PREVALENCE OF PLASMODIUM SPECIES AND CO-INFECTION WITH EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS AMONG SELECTED PATIENTS ATTENDING ABUTH, ZARIA-NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Infectious agents are important contributors to the global cancer burden particularly in Africa. Of the 12.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed worldwide in 2008, about two million were attributable to infectious agents, of which 1.6 million occurred in less developed regions of the world (Odutola, et al., 2016). In its 2009 review of the carcinogenicity of infectious agents, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found sufficient evidence to conclude that seven viruses: human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1), Kaposi‘s sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV), and human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1), were carcinogenic to humans (Odutola, et al., 2016).
In March, 1964 the Lancet Medical Journal published a remarkable piece of research from three scientists called Anthony Epstein, Yvonne Barr, and Burt Achong. They had discovered the first human virus that is the etiology of cancer, and the virus was named after them: Epstein-Barr virus, EBV (Smith, 2014). Owing to Burkitt‘s intrepid studies in Africa and Epstein‘s persistence, we now know that EBV infection plays a role in diverse types of cancer, including lymphomas, nasopharyngeal cancers and some stomach cancers (Smith, 2014).
Epstein-Barr virus was the first human virus to be directly implicated in carcinogenesis (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004). It infects >90% of the world‘s population (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004). Although most humans coexist with the virus without serious sequelae, a small proportion progress to develop tumors (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004). Normal host populations can have vastly different susceptibility to EBV-related tumors as demonstrated by geographical and immunological variations in the prevalence of these cancers (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004). The presence of this virus has also been associated with epithelial malignancies arising in the gastric region and the breast, although some of this work remains in dispute(Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004). Epstein-Barr virus uses its viral proteins, the actions of which mimic several growth factors, transcription factors, and anti- apoptotic factors, to usurp control of the cellular pathways that regulate diverse homeostatic cellular functions (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004).
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PREVALENCE OF PLASMODIUM SPECIES AND CO-INFECTION WITH EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS AMONG SELECTED PATIENTS ATTENDING ABUTH, ZARIA-NIGERIA
