Medical Specialties Commons^™

An Assessment Of Cultural Perceptions And Recognition Of Ebola Virus Disease, And Its Correlation With Traditional Burial Practice In Rural Guinea, Chulwoo Park, Amira Roess, Sally Lahm, Mamadou Kally Bah, Mohamed Campel Camara, John Sandberg

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background:

In the midst of the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa during 2014-2016, the humanitarian response to control the disease was hampered in part because there was a limited understanding of local traditional rituals or indigenous medicine (ethnomedicine) on the part of the responders. The Ebola outbreak claimed 11,310 lives, more than all other outbreaks combined. West African burial funeral ceremonies and surrounding rituals may have hindered interventions that included the forceful removal of the sick or dead from the community.

Objective:

Our objective was to understand transmission associated with traditional burial practices in rural Guinea. Through the lens …

Development Of An Interleukin-4-Inducing Principle From Schistosoma Mansoni Eggs (Ipse)-Specific Pcr Assay As A Quantitative Predictor Of Schistosomiasis-Associated Morbidity, Dannah Farah, Evaristis Mbanefo, Michael H. Hsieh

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting between 200-500 million people worldwide. The two species causing most human cases of schistosomiasis are Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium. The gold standard for diagnosis is parasitological detection of parasite eggs in stool using the Kato-Katz method. Counting eggs shed in stool is labor-intensive and inaccurate. Interleukin-4- inducing principle from Schistosoma mansoni eggs (IPSE) is the most abundant secreted protein from schistosome eggs. We hypothesized that the mRNA transcripts of the IPSE protein may be found in the liver tissue and stool of experimentally infected animals, and that these transcripts can be specifically …