BACKGROUND

The Philippines has the highest number of new leprosy cases in the Western Pacific Region, with 1,000 to 2,000+ cases detected annually over the past decade. Out of 46 filariasis-endemic provinces in the country, 43 have eliminated lymphatic filariasis. However, many grade 2 disabilities acquired from these neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) remain undetected due to inadequate monitoring during and after treatment. This was further exacerbated by the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on healthcare access. The pandemic prompted initial adoption of teletraining, making a feasibility study necessary.

This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using telehealth and distance learning to train healthcare workers and patients in the integrated rehabilitation and prevention of impairments and disabilities from leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, mycetoma, diabetes, pressure ulcers, and other chronic wounds.

Selected rural health units, patients with disabilities, and their caregivers in a leprosy- and lymphatic filariasis-endemic region were recruited. Municipal health officers and leprosy coordinators helped in the conceptualization, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the teletraining program to ensure its acceptability and utilization. Asynchronous and synchronous methods were used. The main reference was the "Ten Steps" guide. Training materials were shared via Google Drive and flash drives sent to each study site. One-day didactics and skills trainings were conducted through live-interactive sessions using online platforms (Zoom or Google Meet). Topics focused on nerve function assessment (for leprosy and diabetes), problems of mobility, lymphedema, wound care, and self-care. Participants practiced and demonstrated their skills on local patients, with mentoring through Messenger chats. Knowledge and performance assessments were conducted.

The study was conducted from 2021 to 2022 and the actual training implemented within four months of 2022. Two municipalities of Sultan Kudarat province, Mindanao Island group with one rural health unit (RHU) each had participated. All participants (N=16; eight RHU personnel and eight village health workers) attended the synchronous skills training, 12 (75%) submitted return demo videos, and 13 (81.25%) had practicum patients. All participants rated the training as successfully attaining objectives and activities. All were generally satisfied with the teletraining because of improved knowledge and skills gained and were willing to continue it. Efficiency, speed, quality of training, and trainers had high ratings. Teletraining was considered effective in improving the wound care of their patients. Patients were also satisfied with the home care. However, the unreliable internet service in the study sites created difficulties during synchronous sessions and negatively affected appropriateness of teletraining. Finding patients for practicum was challenging. Some supplies were not available in local drugstores and had to be shipped from Manila, raising costs. Overall, the rating of the teletraining was good.

Teletraining of health workers from distant health units on integrated disability prevention and care is feasible in terms of implementation, acceptability, and practicality if stable internet connectivity is available. Larger studies are recommended.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of human ocular thelaziasis patients in China. METHODS: Case reports regarding human ocular thelaziasis cases in China were retrieved in international and national electronic databases, including CNKI, VIP, CBM, Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System, Wanfang Database, PubMed and Web of Science from 2011 to 2022. Patients' gender, age, clinical symptoms, treatment, recurrence, site of infections, time of onset, affected eye, affected sites, number of infected Thelazia callipaeda, sex of T. callipaeda and source of infections were extracted for descriptive analyses. RESULTS: A total of 85 eligible publications were included, covering 101 cases of human ocular thelaziasis, including 57 males (56.44%) and 44 females (43.56%) and aged from 3 months to 85 years. The main clinical manifestations included foreign body sensation (56 case-times, 22.49%), eye itching (38 case-times, 15.26%), abnormal or increased secretions (36 case-times, 14.46%), tears (28 case-times, 11.24%) and eye redness (28 case-times, 11.24%), and conjunctival congestion (50 case-times, 41.67%) was the most common clinical sign. The most common main treatment (99/101, 98.02%) was removal of parasites from eyes using ophthalmic forceps, followed by administration with ofloxacin and pranoprofen. In publications presenting thelaziasis recurrence, there were 90 cases without recurrence (97.83%) and 2 cases with recurrence (2.17%). Of all cases, 51.96% were reported in four provinces of Hubei, Shandong, Sichuan, Hebei and Henan, and ocular thelaziasis predominantly occurred in summer (42.19%) and autumn (42.19%). In addition, 56.45% (35/62) had a contact with dogs. CONCLUSIONS The human thelaziasis cases mainly occur in the continental monsoon and subtropical monsoon climate areas such as the Yellow River and the Yangtze River basin, and people of all ages and genders have the disease, with complex clinical symptoms and signs. Personal hygiene is required during the contact with dogs, cats and other animals, and individual protection is required during outdoor activities to prevent thelaziasis.
Animals ; Dogs ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Bibliometrics ; China/epidemiology* ; Seasons ; Spirurida Infections/epidemiology* ; Thelazioidea ; Eye Diseases/parasitology*

Indonesia and South Korea have become inseparable in various respects since the 2 countries established diplomatic relation in 1973. Indonesia is a tropical region that stretches across the equator, comprised of 5 main islands (Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Papua) and 4 archipelagoes (Riau, Bangka Belitung, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku). As most population of Eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Papua and Nusa Tenggara & Maluku) live in poor areas, it is expected that there will be many parasites. Nevertheless, little is known about the status of parasites in Indonesia. This study examines the prevalences of malaria and lymphatic filaria, which are prevalent in Indonesia, as well as those of soil-transmitted-helminths (STH). As a result, the Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax case loads are almost equal. The current prevalence of P. vivax is uniformly low (<5%) in all age groups and annual parasite incidence (API) showed decreasing tendency as 0.84 per 1,000 population in 2016. However, more than 65 million people still live in malaria epidemic regions. Lymphatic filariasis remains an important public health problem and 236 cities were classified as endemic areas in 514 cities/districts in 2017. It is difficult to ascertain the current prevalence rate of STH in Indonesia, although West Sumba and Southwest Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara reported prevalence rate of more than 20%. The study also considers the (sero) prevalences of other parasites identified in Indonesia. This report should be useful not only to parasitologists but also to travelers and people with business in Indonesia.
Commerce ; Diplomacy ; Elephantiasis, Filarial ; Humans ; Incidence ; Indonesia ; Islands ; Korea ; Malaria ; Parasites ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Prevalence ; Public Health

An 8-year-old female Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) reared in a wetland center, died 2 h after sudden onset of astasia and dyspnea despite medical treatment. Gross examination of internal organs revealed 10 adult filarioid nematodes in the right ventricle of the heart and three between the left and right cerebral hemispheres. All nematodes were identified as Dirofilaria immitis by direct microscopy and polymerase chain reaction assay. Histopathological observation revealed multifocal hemorrhage in the cerebral subarachnoid space and focal necrosis with hemorrhagein the cerebellar parenchyma. Although rare, veterinarians should consider cerebral dirofilariasis as a differential diagnosis in unexplained neurological cases.
Adult ; Animals ; Brain ; Cerebrum ; Child ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dirofilaria immitis ; Dirofilaria ; Dirofilariasis ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Korea ; Microscopy ; Necrosis ; Otters ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Subarachnoid Space ; Veterinarians ; Wetlands

Along with globalization of traveling and trading, fish-borne nematodiases seems to be increasing in number. However, apart from occasional and sporadic case reports or mini-reviews of particular diseases in particular countries, an overview of fish-borne nematodiasis among travelers have never been performed. In this review, we gathered fish-borne nematodiasis among travelers for recent 25 years by an extensive global literature survey using appropriate keywords, e.g. travelers diseases, human infection, anisakiasis, gnathostomiasis, capillariasis, sushi, sashimi, ceviche, Gnathostoma, Pseudoterranova, Anisakis, Capillaria, etc., as well as various combinations of these key words. The Internet search engines PubMed, Medline, Google and Googler Scholar were used as much as possible, and the references of every paper were checked in order to identify useful and reliable publications. The results showed unexpectedly high incidence of gnathostomiasis and low incidence of anisakidosis. The different incidence values of the infection with several fish-borne zoonotic nematode species are discussed, as well as some epidemiological aspects of the infections. The difficulties of differential diagnosis in non-endemic countries are emphasized. It is concluded that travelers must avoid risky behaviors which can lead to infection and that physicians and health authorities must advice travelers on the risks of eating behaviors during travel.
Anisakiasis ; Anisakis ; Capillaria ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Feeding Behavior ; Gnathostoma ; Gnathostomiasis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Internationality ; Internet ; Public Health ; Search Engine

Korea is successfully controlled intestinal parasitic infections owing to economic development and high health consciousness. The Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases (formerly the Division of Malaria and Parasitology) is in the Center for Laboratory Control of Infectious Diseases of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has been the governmental agency responsible for controlling and leading scientific research on parasitic diseases. The Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases has conducted and funded basic research and disseminated the research results to various medical fields, ultimately promoting public health in Korea. Among the noteworthy achievements of this division are the national surveillance of healthcare-associated parasitic infections, prevention and control for parasitic infections, and the elimination of lymphatic filariasis from Korea. On a broader scale, the division's research programs and academic supports were influential in preventing and treating infectious parasitic diseases through public policies and laws. In this review, we summarize the past and present role of the Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases in preventing and treating infectious parasitic diseases in Korea.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Communicable Disease Control ; Communicable Diseases ; Consciousness ; Economic Development ; Elephantiasis, Filarial ; Financial Management ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Malaria ; Parasitic Diseases ; Public Health ; Public Policy

The present study was performed to investigate the seroprevalence and risk factors for Dirofilaria immitis infection in cats from Liaoning province, northeastern China. From October 2014 to September 2016, sera of 651 cats, including 364 domestic cats and 287 feral cats (332 females and 319 males) were assessed. They were tested for the presence of D. immitis antigen using SNAP Heartworm RT test kit. In this population, the average prevalence was 4.5%. Age and rearing conditions (feral or domestic) were found to be associated with the prevalence of D. immitis. The prevalence was significantly higher in feral cats compared with domestic cats (8.4% vs 1.4%, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between males and females (4.7% vs 4.2%, P>0.05), but older cats (≥3 years old) showed a statistically higher prevalence compared with younger cats ( < 3 years old) in feral populations (16.8 vs 2.4%, P < 0.01), while the difference between the age groups was not statistically significant in domestic cats (2.4% vs 0.51%, P>0.05), all these results suggest that outdoor exposure time may be one of the most important factors for D. immitis prevalence in cats. Results reveal that D. immitis are prevalence in domestic and feral cats in northeastern China, which indicates that appropriate preventive measures should be taken to decrease the incidence of feline heartworm disease in Liaoning province, northeastern China.
Animals ; Cats* ; China* ; Dirofilaria immitis* ; Dirofilaria* ; Dirofilariasis ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Seroepidemiologic Studies*

Ocular setariases of cattle were reported but those of equine hosts have never been reported in the Republic of Korea (Korea). We found motile worms in the aqueous humor of 15 horses (Equus spp.) from 12 localities in southern parts of Korea between January 2004 and November 2017. After the affected animals were properly restrained under sedation and local anesthesia, 10 ml disposable syringe with a 16-gauge needle was inserted into the anterior chamber of the affected eye to successfully remove the parasites. The male worm that was found in 7 of the cases showed a pair of lateral appendages near the posterior terminal end of the body. The papillar arrangement was 3 pairs of precloacal, a pair of adcloacal, and 3 pairs of postcloacal papillae, plus a central papilla just in front of the cloaca. The female worms found in the eyes of 8 horses were characterized by the tapering posterior terminal end of the body with a smooth knob. Worms were all identified as Setaria digitata (von Linstow, 1906) by the morphologic characteristics using light and electron microscopic observations. This is the first blindness cases of 15 horses infected with S. digitata (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Korea.
Anesthesia, Local ; Animals ; Anterior Chamber ; Aqueous Humor ; Blindness* ; Cattle ; Cloaca ; Female ; Horses* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Needles ; Parasites ; Republic of Korea* ; Setariasis ; Syringes

OBJECTIVES: Korea was an endemic area for lymphatic filariasis (LF), caused by the nematode parasite Brugia malayi, until the 1970s. The World Health Organization recognized Korea as LF-free in June 2008. However, it is necessary to confirm that patients that have had LF in the past still test negative, to prevent the re-emergence of LF in Korea. METHODS: We followed up a total of 83 patients who had been diagnosed with LF between 2002 and 2010 in endemic LF areas. RESULTS: Fifty-two of the 83 subjects were negative for LF, whereas 31 subjects had re-located to a different city or province, were dead, or were unaccounted for. Most subjects with negative test results still exhibited edema in the legs or the arms, and some complained of redness and swelling in the legs or ankle joints. However, we found that these symptoms were due to diseases other than LF. CONCLUSION: In this follow-up study, we did not find any evidence indicating the potential re-emergence of LF in Korea.
Ankle Joint ; Arm ; Brugia malayi ; Edema ; Elephantiasis, Filarial* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Leg ; Parasites ; World Health Organization

Dracunculiasis, otherwise known as guinea worm disease (GWD), is caused by infection with the nematode Dracunculus medinensis. This nematode is transmitted to humans exclusively via contaminated drinking water. The transmitting vectors are Cyclops copepods (water fleas), which are tiny free-swimming crustaceans usually found abundantly in freshwater ponds. Humans can acquire GWD by drinking water that contains vectors infected with guinea worm larvae. This disease is prevalent in some of the most deprived areas of the world, and no vaccine or medicine is currently available. International efforts to eradicate dracunculiasis began in the early 1980s. Most dentists and maxillofacial surgeons have neglected this kind of parasite infection. However, when performing charitable work in developing countries near the tropic lines or other regions where GWD is endemic, it is important to consider GWD in cases of swelling or tumors of unknown origin. This paper reviews the pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical criteria, diagnostic criteria, treatment, and prevention of dracunculiasis. It also summarizes important factors for maxillofacial surgeons to consider.
Copepoda ; Dentists ; Developing Countries ; Dracunculiasis* ; Dracunculus Nematode ; Drinking Water ; Epidemiology ; Fresh Water ; Humans ; Larva ; Minocycline ; Parasites ; Ponds ; Surgery, Oral*