Active clinical trials for "Parasitic Diseases"

This is an open-label, adaptive study that will utilise the P. falciparum induced blood stage malaria (IBSM) model to characterise the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) profile of pyronaridine. Up to 18 healthy, malaria naïve adult participants are planned to be enrolled into this study, in cohorts of up to six participants each. Following a screening period of up to 28 days, cohorts of up to 6 healthy participants will be enrolled. Each participant will be inoculated intravenously on Day 0 with P. falciparum infected erythrocytes. Participants will be followed up daily on Days 1 to 3, and will attend the clinical unit once on Days 4, 5, 6 and 7 for clinical evaluation and blood sampling. Participants will be admitted to the clinical trial unit on Day 8 for a single oral dose of pyronaridine. Different doses of pyronaridine will be administered across and within cohorts. Participants will be randomised to a dose group on the day of dosing. The highest dose of pyronaridine administered will be no more than 720 mg; the lowest dose administered will be no less than 180 mg. Each subsequent cohort will be composed of up to 3 dose groups. The Safety Data Review Team (SDRT) will review all available safety and tolerability data from the previous cohort/s prior to inoculation of the next cohort. Participants will be confined in the clinical unit for at least 96 h (Days 8 - 12) to monitor the safety and tolerability of pyronaridine dosing. Upon discharge from the clinical unit participants will be monitored on an outpatient basis up to Day 50±2. Participants will receive compulsory antimalarial rescue treatment with Riamet® (artemether/lumefantrine) on Day 47±2 or earlier.

This protocol offers diagnosis and standard medical treatment for various parasitic gastrointestinal infections. Gastrointestinal parasites are either worms (helminths) or one-celled animals called protozoans which live in the human intestines. Often, parasitic infections do not cause illness. In these cases, drug treatment is not indicated, because treatment can have adverse side effects. Patients will be examined for their immune responses, correlation between the number of parasites and disease, and other studies. Individuals with known or suspected parasitic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including amebiasis, giardiasis, hookworm, strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, pinworm, tapeworm, trichinosis, clonorchis, opisthorchis, coccidiosis, paragonimiasis, and echinococcus may be eligible for this study. Patient evaluations may include blood and urine tests, stool examination, X-rays, ultrasound studies and, uncommonly, duodenal aspiration for examination of fluid from the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Other tests may be required, depending on the parasite and disease. Direct examination of the tissues of the intestines may be required to rule out certain infections. Research procedures include collection of stool, blood and duodenal fluid when the diagnosis has been established and these procedures are not required for medical care. Patients with strongyloidiasis may also be given a diagnostic skin test similar to skin tests for tuberculosis and allergies. Research procedures on children will be limited to collection of stool, urine and blood. No more than 7 milliliters (1 1/2 teaspoons) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) body weight of blood will be collected in children over a 6-week period. In adults no more than 30 tablespoons of blood will be collected in a 6-week period. Parasites may fail to respond to treatment. In these cases, it may be necessary to grow the parasite in the laboratory in order to test treatments in the test tube. Patients who do not respond to standard medications and dosing may need different doses of drugs or drugs or combinations of drugs used in the United States for other medical problems. If these medications or doses are used, patients will be informed of their possible side effects.

A health education learning package (HELP) has been improved and evaluated for its impact against intestinal parasitic infections among Orang Asli schoolchildren in West Malaysia. 13 schools were allocated into two groups (intervention and control groups) and the impact of HELP was evaluated after 3 and 6 months of baseline assessment and HELP intervention.

Women included between 18 and 45 years old, pregnant during their second or third trimester of pregnancy (calculated by a sure menstrual date and confirmed by a 1st trimesteric ultrasound) with hemoglobin level below 10.5 mg /dL.

Impact exerted by intestinal parasitic infections is much higher in developing countries. School-aged children are at higher risk from the burden of disease, because they specially have many parasitic infections. The poor health results in deficits in physical and cognitive development and educational achievements. Nowadays, there is huge commitment among the global community to control intestinal parasitic infections and to improve nutritional status of young children in developing countries. Large-scale anthelminthic drug administration through vertical control programmes is still required for the foreseeable future and is, therefore, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, due to the inevitability of re-infection in endemic areas, children need to be treated regularly, and once morbidity control is consolidated, the strategy must shift to transmission control emphasising access to clean water and adequate sanitation. To lower dependency on 'drug only' approach and to enhance sustainability, from the onset of control activities, complementary measures should be implemented, that depend on available resources. Therefore, the investigators are proposing to undertake a randomised controlled trial to assess the impact of simple and easy-to-do hand hygiene intervention packages (hand washing with soap and hand finger nail clipping) on intestinal parasitic infection prevalence, intensity and re-infection rates and on haemoglobin concentration and anaemia prevalence rates among 6-15 years old schoolchildren. Our results will provide solid evidence on if and how hand hygiene practice affects infection prevalence and re-infection rates, as well as, anaemia prevalence among the highly vulnerable age group.

The study project can be divided into two parts: (1) health screening for the community and (2) clinical diagnosis and treatment for patients at National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Solomon islands. The health screening includes a questionnaire, stool parasitic screening and blood laboratory tests. A total of 800 subjects will participate in this study. The collected samples are venous blood (20 ml/per subject) and stool in order to conduct the related tests mentioned above. As for the collection of target patients, KMUH will cooperate with NRH to collect two kinds of blood samples: the blood samples of confirmed malarial cases and those of cases suspicious of Flaviviral, Alpha-viral, Rickettsial, and Leptospiral infections. The expected received cases are 600 each year. The venous blood samples (20 ml/per subject) will be used to conduct related tests mentioned above. At the same time, the subjects will also have to fill out a related questionnaire which includes height, weight, waist line, heath behavior and habit, and past history, etc.

Antimalarial drug resistance has reached critical levels on the Thai-Cambodian border. Many have begun advocating for concerted malaria elimination efforts in Cambodia. However, there is currently no consensus on how malaria elimination is to be achieved with the tools available. In this study, the investigators will conduct operational research with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and National Malaria Center (CNM) to quantify the relative effectiveness of the two major interventional approaches - monthly malaria prophylaxis (MMP) or focused screening and treatment (FSAT) - in a head to-head comparison. In addition, the investigators will quantify the relative contribution of a recently advocated vector intervention for military personnel - the insecticide treated uniform (ITU) - in addition to other vector control measures currently employed by the RCAF. The investigators will employ the same permethrin insecticide self-application kits currently used by the US military. The investigators will estimate the cost effectiveness of each approach and attempt to define the best way forward for malaria elimination efforts in a critically important malaria reservoir in military population (and their dependents) who reside on the Thai-Cambodian border. The aim of the study is not only to conduct research to better define the best way forward in malaria elimination efforts in the high risk military populations, but to also build capacity within the RCAF to support and lead future elimination efforts in the most difficult-to-reach mobile populations.

This study identifies the incidence of appendiceal Enterobius vermicularis (E.v) infestation in all the patients undergoing appendectomy and evaluates the relationship between E.v infestation of the appendix and the acute appendicitis.

Triclabendazole is a benzimidazole compound used as a systemic antihelmintic in veterinary practice. Triclabendazole is considered to be a second-line drug for parasites and is used when other preferred agents cannot be used because they are ineffective or because adverse reactions limit their use. Although Triclabendazole is widely used in developing countries for the treatment of parasites it is not approved by the FDA for this treatment in the US. It is currently being distributed in the US through a special arrangement with the FDA and the manufacturer on an individual patient approval basis. This arrangement requires that a single patient Investigational New Drug (IND) be obtained from FDA for each patient requiring Triclabendazole. Upon approval by FDA, the manufacturer (Novartis) will ship the drug directly to the prescribing physician.

The goal of the proposed study is to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasitic diseases in adults and children. These invasions are included to "dirty hand diseases" (per os invasions), therefore it applies mainly preschool children.