This Week in Parasitism

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, Par...

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) Cyclosporia...

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 (...

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) Lett...

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  twip@twiv.tv Subscribe (free) Subscribe to TWiP (f...

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  o...

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  ...

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 a...

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  twip@twiv.tv

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...

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) Tetrasp...

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 twip@twiv.tv

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 falciparum using 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 nucle...

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 #...

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...

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 c...

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...

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 com...

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...

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  (E...

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...

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 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 .