texas. Links for this episode: Cyclosporiasis (CDC) Cyclospora life cycle (CDC) Cyclosporiasis (Wikipedia) Cyclosporiasis outbreak, US (one, two, three) (ProMedMail) Cyclosporiasis outbreak moves to Texas (ProMedMail) Notifiable diseases, US, 2011 (CDC) Federal funding for science research (virology blog) Oculus of Singapore (YouTube) Dickson recording TWiP 57 (jpg) Dickson's stuff (jpg) People, Parasites, and Plowshares by Dickson Despommier Letters read on TWiP 57 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss Myxobolus cerebralis, the parasite that causes whirling disease of salmonids. Links for this episode: Myxobolus cerebralis (Wikipedia) Fish migration (Wikipedia) Trout with whirling disease (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 55 Listener Pick Amanda - Pandemic: On the Brink Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson reveal how invasive harlequin ladybirds use biological weapons against their competitors. Links for this episode: Invasive Harlequin Ladybirds' biological weapon (Science) Immunity an invasive success (Science) Invading ladybugs carry bioweapons (C&EN) Ladybird Ladybird (Wikipedia) G. Evelyn Hutchinson (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 55 Dickson's Pick An Inordinate Fondess for Beetles by Arthur V. Evans, Charles L. Bellamy Listener Pick Jessie - Pandemic, the board game Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson consider a case history of a young man with Blastocystis hominis - is it causing his disease? Links for this episode: Blastocystis (Wikipedia) Blastocystis review (Trends Parasitol) Letters read on TWiP 54 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected] Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss the finding that immunity to a sandfly salivary protein protects against fatal visceral leishmaniasis in hamsters. Links for this episode: Immunity to a salivary protein protects against leishmaniasis (PNAS) Image of blood-fed Lutzomyia longipalpis (right) credit Short history of Leishmania vaccines Leishmania on TWiP #14 Letters read on TWiP 53 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review the life cycle and pathogenesis of the giant kidney worm, Dioctophyme renale. Links for this episode: Dioctophymiasis (CDC) Dioctophyme renale (Wikipedia) Fatal bilateral dioctophymiasis (J Parasitol) Clinical Parasitology by Paul C. Beaver D. renale in a dog (Vet. Parasitol.) Surgical removal of D. renale (YouTube) Letters read on TWiP 52 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Guest: Anthony A. James Special guest Anthony A. James joins Vincent and Dickson to discuss how mosquitoes can be genetically modified to control infectious diseases. Links for this episode: Field cage studies of modified mosquitoes (PLoS NTD) Flightless mosquitoes (PNAS) When mutant mosquitoes attack (NY Times) Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson reveal how malaria parasites avoid lysis by complement in the mosquito. Links for this episode: Malaria parasites co-opt factor H (Cell Host Microbe) Complement system (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 50 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss innate immune sensing of Toxoplasma gondii in mice, and heme metabolism in protozoan parasites. Links for this episode: Sensing Toxoplasma in mice (Cell Host Microbe) Make it, take it, or leave it (PLoS Path) Heme (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 49 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Josef Sabo Vincent, Dickson, and Josef discuss tetraspanins on the surface of schistosomes as vaccine candidates and immune evasion proteins. Links for this episode: S. japonicum tetraspanin-2 as a vaccine target (PLoS NTP) Protection with S. mansoni tetraspanin-2 (PLoS NTP) S. mansoni tetraspanins confer protection (Nat Med) Tetraspanins Letters read on TWiP 48 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]. Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review evidence that a virus of the protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis may exacerbate disease. Links for this episode: Endobiont viruses sensed by the human host (PLoS One) Letters read on TWiP 47 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson meet with Judith Straimer and Marcus Lee to discuss their method for site-specific genome editing in Plasmodium falciparumusing zinc finger nucleases. Right-click to download TWiP #46 (46 MB .mp3, 64 minutes). Links for this episode: Judith Straimer and Marcus Lee Genome editing in P. falciparum with zinc finger nucleases (Nature Methods) Zinc finger nucleases (Sigma-Aldrich) Gene-editing nucleases (Nature Methods) Illustration by Andrew Lee Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss Toxoplasma biology with Stanford University Professor John Boothroyd. Links for this episode: T. gondii and free range animals Kiss and spit: Toxoplasma rhoptries (Nat Rev Micro) Toxoplasma cell invasion (Curr Opin Micro) Loading of IRG onto parasitophorous vacuole (Cell Micro) Toxoplasma gondii on TWiP #12 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]. Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed or by email

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson explain how a nematode manipulates cricket behavior and alters the food web of a stream. Links for this episode: Nematomorph parasites alter food web of streams (Ecol Lett) Manipulation of cockle behavior by a trematode (Parasitology) Cockles infected by one parasite are more susceptible to a second (J Parasitol) Letters read on TWiP 44 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Vincent and Dickson review how sickle cell microRNAs contribute to malaria resistance, and inhibition of innate immune responses by an enzyme from trypanosomes. Links for this episode: microRNAs involved in sickle cell resistance to Plasmodium (Cell Host Microbe) Trypanosome adenylate cyclases modulate innate immune response (Science) Letters read on TWiP 43 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson answer listener emails about Leishmania, dual infection of vectors, tapeworms, liver flukes, toxoplasmosis, and much more. Links for this episode: Metabolic pathways required by Leishmania (Ann Rev Micro) Tapeworms in people's brains (Carl Zimmer) Poison Ivy Bovine tuberculosis disguised by liver fluke (Nature) Giant kidney worm (YouTube) Crowd-sourced games for telepathology Ivermectin for alcohol abuse Ivermectin and alcohol abuse in mice (Neuropharm) Etymology of Loa Worm removed from man's eye (BBC) Ticks keep on ticking (PLoS One article) Letters read on TWiP 42 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review medically important arthropods. Links for this episode: Thomas Eisner Incomplete metamorphosis in insects (jpg) Complete metamorphosis in an insect with aquatic immature stages (jpg) Complete metamorphosis in an insect with terrestrial immature stages (jpg) Letters read on TWiP 41 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson discuss loaiasis caused by the filarial nematode Loa loa. Right-click to download TWiP #40 (52 MB .mp3, 73 minutes). Links for this episode: Albendazole therapy for US-bound refugees (NEJM) Microfilaria of Loa loa (png) Loa loa life cycle (png) Letters read on TWiP 40 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson review the biology and pathogenesis of the amoebae Naegleria fowlerii and Acanthamoeba castellani. Links for this episode: N. fowlerii life cycle (CDC) N. fowlerii at Artful Amoeba Naegleria and amoebic meningoencephalitis (MDPH) First case of Naegleria PAM in Italy (Emerg Inf Dis) N. fowlerii in well water (Emerg Inf Dis) Recent N. fowlerii case in Minnesota (Clin Inf Dis) Beat the holiday bug (Sydney Morning Herald) Is your neti pot safe? (Dallas News) Acanthamoeba keratitis fact sheet (CDC) Letters read on TWiP 39 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier Vincent and Dickson tackle the backlog of listener email, then consider the life cycle and pathogenesis of Trichomonas vaginalis, the flagellated protozoan transmitted by sexual contact. Links for this episode: T. vaginalis life cycle (jpg) T. vaginalis hydrogenosome (jpg) Letters read on TWiP 38 Contact Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected].

Vincent and Dickson discuss the life cycle and pathogenesis of Dracunculus medinensis, the filarial nematode that causes dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease. Links for this episode: Dracunculus emerging from foot (jpg) Dracunculus medinensis life cycle (jpg) Guinea worm - WHO Guinea worm eradication - The Carter Center War against Guinea worm (YouTube) Caduceus vs staff of Asclepius Vincent and Dickson - the dogs (jpg) Letters read on TWiP 37

Vincent and Dickson review how gut bacteria help establish T. muris in the large intestine of mice.

Vincent and Dickson discuss control of malaria with their Columbia University colleague David Fidock.

Vincent and Dickson discuss control of malaria and filariasis with the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia.

Vincent and Dickson review an in silico pipeline for identifying molecular mimicry candidate proteins in the genomes of parasites, and catch up on listener email.

Vincent and Dickson discuss immune evasion by the cruzain protease of T. cruzi, and novel tetraspanin antigens of S. japonicum.

Vincent and Dickson discuss the promising results of a phase III trial of a malaria vaccine in African children.

Vincent and Dickson have a broad-ranging conversation with Charles Knirsch of Pfizer, Inc. about how public-private partnerships can function to control and eliminate infectious diseases.