Prevalence of Legionella among pneumonia patients and environmental water samples in an Egyptian University Hospital

AbstractObjectives: to diagnose Legionella infection in community- acquired pneumonia (CAP) cases admitted to chest department of Zagazig University Hospital and in hospital- acquired pneumonia (HAP) patients hospitalized in the emergency and surgery ICU, to determine incidence of these disease condition and to identify risk factors. Another objective was to determine the occurrence of Legionella genus in the water of these departments.Subjects and methods: one hundred pneumonic patients; 50 patients with CAP and 50 with HAP were the subject of this laboratory-based, comparative cross sectional study. Full clinical history and lower respiratory tract specimens were collected from each patient. Water samples were taken from 25 water outlets. DNA was extracted by QIAamp DNA Mini Kit, and real time PCR amplification of 16s r-RNA gene was used for diagnosis of Legionella genus. Risk factors were analyzed by logistic regression analysis.Results: Legionella genus was identified in eight out of 50 patients of CAP (16%), and ten out of 50 patients with HAP (20%). As regards CAP, Legionella was prevalent in old- age, smoker males, with diabetes mellitus (DM) and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and neurological manifestations were the main presentations. Seventy-five percent needed ICU admission. Concerning HAP, hospitalization for more than ten days and having a stroke or head trauma were significant risk factors. Ten out of the 25 water samples tested were positive for Legionella genus; seven samples were from the chest department and three were from emergency ICU. No water-contamination with Legionella was found in the surgery ICU.Discussion: diagnosis of Legionella should be considered for both CAP and HAP in our locality. Periodic surveillance for detection of that genus with subsequent disinfection of water sources when indicated should be carried out

Dead or alive: animal sampling during Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in humans

There are currently no widely accepted animal surveillance guidelines for human Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreak investigations to identify potential sources of Ebolavirus (EBOV) spillover into humans and other animals. Animal field surveillance during and following an outbreak has several purposes, from helping identify the specific animal source of a human case to guiding control activities by describing the spatial and temporal distribution of wild circulating EBOV, informing public health efforts, and contributing to broader EHF research questions. Since 1976, researchers have sampled over 10,000 individual vertebrates from areas associated with human EHF outbreaks and tested for EBOV or antibodies. Using field surveillance data associated with EHF outbreaks, this review provides guidance on animal sampling for resource-limited outbreak situations, target species, and in some cases which diagnostics should be prioritized to rapidly assess the presence of EBOV in animal reservoirs. In brief, EBOV detection was 32.7% (18/55) for carcasses (animals found dead) and 0.2% (13/5309) for live captured animals. Our review indicates that for the purposes of identifying potential sources of transmission from animals to humans and isolating suspected virus in an animal in outbreak situations, (1) surveillance of free-ranging non-human primate mortality and morbidity should be a priority, (2) any wildlife morbidity or mortality events should be investigated and may hold the most promise for locating virus or viral genome sequences, (3) surveillance of some bat species is worthwhile to isolate and detect evidence of exposure, and (4) morbidity, mortality, and serology studies of domestic animals should prioritize dogs and pigs and include testing for virus and previous exposure

Effect of potassium and biological fertilization on vegetative growth characteristics of two potatoes cultivars (Solanum tuberosum L.)

This experiment was carried out during the spring growing season 2021 in the research field of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry / University of Mosul / Tourist Forestry Zone, to study the response of three factors in the vegetative growth traits of the potato varieties. The first factor included two varieties of potatoes (Taurus and Universa), the second factor included bio-fertilizer (Trichoderma fungi) with two levels and only once (5 g.m2, without addition), and the third factor included potassium fertilizer as sulfate potassium at four levels (0, 100, 200, 300 kg.ha-1). The results were as follows: The treatment of the cultivar Taurus gave the highest significant values in plant height, leafy area, number of aerial stems, relative content of chlorophyll in the leaves and percentage of dry matter in the leaves a value of 96.18 cm.Plant-1 , 5918.6 cm2.Plant-1 , 3.41 steem.Plant-1, 23.58 and 17.88% respectively. The treatment of bio-fertilization at a concentration of 5 g.m2 was given the highest significant values in the relative content of chlorophyll in the leaves at a value of 22.35.&nbsp

Beeinflussung der Spontaninsuffizienz des Herz-Lungen-Präparates durch Milz- und Lebervenenblut

35 modifizierten Herz-Lungen-Präparaten vom Hund wurde Lebervenenblut eines Spendertieres oder Milzvenenblut einer vom Herz-Lungen-Präparat selbst durchströmten Milz zugeführt. In 47 Reaktionen auf etwa 40 ml Lebervenenblut stieg in 75% der Beobachtungen der Blutdruck bei vergrößerter Amplitude und praktisch unveränderter Herzfrequenz und blieb bis zu 20 min erhöht. Vergleichbare Mengen arteriellen oder venösen Blutes derselben Spenderhunde bewirkten nur in 23% der Fälle geringere Blutdruckanstiege. In 17 von 19 Versuchen war nach etwa 200 ml Milzvenenblut einer vom Herz-Lungen-Präparat selbst durchbluteten Milz der Blutdruckanstieg etwa von gleicher Größe und Dauer wie nach Lebervenenblut. Die Schlagfrequenz blieb ebenfalls unbeeinflußt. Die Coronardurchblutung verlief gegensinnig. Nach Lebervenenblut nahm sie in der Regel ab, nach Milzvenenblut stieg sie an. Im Leber- und Milzvenenblut sind herzwirksame Faktoren enthalten, die von diesen Organen freigesetzt werden. Die Wirkfaktoren sind wahrscheinlich nicht identisch. Alle untersuchten Reaktionen des Herz-Lungen-Präparates nach Zugabe von Lebervenenblut stimmen qualitativ mit den früher am Ganztier beschriebenen Besserungen der Kraft kontraktilitätsgeschädigter Herzen nach Auslösung des „Milz-Leber-Mechanismus“ überein