High Jungle Research Articles

Geographic distribution and clinical description of leishmaniasis cases in Peru.

Studies were conducted from 1986 through 1993 to further define the geographic distribution and relative importance of different species of Leishmania as a cause of leishmaniasis in Peru. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of cutaneous and/or mucosal or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis were enrolled at the Naval Medical Research Institute Detachment (NAMRID) Laboratory in Lima, the Tropical Disease Clinic at San Marcos University Daniel A. Carrión, the Central Military Hospital, and a Ministry of Health hospital in Cusco, Peru. Clinical features, lesion aspirates, and biopsy tissue were obtained from each patient. All specimens were collected and assayed separately, including multiple specimens from some of the same patients for Leishmania parasites by inoculating aliquots of either aspirates or biopsy tissue suspensions onto Senekji's blood agar medium. Stocks of Leishmania isolates were used to prepare promastigotes to produce extracts for identifying the Leishmania species by the cellulose acetate electrophoresis enzyme technique. A total of 351 isolates of Leishmania were obtained from 350 patients who were infected primarily in the low and high jungle of at least 15 different Departments of Peru. Of the 351 isolates, 79% were identified as L. (V.) braziliensis, 7% as L. (V.) guyanensis, 10% as L. (V.) peruviana, 2% as L. (V.) lainsoni, and 1.7% as L. (L.) amazonensis. The clinical form of disease varied depending on the species of Leishmania, with L. (V.) braziliensis being associated most frequently with cutaneous, mucosal ulcers and mixed cutaneous and mucosal disease, and L. (V) peruviana, L. (V.) guyanensis, L. (V.) lainsoni with cutaneous lesions. Leishmania (L.) amazonensis was isolated from six patients, three with cutaneous lesions, one with mucosal lesions, and two with diffuse cutaneous lesions. Among all of the leishmaniasis cases, males were affected more frequently, and cases occurred among patients less than 10 to more than 51 years of age. These data further defined the geographic distribution and the relative frequency of Leishmania species associated with different clinical forms of leishmaniasis in Peru.

Epidemiology of taeniasis and cysticercosis in a Peruvian village. The Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru.

To determine the prevalence of cysticercosis in a rural area where the disease is endemic, the authors studied the seroepidemiology of human and porcine cysticercosis in a Peruvian jungle community (Maceda, Peru) in 1988 using an enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (EITB) assay. Of the 371 sampled inhabitants, 30 (8%) were seropositive, most of whom were asymptomatic. After niclosamide therapy, four Taenia species worms were identified in the seropositive group, compared with one in the control group (p = 0.06). Pigs were frequently infected: 44 of 133 (33%) were found positive for Taenia by tongue examination and 57 of 133 (43%) were positive by EITB. In 69% of the sampled households that had pigs, there was at least one seropositive pig. The number of pigs diagnosed positive by the tongue examination was significantly greater in households that had latrines than in those that did not. Cysticercosis is a common but usually asymptomatic infection that affects both humans and pigs in the high jungle areas of Peru.

Why Indians wear clothes

In the high jungle of the Peruvian montaña Asheninka males occasionally manipulate dress codes to improve their bargaining position vis‐à‐vis settler/colonists. Settler values are constructed on a civilized/uncivilized dichotomy corresponding to a colonist/Ashéninka dichotomy of ethnic categories. Asheninka appropriations of the “civilized” translates settler values into Ashéninka power games, and the symbols of the “civilized” end up as means of strengthening Ashéninka identity.

Field infection of potato by the Solanum apical leaf curling virus (SALCV)

Potato plants grown from true seed were naturally infected with the Solanum apical leaf curling virus (SALCV) at the high jungle site near San Ramon, Peru. Tubers from these plants were greenhouse indexed. Symptoms of SALCV infected potato plants include apical rolling, stunting, delayed emergence, weak plants, hair sprouts, and tuber dormancy. These symptoms superficially resemble certain aspects of unusually severe current season potato leafroll virus (4) infection or those of the aster yellows and stolbur mycoplasma diseases (5). Up to 12 percent of the indexed plants were naturally infected with SALCV and SALCV was demonstrated in approximately half of the tubers that produced hair sprouts.

A new plant virus from the high jungle of the Eastern Andes; Solanum apical leaf curling virus (SALCV)

SUMMARYA previously undescribed plant virus, Solanum apical leaf curling virus (SALCV), was found in cultivated potato and indigenous wild solanaceous plants in an area of high jungle near San Ramon, Peru. Symptoms in potato consisting of red, purple or pink discoloration, curling, crinkling and dwarfing of apical leaves develop soon after infection. Symptoms from tuber‐borne infection may also include dwarfing and stunting, dormancy may be prolonged and sprouts may be filiform producing small plants with very thin stems. The virus is transmissible by grafting, but was not transmitted through seed, by aphids or leafhoppers tested, nor by mechanical inoculation of sap. Infected Datura tatula and D. stramonium, the most useful indicator hosts, developed yellowing of the small veins of newly formed leaves followed by distortion, dwarfing, and cupping of subsequently formed leaves. Tomato, Solanum nigrum, Nicandra physalodes and Nicotiana benthamiana were also infected experimentally. N. physalodes, Solanum basendopogon, D. tatula and Physalis peruviana were naturally infected in the field.Antiserum produced in rabbits was suitable for ELISA which detected SALCV in a range of graft‐inoculated and naturally infected plants. Most virus particles in purified preparations and those trapped on antiserum sensitised grids treated with infective sap were c. 52 times 17 nm and consisted of three quasi‐isometric units in a straight chain. This particle morphology although novel, suggests possible affinities with geminiviruses.

High Jungles and Low

High Jungles and Low

High Jungles and Low

High Jungles and Low

High Jungles and Low.Archie Carr

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksHigh Jungles and Low. Archie Carr Lorus J. Milne and Margery J. MilneLorus J. Milne Search for more articles by this author and Margery J. Milne Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 28, Number 4Dec., 1953 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/399867 Views: 1Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

High Jungles and Low

High Jungles and Low