In preparation for the upcoming World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day on January 30, I will tweet about the different countries that we are researching the devastating effects of NTDs. @mebottazzi @PeterHotez #NTD #WorldNTDDay First up is my home country of the United States of America. The USA has areas of poverty and issues with sanitation that allow the spread of tropical diseases.

theguardian.com/us-news/2017/s…

npr.org/sections/goats…

newyorker.com/magazine/2020/…

vice.com/en/article/pa5…

To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, I will highlight the work I do throughout Latin America.
Both sides of my family are from Mexico and I have a special affinity for the Yucatan Peninsula! My first expedition was to Ecuador to field test our new multi-parallel real-time quantitative PCR. qPCR is more sensitive/specific than microscopy and also to test for cure and reinfection. Action shots of me in the jungle and Pacific coast. @AJTMH
ajtmh.org/docserver/full…

An important reminder on the potenital catastrophe of disseminated strongyloidiasis. A key teaching point is we have 5 to 25% of people living in the USA infected with Strongyloides.
ajtmh.org/content/journa… We detected 25% in people infected with HIV living in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.11…

Processing soil samples from the Southern USA. We use flotation, filtration, and concentration technique to isolate parasite DNA from dirt. @dwmccormick @BlackburnCrudo We first weigh and dry the samples, making the sample easier to work with and also maximizing the yield of parasite DNA.

Our final print is out for Strongyloides stercoralis Infection in Solid Organ Transplant Patients Is Associated With Eosinophil Activation and Intestinal Inflammation: A Cross-sectional Study. Thanks to @EvaClarkMD @Strongylady @karlajbautista_ @a5hi5h
academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar… We detected increased eosinophils in those infected with Strongyloides and associated with increased Strongy specific IgG.