Articles

Pneumomediastinum as initial presentation of paralytic rabies: A case report

Rabies is readily diagnosed when it presents as the classic furious form. Paralytic and atypical forms can pose significant problems in diagnosis. Catastrophic incidents included 7 organ transplant recipients ...

Authors: Pongtorn Kietdumrongwong and Thiravat Hemachudha

Systemic and local antibiotic prophylaxis in the prevention of Staphylococcus epidermidisgraft infection

The aim of the study was to investigate the in vivo efficacy of local and systemic antibiotic prophylaxis in the prevention of Staphylococcus (S.) epidermidis graft infection in a rat model and to evaluate the ba...

Authors: Huseyin Turgut, Suzan Sacar, Ilknur Kaleli, Mustafa Sacar, Ibrahim Goksin, Semra Toprak, Ali Asan, Nural Cevahir, Koray Tekin and Ahmet Baltalarli

Cardiac involvement in a patient with clinical and serological evidence of African tick-bite fever

Myocarditis and pericarditis are rare complications of rickettsiosis, usually associated with Rickettsia rickettsii and R. conorii. African tick-bite fever (ATBF) is generally considered as a benign disease and n...

Authors: Cristina Bellini, Matteo Monti, Mathieu Potin, Anne Dalle Ave, Jacques Bille and Gilbert Greub

The burden of diarrhoea, shigellosis, and cholera in North Jakarta, Indonesia: findings from 24 months surveillance

In preparation of vaccines trials to estimate protection against shigellosis and cholera we conducted a two-year community-based surveillance study in an impoverished area of North Jakarta which provided updat...

Authors: Magdarina D Agtini, Rooswanti Soeharno, Murad Lesmana, Narain H Punjabi, Cyrus Simanjuntak, Ferry Wangsasaputra, Dazwir Nurdin, Sri Pandam Pulungsih, Ainur Rofiq, Hari Santoso, H Pujarwoto, Agus Sjahrurachman, Pratiwi Sudarmono, Lorenz von Seidlein, Jacqueline L Deen, Mohammad Ali…

A multicenter trial of the efficacy and safety of tigecycline versus imipenem/cilastatin in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections [Study ID Numbers: 3074A1-301-WW; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00081744]

Complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) remain challenging to treat because of their polymicrobial etiology including multi-drug resistant bacteria. The efficacy and safety of tigecycline, an expanded br...

Authors: María E Oliva, Arcot Rekha, Albert Yellin, Jacyr Pasternak, Maria Campos, Gilbert M Rose, Timothy Babinchak, Evelyn J Ellis-Grosse and Evan Loh

A simple and rapid approach for screening of SARS-coronavirus genotypes: an evaluation study

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was a newly emerged infectious disease which caused a global epidemic in 2002–2003. Sequence analysis of SARS-coronavirus isolates revealed that specific genotypes ...

Authors: Grace TY Chung, Rossa WK Chiu, Jo LK Cheung, Yongjie Jin, Stephen SC Chim, Paul KS Chan and YM Dennis Lo

Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases among Gram-negative bacteria of nosocomial origin from an Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary health facility in Tanzania

Resistance to third generation cephalosporins due to acquisition and expression of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) enzymes among Gram-negative bacteria is on the increase. Presence of ESBL producing organ...

Authors: Faustine Ndugulile, Roland Jureen, Stig Harthug, Willy Urassa and Nina Langeland

Dementia-specific risks of scabies: Retrospective epidemiologic analysis of an unveiled nosocomial outbreak in Japan from 1989–90

Although senile dementia patients in long-term care facilities are at leading risk of scabies, the epidemiologic characteristics of this disease have yet to be fully clarified. This study documents the finding...

Authors: Masae Tsutsumi, Hiroshi Nishiura and Toshio Kobayashi

Use of "biokitHSV-2 Rapid Assay" to improve the positive predictive value of Focus HerpeSelect HSV-2 ELISA

Commercially available assays to detect antibodies to the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)-specific glycoprotein gG-2 have markedly improved serologic diagnosis of HSV-2 infection. However, even tests with ...

Authors: Rhoda Ashley Morrow, David Friedrich, Amalia Meier and Lawrence Corey

The 3' region of Human Papillomavirus type 16 early mRNAs decrease expression

High risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infects mucosal surfaces and HR-HPV infection is required for development of cervical cancer. Accordingly, enforced expression of the early HR-HPV proteins can induce im...

Authors: Jeppe Vinther, Maiken W Rosenstierne, Karen Kristiansen and Bodil Norrild

Prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Pseudomonas luteola

Pseudomonas luteola has been recognized as an uncommon cause of bacteremia and of infections in patients with underlying medical disorders

Authors: Jean-Paul Casalta, Pierre-Edouard Fournier, Gilbert Habib, Alberto Riberi and Didier Raoult

Identification of moaA3 gene in patient isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Kerala, which is absent in M. tuberculosisH37Rv and H37Ra

Tuberculosis is endemic to developing countries like India. Though the whole genome sequences of the type strain M. tuberculosis H37Rv and the clinical strain M. tuberculosis CDC1551 are available, the clinical i...

Authors: Suma Sarojini, Smitha Soman, Indulakshmi Radhakrishnan and Sathish Mundayoor

Persistence of lipoatrophy after a four-year long interruption of antiretroviral therapy for HIV1 infection: case report

HIV-infected patients on long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy often present peculiar patterns of fat redistribution, referred to as lipodystrophy. In spite of recent investigations, it is not known w...

Authors: Giustino Parruti and Giuseppe Marani Toro

Low pH immobilizes and kills human leukocytes and prevents transmission of cell-associated HIV in a mouse model

Both cell-associated and cell-free HIV virions are present in semen and cervical secretions of HIV-infected individuals. Thus, topical microbicides may need to inactivate both cell-associated and cell-free HIV...

Authors: Stuart S Olmsted, Kristen V Khanna, Erina M Ng, Steven T Whitten, Owen N Johnson III, Richard B Markham, Richard A Cone and Thomas R Moench

GB virus-C – a virus without a disease: We cannot give it chronic fatigue syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an illness in search of an infectious etiology. GB virus-C (GBV-C) virus is a flavivirus with cell tropism and host defense induction qualities compatible with a role in produ...

Authors: James F Jones, Prasad S Kulkarni, Salvatore T Butera and William C Reeves

Prevalence of human papillomavirus cervical infection in an Italian asymptomatic population

In the last decade many studies have definitely shown that human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the major cause of cervical carcinogenesis and, in the last few years, HPV testing has been proposed as a new and mo...

Authors: Maria G Centurioni, Andrea Puppo, Domenico F Merlo, Gennaro Pasciucco, Enzo R Cusimano, Rodolfo Sirito and Claudio A Gustavino

Use of a nested PCR-enzyme immunoassay with an internal control to detect Chlamydophila psittaciin turkeys

Laboratory diagnosis of Chlamydophila psittaci, an important turkey respiratory pathogen, is difficult. To facilitate the diagnosis, a nested PCR-enzyme immunoassay (PCR-EIA) was developed to detect the Cp. psitt...

Authors: Marnix Van Loock, Kristel Verminnen, Trudy O Messmer, Guido Volckaert, Bruno M Goddeeris and Daisy Vanrompay

Dog filariosis in the Lazio region (Central Italy): first report on the presence of Dirofilaria repens

Epidemiological investigations were carried out in the Lazio Region to assess the status of canine filariosis and to evaluate the actual risk for veterinary and medical public health.

Authors: Paola Scaramozzino, Simona Gabrielli, Michele Di Paolo, Marcello Sala, Francesco Scholl and Gabriella Cancrini

Leprosy & gangrene: A rare association; role of anti phospholipid antibodies

Leprosy still remains an important public health problem for many parts of the world. An association of gangrene with leprosy is a rare one & can have a number of causative mechanisms. We present a case with L...

Authors: Shashank M Akerkar and Lata S Bichile

Generation of human antibody fragments recognizing distinct epitopes of the nucleocapsid (N) SARS-CoV protein using a phage display approach

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV is a newly emerging virus that causes SARS with high mortality rate in infected people. Successful control of the global SARS epidemic will require rapid and sensit...

Authors: Michela Flego, Paola Di Bonito, Alessandro Ascione, Silvia Zamboni, Alessandra Carattoli, Felicia Grasso, Antonio Cassone and Maurizio Cianfriglia

Population-based laboratory surveillance for Giardia sp. and Cryptosporidium sp. infections in a large Canadian health region

Giardia lamblia (intestinalis) and Cryptosporidium parvum are the two most important intestinal parasites infecting North Americans but there is a paucity of active population-based surveillance data from Canada...

Authors: Kevin B Laupland and Deirdre L Church

Effects of type and level of training on variation in physician knowledge in the use and acquisition of blood cultures: a cross sectional survey

Blood culture (BCX) use is often sub-optimal, and is a user-dependent diagnostic test. Little is known about physician training and BCX-related knowledge. We sought to assess variations in caregiver BCX-relate...

Authors: Jorge P Parada, David N Schwartz, Gordon D Schiff and Kevin B Weiss

Mortality following Campylobacter infection: a registry-based linkage study

Campylobacteriosis is one of the most commonly identified causes of bacterial diarrheal disease and a common cause of gastroenteritis in travellers from developed nations. Despite the widespread occurrence, th...

Authors: Anders Ternhag, Anna Törner, Åke Svensson, Johan Giesecke and Karl Ekdahl

Different patterns of HIV-1 DNA after therapy discontinuation

By persisting in infected cells for a long period of time, proviral HIV-1 DNA can represent an alternative viral marker to RNA viral load during the follow-up of HIV-1 infected individuals. In the present stud...

Authors: Maria Carla Re, Francesca Vitone, Laura Sighinolfi, Pasqua Schiavone, Florio Ghinelli and Davide Gibellini

Arcanobacterium haemolyticum associated with pyothorax: case report

Arcanobacterium haemolyticum has an established role in the etiology of human pharyngitis. There are increasing reports of systemic infections caused by this organism. From India, we report the first case of Arc...

Authors: Subhash Chandra Parija, Venkatesh Kaliaperumal, Saka Vinod Kumar, Sistla Sujatha, Venkateshwara Babu and V Balu

Safety and tolerability of nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients receiving fluconazole for cryptococcal prophylaxis: a retrospective cohort study

To compare the adverse events after initiation of nevirapine-based ART among HIV-infected patients who did not receive fluconazole (group A), received fluconazole 400 mg/week (group B), and received fluconazol...

Authors: Weerawat Manosuthi, Nopphanath Chumpathat, Achara Chaovavanich and Somnuek Sungkanuparph

Does age acquired immunity confer selective protection to common serotypes of Campylobacter jejuni?

Campylobacter infection is a major cause of bacterial gastrointestinal disease. Exposure to Campylobacter is known to produce an immune response in humans that can prevent future symptomatic infections. Further,...

Authors: Gordon Miller, Geoff M Dunn, Thomas MS Reid, Iain D Ogden and Norval JC Strachan

Erratum to: Investigation of Staphylococcus strains with heterogeneous resistance to glycopeptides in a Turkish university hospital

Authors: Yasar Nakipoglu, Sengul Derbentli, Atahan A Cagatay and Handan Katranci

Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in monocytes during acute Dengue Fever in patients and during in vitro infection

Mononuclear phagocytes are considered to be main targets for Dengue Virus (DENV) replication. These cells are activated after infection, producing proinflammatory mediators, including tumour-necrosis factor-α,...

Authors: Patrícia CF Neves-Souza, Elzinandes L Azeredo, Sonia MO Zagne, Rogério Valls-de-Souza, Sonia RNI Reis, Denise IS Cerqueira, Rita MR Nogueira and Claire F Kubelka

A nested-PCR with an Internal Amplification Control for the detection and differentiation of Bartonella henselae and B. clarridgeiae: An examination of cats in Trinidad

Bartonella species are bacterial blood parasites of animals capable of causing disease in both animals and man. Cat-Scratch Disease (CSD) in humans is caused mainly by Bartonella henselae and is acquired from th...

Authors: Joanne N Rampersad, John D Watkins, Michael S Samlal, Raymond Deonanan, Shalini Ramsubeik and David R Ammons

A commercial line probe assay for the rapid detection of rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a leading cause of death worldwide. In multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) infectiousness is frequently prolonged, jeopardizing efforts to control TB. The conventional tuberc...

Authors: Maureen Morgan, Shriprakash Kalantri, Laura Flores and Madhukar Pai

Lack of association between serological evidence of past Coxiella burnetii infection and incident ischaemic heart disease: nested case-control study

Coxiella burnetii causes the common worldwide zoonotic infection, Q fever. It has been previously suggested that patients who had recovered from acute Q fever (whether symptomatic or otherwise) may be at incre...

Authors: Conall McCaughey, Liam J Murray, James P McKenna, Peter V Coyle, Hugh J O'Neill, Dorothy E Wyatt, Jayne V Woodside, John WG Yarnell, Pierre Ducimetiere, Annie Bingham, Philippe Amouyel, Michele Montaye, Dominique Arveiler, Bernadette Haas, Jean Ferrieres and Jean-Bernard Ruidavets

Kocuria kristinae infection associated with acute cholecystitis

Kocuria, previously classified into the genus of Micrococcus, is commonly found on human skin. Two species, K. rosea and K. kristinae, are etiologically associated with catheter-related bacteremia.

Authors: Edmond SK Ma, Chris LP Wong, Kristi TW Lai, Edmond CH Chan, WC Yam and Angus CW Chan

Bacteriophage- based tests for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical specimens: a systematic review and meta- analysis

Sputum microscopy, the most important conventional test for tuberculosis, is specific in settings with high burden of tuberculosis and low prevalence of non tuberculous mycobacteria. However, the test lacks se...

Authors: Shriprakash Kalantri, Madhukar Pai, Lisa Pascopella, Lee Riley and Arthur Reingold

Incidence and risk factors for liver enzyme elevation during highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-HCV co-infected patients: results from the Italian EPOKA-MASTER Cohort

The risk of hepatotoxicity associated with different highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens (containing multiple-protease inhibitors, single-protease inhibitors or non nucleoside reverse transcr...

Authors: Carlo Torti, Giuseppe Lapadula, Salvatore Casari, Massimo Puoti, Mark Nelson, Eugenia Quiros-Roldan, Daniele Bella, Giuseppe Pastore, Nicoletta Ladisa, Lorenzo Minoli, Giovanni Sotgiu, Francesco Mazzotta, Sergio Lo Caputo, Giovanni Di Perri, Gaetano Filice, Carmine Tinelli…

Hospitalization for pertussis: profiles and case costs by age

Pertussis, a highly contagious respiratory illness, affects people of all ages and can have serious clinical consequences. It has been reported that from 1997–2000, 20% of all pertussis cases required hospital...

Authors: Judith A O'Brien and J Jaime Caro

Seroprevalence of hepatitis A infection in a low endemicity country: a systematic review

In Canada – a low endemicity country, vaccines for hepatitis A virus (HAV) are currently recommended to individuals at increased risk for infection or its complications. Applying these recommendations is diffi...

Authors: Ba' Pham, Bernard Duval, Gaston De Serres, Vladimir Gilca, Andrea C Tricco, Jan Ochnio and David W Scheifele

Subclinical iron deficiency is a strong predictor of bacterial vaginosis in early pregnancy

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the single most common vaginal infection in women of childbearing age and associated with a sizeable infectious disease burden among both non-pregnant and pregnant women, including ...

Authors: Hans Verstraelen, Joris Delanghe, Kristien Roelens, Stijn Blot, Geert Claeys and Marleen Temmerman

Probable neuroimmunological link between Toxoplasma and cytomegalovirus infections and personality changes in the human host

Recently, a negative association between Toxoplasma-infection and novelty seeking was reported. The authors suggested that changes of personality trait were caused by manipulation activity of the parasite, aimed ...

Authors: Martina Novotná, Jitka Hanusova, Jiří Klose, Marek Preiss, Jan Havlicek, Kateřina Roubalová and Jaroslav Flegr

Rapid and simultaneous detection of human hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus antibodies based on a protein chip assay using nano-gold immunological amplification and silver staining method

Viral hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus are major public health problems all over the world. Traditional detection methods including polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays and enzy...

Authors: Lianlian Duan, Yefu Wang, Shawn Shun-cheng Li, Zhixiang Wan and Jianxin Zhai

Transmission dynamics of rabies virus in Thailand: Implications for disease control

In Thailand, rabies remains a neglected disease with authorities continuing to rely on human death statistics while ignoring the financial burden resulting from an enormous increase in post-exposure prophylaxi...

Authors: Jessada Denduangboripant, Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, Boonlert Lumlertdacha, Nipada Ruankaew, Wirongrong Hoonsuwan, Apirom Puanghat and Thiravat Hemachudha

Immunomodulatory intervention in sepsis by multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa with thalidomide: an experimental study

Thalidomide is an inhibitor of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) that has been proven effective for the treatment of experimental sepsis by Escherichia coli. It was tested whether it might behave as an effectiv...

Authors: Evangelos J Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Nikolaos Bolanos, George Laoutaris, Vassilios Papadakis, Vassilios Koussoulas, Despina Perrea, Panayotis E Karayannacos and Helen Giamarellou

Diagnostic and prognostic utility of an inexpensive rapid on site malaria diagnostic test (ParaHIT f) among ethnic tribal population in areas of high, low and no transmission in central India

Malaria presents a diagnostic challenge in most tropical countries. Rapid detection of the malaria parasite and early treatment of infection still remain the most important goals of disease management. Therefo...

Authors: Neeru Singh, AK Mishra, MM Shukla, SK Chand and Praveen Kumar Bharti

Treatment failure in a typhoid patient infected with nalidixic acid resistant S. enterica serovar Typhi with reduced susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin: a case report from Cameroon

Fluoroquinolones or third generation cephalosporins are the drugs of choice for the treatment of typhoid fever. Treatment failure with fluoroquinolones has been reported in Asia and Europe. We report a case of...

Authors: Njinkeng J Nkemngu, Etienne DN Asonganyi and Anna L Njunda

Insufficient neutralization in testing a chlorhexidine-containing ethanol-based hand rub can result in a false positive efficacy assessment

Effective neutralization in testing hand hygiene preparations is considered to be a crucial element to ensure validity of the test results, especially with the difficulty to neutralize chlorhexidine gluconate....

Authors: Günter Kampf, Marc Shaffer and Corrine Hunte

High frequency of Fredrickson's phenotypes IV and IIb in Brazilians infected by human immunodeficiency virus

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is very prevalent in Brazil. HIV therapy has been recently associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for CHD that is frequen...

Authors: Edilma MV Albuquerque, Eliana C de Faria, Helena CF Oliveira, Daniela O Magro and Lucia N Castilho

Evaluation of amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) for the identification of Mycoplasma species

Mycoplasmas are present worldwide in a large number of animal hosts. Due to their small genome and parasitic lifestyle, Mycoplasma spp. require complex isolation media. Nevertheless, already over 100 different sp...

Authors: Tim Stakenborg, Jo Vicca, Patrick Butaye, Dominiek Maes, Thierry De Baere, Rita Verhelst, Johan Peeters, Aart de Kruif, Freddy Haesebrouck and Mario Vaneechoutte

The therapeutic effect of the neuropeptide hormone somatostatin on Schistosoma mansoni caused liver fibrosis

The neuropeptide somatostatin is one of the major regulatory peptides in the central nervous system and the digestive tract. Our recent work has delineated an association between fibrosis and low levels of end...

Authors: Shyama Chatterjee, Gunther Vrolix, Inge Depoortere, Theo Peeters and Eric Van Marck

Congenital rubella syndrome in Iran

Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) can be prevented with appropriate vaccination programs. The prevalence rates of rubella and CRS in Iran are unknown; therefore, the risk of exposure in pregnant women is not c...

Authors: Jila Sadighi, Hasan Eftekhar and Kazem Mohammad

Efficacy and safety of telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 7 days in community-acquired pneumonia: an open-label, multicenter study

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Telithromycin (a new ketolide) has shown good in vitro activity against the key causative pathogens of CAP...

Authors: Charles M Fogarty, Tushar C Patel, Lala M Dunbar and Bruno P Leroy