Giardiasis: Global Status is one in a series of GIDEON ebooks which summarize the status of individual infectious diseases, in every country of the world. Data are based on the GIDEON database (www.gideononline.com) which relies on standard text books, peer-review journals, Health Ministry reports and ProMED, supplemented by an ongoing search of the medical literature. Chapters are arranged alphabetically, by country name. Each section is divided into five subsections. 1. Descriptive epidemiology 2. Summary of clinical features 3. Global status of the disease 4. Status of the disease in a specific country 5. References

Malaria causes hundreds of thousands of human deaths every year, and the World Health Assembly has made it a priority. To help eliminate this disease, there is a pressing need for the development and implementation of new strategies to improve the prevention and treatment, due in part to antimalarial drug resistances. This chapter focuses on two strategies to inactivate the malaria parasite in blood, which are photodynamic therapy (PDT) and inhibition of hemozoin formation. The PDT strategy permits either a control of the proliferation of mosquito larvae to develop some photolarvicides for the prevention or a photoinactivation of the malaria parasite in red blood cells (RBCs) to minimize infection transmission by transfusion. The inhibition of hemozoin formation strategy is used for the development of new antimalarial drug by understanding its formation mechanism.

Cryptosporidiosis: Global Status is one in a series of GIDEON ebooks which summarize the status of individual infectious diseases, in every country of the world. Data are based on the GIDEON database (www.gideononline.com) which relies on standard text books, peer-review journals, Health Ministry reports and ProMED, supplemented by an ongoing search of the medical literature. Chapters are arranged alphabetically, by country name. Each section is divided into five subsections. 1. Descriptive epidemiology 2. Summary of clinical features 3. Global status of the disease 4. Status of the disease in a specific country 5. References

Giardia is a relatively simple eukaryotic microbe, causing acute and chronic diarrhea which has been used as a model to understand complex biological processes occurring in eukaryotic cells. Further, due to its parasitic lifestyle, Giardia is an excellent system for the study of the mechanisms of adaptation and cell differentiation from the perspectives of molecular and cell biology. This book presents a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge regarding all aspects of Giardia’s biology, including epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, pathogenesis, diagnostics, and clinical treatment. It was written by internationally renowned authors, the leading researchers in the field including several chapters with techniques and resources available for the study of this microorganism. Questions that need to be addressed to fully understand the molecular mechanisms of the parasite as well as the cause of its pathology are presented. Furthermore, Giardia’s biology is compared with that of other parasites in relation to their complexity. This volume is an indispensable resource for researchers working with this parasite. It is a “must” for libraries and the bookshelves of everyone interested in the biology of parasites and early-branching eukaryotes.

Giardia and Giardiasis Volume 107-Part B, in the Advances in Parasitology series, is dedicated to aspects of cytoskeletal structure of this parasite with an emphasis on insights of new components and their function in trophozoites. Further, microtubule function and its critical involvement in motility, attachment, mitosis and cell division as well as in transitions between developmental stages are reviewed. Also a comprehensive revision in the progress of tools to explore and understand the functional biology of Giardia, its coding and non-coding genes, features and cellular and molecular biology is contained in this volume. Additionally, an exciting perspective on the interactions between Giardia and intestinal epithelial cell by reviewing transcriptomic and proteomic investigations is included along with a state-of-the art of the understanding pathophysiology of giardiasis and of how Giardia can cause post-infectious and extra-intestinal complications. A complete review of current knowledge including commonly prescribed drugs, causes of therapeutic fails, drug resistance mechanisms, strategies for the discovery of new agents for alternative drug therapies is covered.

Giardia and Giardiasis, Volume 106 in Advances in Parasitology series includes in the first part aspects of molecular and cellular biology of Giardia and the role of particular molecules or molecular groups in essential functions and/or trafficking in the parasite. These approaches are with the aim to explore how this parasite adapts to an ever-changing environment both within and outside of the host animal. Subsequently a comprehensive description of virulence factors secreted by Giardia, are reviewed on their cytotoxic mechanisms and roles in the pathophysiology of giardiasis, and also a description on the potential of these secreted molecules as targets for drugs is included. In the context of the immuno-pathogenesis of giardiasis a review on the data and information on innate and adaptive immunity to Giardia, is included as well as a discussion on how improved knowledge of immunity is advancing our understanding of the pathogenesis and clinical outcomes of giardiasis. The final part of this volume includes a review of the epidemiology of giardiasis in a veterinary context using molecular tools together with a discussion of the current status of the species and assemblages of Giardia, and issues surrounding the assignment of host specificity and the zoonotic potential using current molecular markers.

Viral Gastroenteritis: Global Status is one in a series of GIDEON ebooks which summarize the status of individual infectious diseases, in every country of the world. Data are based on the GIDEON database (www.gideononline.com) which relies on standard text books, peer-review journals, Health Ministry reports and ProMED, supplemented by an ongoing search of the medical literature. Chapters are arranged alphabetically, by country name. Each section is divided into five subsections. 1. Descriptive epidemiology 2. Summary of clinical features 3. Global status of the disease 4. Status of the disease in a specific country 5. References