Christelle Pomares

University of Nice Sophia Antipolis | UNS · Faculty of Sciences

Bed bugs are considered a major public health problem in industrialized countries. Usually, bed bug infestations are managed using a combination of physical and chemical methods. In recent years, new strategies for bed bug control have emerged, particularly the use of dusts like diatomaceous earth and silicon dioxide. However, in Europe, the use of...

The prevalence of asymptomatic leishmaniasis in dogs and their owners in the main endemic areas of France has not been studied to date. The objective of this study was to quantify asymptomatic Leishmania infantum infection in southeast France in healthy people and their dogs using molecular and serological screening techniques. We examined the pres...

The ISAGA immunocapture test for the detection of anti-Toxoplasma immunoglobulin M is a manual technique known for its excellent sensitivity and specificity. The purpose of this retrospective, multicenter study was to compare the performances and agreement between ISAGA and other IgM detection techniques before cessation of ISAGA production. The an...

This study aimed to evaluate different serological strategies for the postnatal diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis (CT) and establish a biological algorithm for CT diagnosis. The study analyzed serological data of immunoglobulins M, A, and G (IgM, IgA, IgG) performed by immunoenzymatic and compared immunological profile (CIP) assays in 668 newbo...

Introduction: Arthropods are known to impair human health in various manners, acting as infectious disease vectors, or as simple nuisances. Even though considerable research is being produced in medical entomology, no reports on patient management in clinical entomology units are available in the literature. Patients and methods: We retrospectiv...

Primary infection during pregnancy by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii can be worrisome because transmission to the fetus may lead to congenital toxoplasmosis (CT). Neonatal diagnosis is usually performed by serological profile comparison of the mother and newborn. As previously reported in 2012 by C. L’Ollivier et al., three IgM bands at 75, 90 and...

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a major health problem and its diagnosis still represents a challenge. Since consistent evidence on the comparison of serological methods is lacking, our work aims to compare five serological tests for the diagnosis of visceral and asymptomatic leishmaniasis in southern France, a region where leishmaniasis is endemic...

In France, onychomycoses represent about 30% of superficial mycoses seen by the dermatologists. In recent years, it is observed an increased number of mycoses due to non-dermatophytic molds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological profile of identified superficial fungal infections in the Laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology of...

Background Cases of Toxoplasma reactivation or more severe primary infection have been reported in patients receiving immunosuppressive (IS) treatment for autoimmune diseases (AID). The purpose of this study was to describe features of toxoplasmosis occurring in patients with AID treated by IS therapy, excluded HIV-positive and transplant patients....

Background: Documented trichinellosis outbreaks in Lebanon date back to the late 19th century. The first published outbreaks were attributed to the consumption of wild boar meat, while those that followed incriminated pork. The practice of hunting wild boar is currently re-emerging in Lebanon given the recent economic crisis that has limited the p...

Commercial multiplex PCR assay panels were developed to overcome the limitations of microscopic examination for parasitological diagnosis on stool samples. However, given the increased supply of this diagnostic approach, these assays must be evaluated to position them in a diagnostic algorithm. Analytical performances of the multiplex PCR assay G-D...

Résumé Objectif Évaluer les pratiques diagnostiques et thérapeutiques puis établir un consensus sur la prise en charge de la toxoplasmose oculaire en France grâce à une étude Delphi. Méthodes Vingt-trois experts français de la toxoplasmose oculaire ont été invités à répondre à une étude Delphi modifiée menée en ligne, sous forme de deux questionn...

Malaria is still an endemic disease in Africa, with many imported cases in Europe. The standard treatment is intravenous artesunate for severe malaria and oral artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for uncomplicated malaria. Delayed hemolytic anemia (DHA) after intravenous artesunate has been extensively described, and guidelines recommend bi...

It is urgent to develop less toxic and more efficient treatments for leishmaniases and trypanosomiases. We explore the possibility to target the parasite mitochondrial HslVU protease, which is essential for growth and has no analogue in the human host. For this, we develop compounds potentially inhibiting the complex assembly by mimicking the C-ter...

Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis transmitted by the bite of female sand flies. According to the WHO, the estimated annual incidence of leishmaniasis is one million new cases, resulting in 30,000 deaths per year. The recommended drugs for treating leishmaniasis include Amphotericin B. But over the course of the ye...

Synopsis Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of candidemia, the fungal susceptibility, the first-line therapy and the morality rate over 5 years. Knowing the differences of the yeasts in the candidemia local epidemiology, is essential to obtain information on fungal epidemiology to adapt antifungal strategies. M...

We report patients in their homes in France who had cutaneous lesions caused by Anthrenus sp. larvae during the end of winter and into spring. These lesions mimic bites but are allergic reactions to larvae hairs pegged in the skin. These lesions should be distinguished from bites of bed bugs or fleas.

Background Malaria is still an endemic disease in Africa with many imported cases in Europe. The standard treatment is intravenous artesunate for severe malaria and oral artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for uncomplicated malaria. Delayed hemolytic anemia (DHA) after intravenous artesunate has been extensively described and guidelines rec...

Background: Malaria is a potentially lethal parasitic disease due to infection by Plasmodium parasites, transmitted by Anopheles mosquito vectors. Various preventative measures may be recommended for travellers who visit endemic areas. The diagnosis is generally evoked in the context of a febrile patient returning from an endemic zone. Nevertheless...

In the non-AIDS group, several underlying conditions and immune defects could lead to different PCP presentations. This study compared PCP presentation and outcome according to the underlying disease. A secondary analysis of a previously published prospective observational study including 544 PCP patients was done. Only non-AIDS patients were inclu...

Dysregulated immune response is the key factor leading to unfavorable coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcome. Depending on the pathogen-associated molecular pattern, the NLRP3 inflammasome can play a crucial role during innate immunity activation. To date, studies describing the NLRP3 response during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavir...

Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis transmitted by the bite of female sand flies. According to the WHO, the estimated annual incidence of leishmaniasis is one million new cases, resulting in 30 000 deaths per year. The recommended drugs for treating leishmaniasis include Amphotericin B. But over the course of the ye...

Objective: To describe the lesions detected by prenatal ultrasound examination in congenital toxoplasmosis (CT). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all cases of fetal infection with T. gondii with ultrasound anomalies described by fetal medicine experts in 2009-2019 in 30 French centers. Results: Eighty-eight cases of CT were included. Forty...

Background We report a case of fatal congenital toxoplasmosis with maternal infection dated four months before pregnancy in the absence of any specific immunosuppressive condition. Case Ms. D. experienced submaxillary lymphadenitis in February 2018. The medical workup performed revealed an acute T. gondii infection. She became pregnant in June 201...

Background: During 2017, in response to a physician's report, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, began investigating an outbreak of febrile illness among attendees of a retreat where never frozen, intentionally undercooked, locally harvested venison was served. Preliminary testing tentatively identified the ill...

Background Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is endemic in the Mediterranean basin. However, large-scale comparative analyses of the commercial kits for the serological diagnosis of this neglected disease are lacking. This study compared the performances of four enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and two immunochromatographic tests (ICT)...

Leishmaniases are a group of parasitic diseases transmitted through the bite of female phlebotomine sandflies. Depending on the Leishmania species, the reservoirs can be humans (anthroponosis) or different animals (zoonosis). Zoonotic leishmaniasis present several clinical forms in function of the species involved: visceral leishmaniasis (VL), cuta...

Toxoplasma gondii DNA detection is essential to diagnose antenatally a congenital infection and reactivation of a past infection in an immunocompromised patient. First PCR methods targeted the 35-fold repetitive B1 gene and more recently, coding sequence Rep 529 was preferred as it was described to be 200 to 300-fold repeated and yielded a far bett...

Background: The drug combination atovaquone-proguanil, is recommended for treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in France. Despite high efficacy, atovaquone-proguanil treatment failures have been reported. Resistance to cycloguanil, the active metabolite of proguanil, is conferred by multiple mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum dihydrof...

Background: Primary infection by Toxoplasma gondii in pregnant women can result in serious outcomes for the foetus. A false-positive IgG result during pregnancy can lead to a misdiagnosis of past infection and to stopping preventive measures. We collected 189 sera with positive Architect® Toxo IgG assay (Abbott Laboratories) and negative IgG resul...

Sampling the blood compartment by an invasive procedure such as phlebotomy is the most common approach used for diagnostic purposes. However, phlebotomy has several drawbacks including pain, vasovagal reactions, and anxiety. Therefore, alternative approaches should be tested to minimize patient’s discomfort. Saliva is a reasonable compartment; when...

Cryptosporidium spp. Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis are opportunistic pathogens responsible for gastrointestinal diseases. We evaluated the ParaGENIE Crypto-Micro Real-Time PCR kit (Ademtech, France), the first CE-IVD compliant PCR assay available for these pathogens. This study was conducted blindly against a reference pa...

Given the prevalence of cancer and leishmaniasis worldwide, the presence of these two pathologies in the same tissue sample may be merely fortuitous. The clinical outcome of both diseases is under the control of innate and adaptive immunity, and in both cases these progressive diseases are characterized by an impaired host Th1 response. As a conseq...

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of prophylaxis to prevent prenatal toxoplasmosis transmission is controversial, without any previous randomized clinical trial. In France, spiramycin is usually prescribed for maternal seroconversions. A more potent pyrimethamine + sulfadiazine regimen is used to treat congenital toxoplasmosis and is offered in some countri...

Microscopy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal parasites but is time-consuming and dependent on operator skills. Rapid diagnostic tests represent alternative methods but most evaluations have been conducted on a limited number of samples preventing their implementation in the clinical setting. We evaluated a new CE-IVD marked...

Background: Whereas in Europe most of Toxoplasma gondii genotypes belong to the type II lineage, in Latin America, type II is rare and atypical strains predominate. In North America, data on T. gondii genotypes in humans are scarce. Methods: In this study, T. gondii DNA samples from 67 patients with diagnosed toxoplasmosis in the United States w...

Introduction. Toxoplasmosis is a life-threatening parasitic disease for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) and solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. The risk of toxoplasmosis in transplant patients mainly depends on the degree of immunosuppression, the tropism of Toxoplasma gondii for the grafted tissue, and the seroprevalence in the gene...

Lichens are complex symbiotic organisms able to produce a vast array of compounds. The Algerian lichen diversity has only prompted little interest even given the 1085 species listed. Herein, the chemodiversity of four Algerian lichens including Cladonia rangiformis, Ramalina farinaceae, R. fastigiata and Roccella phycopsis was investigated. A derep...

Objectives: Besides the potential to identify a wide variety of gastrointestinal parasites, microscopy remains the gold standard in clinical microbiology for amoeba species identification and especially, when coupled with adhesin detection, to discriminate the pathogenic E. histolytica from its sisters but non-pathogenic species E. dispar/E. mosch...

Evaluation of a new commercial immunochromatographic assay (Crypto/Giardia K-SeT, CORIS BioConcept, Belgium) for simultaneous detection of Giardia intestinalis and Cryptosporidium spp. antigens from stool specimens.

Introduction: Majority of Toxoplasma gondii infections are benign and asymptomatic; however, some patients experience toxoplasmic lymphadenitis (TL). Factors associated as to whether infection will be symptomatic or not are unknown. Methods: Dye test titers of patients with acute toxoplasmosis (pregnant and not pregnant) with TL (TL+) were compa...

A maternal Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy is a risk for congenital infection through maternal-fetal transplacental transmission. Estimation of the date of infection is of the utmost importance for management and treatment recommendations. In this setting, IgG avidity has been shown to be useful as high avidity rules out an infection d...

Recent studies have demonstrated that screening and treatment for toxoplasmosis during gestation results in a decrease of vertical transmission and clinical sequelae. Early treatment was associated with improved outcomes. Thus, laboratory methods should aim at the early identification of infants with congenital toxoplasmosis (CT). Diagnostic approa...

We report the use of the multiplexed T. gondii IgG, IgM test on plasmonic gold (pGOLD) platform in the setting of T. gondii infection by analyzing 244 sera from Nice, France (seroconversion, chronically infected, non-infected and in newborns serum samples). Results were compared with commercial tests for the detection of IgG and IgM and their overa...

Background Blastocystis sp. is the most common intestinal parasite of humans. Despite its potential public health impact, epidemiological data regarding the prevalence and molecular subtype distribution of Blastocystis sp. in Europe are rarely reported. Therefore, the first multi-center epidemiological survey performed in Europe was conducted in Fr...

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii which can lead to severe sequelae in the fetus during pregnancy. Definitive serologic diagnosis of the infection during gestation is mostly made by detecting T. gondii specific antibodies including immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) individually in a sin...

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is an acute and life-threatening lung disease caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii . If PCP presentation among HIV positive patients is well known with a triad of dyspnea, fever and cough, the presentation in HIV negative patients is atypical with sudden outbreak, O2 desaturation and rapid lethal outcom...

Alterations in the composition of commensal bacterial populations, a phenomenon known as dysbiosis, are linked to multiple gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, or to infections by diverse enteric pathogens. Blastocystis is one of the most common single-celled eukaryotes detected in human faeca...

In the south of France, Leishmania infantum is responsible for numerous cases of canine leishmaniasis (CanL), sporadic cases of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and rare cases of cutaneous and muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL and MCL, respectively). Several endemic areas have been clearly identified in the south of France including the Pyrénées-Or...

Microscopy is the reference standard for routine laboratory diagnosis in faecal parasitology but there is growing interest in alternative methods to overcome the limitations of microscopic examination, which is time-consuming and highly dependent on an operator's skills and expertise. Compared with microscopy, DNA detection by PCR is simple and can...

A positive Toxoplasma immunoglobulin M (IgM) result is often interpreted as a marker of an acute infection. However, IgM can persist for several years, and Toxoplasma commercial IgM diagnostic test kits can yield a number of false-positive results. For these reasons, a chronic Toxoplasma infection can be erroneously classified as an acute infection...

Microsatellite markers have been used for Leishmania genetic studies worldwide, giving useful insight into leishmaniasis epidemiology. Understanding the geographic distribution, dynamics of Leishmania populations, and disease epidemiology improved markedly with this tool. In endemic foci, the origins of antimony-resistant strains and multidrug trea...

Leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum is endemic in the Mediterranean region. Its visceral form can present a diagnostic challenge owing to the disease's wide spectrum of clinical presentations. We describe the very atypical case of a 66-year-old male Caucasian patient with hepatopulmonary syndrome and an exceptionally rare expression of visc...

Background We describe histological, clinical findings and outcomes of renal involvement during Leishmania infantum infection in four HIV-infected patients in South France and North Italy hospital settings.Cases presentationFour HIV-infected Caucasian patients (age 24-49) performed renal biopsy during episodes of visceral leishmaniasis. They presen...

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) in patients without AIDS is increasingly common. We conducted a prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with proven PCP; of 544 patients, 223 (41%) had AIDS (AIDS patients) and 321 (59%) had other immunosuppressive disorders (non-AIDS patients). Fewer AIDS than non-AIDS patients required intensive car...

Co-infections among 544 Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia patients with and without AIDS and survival for those with versus without co-infections, France, January 1, 2007–December 31, 2010.

Antimonials remain the first-line treatment for the various manifestations of leishmaniasis in most areas where the disease is endemic, and increasing cases of therapeutic failure associated with parasite resistance have been reported. In this study, we assessed the molecular status of 47 clinical isolates of Leishmania causing visceral and cutaneo...

A 38-year-old man, returned from Ivory Coast 2 months ago and presented with a 3-month history of pruritus exclusively on the scrotum. Itching was continuous during the day and no pruritus was described in his wife and son. Clinical examination of the genitals revealed several nodules on the scrotum, a chancrous lesion was seen on the penis, and mu...

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite responsible for gastroenteritis, especially in immunocompromised patients. Laboratory diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis relies on microscopy, antigen detection, and nucleic acid detection and analysis. Among the numerous molecular targets available, the 18S rRNA gene displays the best sensitivity and sequence va...

For numerous infectious diseases affecting humans, clinical manifestations range from asymptomatic forms to severe pathologies. The originality of this study was its focus on asymptomatic carriers (ACs) of Leishmania infantum in southern France. The fundamental interest in these ACs is that they can be a reservoir of potentially pathogenic microorg...

Visceral leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum is currently spreading into new foci across Europe. Leishmania infantum transmission in the Old World was reported to be strongly associated with a few specific environments. Environmental changes due to global warming or human activity were therefore incriminated in the spread of the disease. Howev...