Invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae in Sweden 1997–2009; evidence of increasing incidence and clinical burden of non‐type b strains

Introduction of a conjugated vaccine against encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) has led to a dramatic reduction of invasive Hib disease. However, an increasing incidence of invasive disease by H. influenzae non‐type b has recently been reported. Non‐type b strains have been suggested to be opportunists in an invasive context, but information on clinical consequences and related medical conditions is scarce. In this retrospective study, all H. influenzae isolates ( n  =   410) from blood and cerebrospinal fluid in three metropolitan Swedish regions between 1997 and 2009 from a population of approximately 3 million individuals were identified. All available isolates were serotyped by PCR ( n  =   250). We observed a statistically significant increase in the incidence of invasive H. influenzae disease, ascribed to non‐typeable H. influenzae (NTHi) and encapsulated strains type f (Hif) in mainly individuals >60 years of age. The medical reports from a subset of 136 cases of invasive Haemophilus disease revealed that 48% of invasive NTHi cases and 59% of invasive Hif cases, respectively, met the criteria of severe sepsis or septic shock according to the ACCP/SCCM classification of sepsis grading. One‐fifth of invasive NTHi cases and more than one‐third of invasive Hif cases were admitted to intensive care units. Only 37% of patients with invasive non‐type b disease had evidence of immunocompromise, of which conditions related to impaired humoral immunity was the most common. The clinical burden of invasive non‐type b H. influenzae disease, measured as days of hospitalization/100 000 individuals at risk and year, increased significantly throughout the study period.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87052/1/j.1469-0691.2010.03417.x.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87052/2/CLM_3417_sm_FigS1.pd

Spectroscopic studies of AFP, Anti AFP antibody and AFP/125I- anti AFP antibody complex.

The aim of this work is to characterize spectrophotometrically the isolated Alpha fetoprotein from human colorectal tumor homogenates and the molecules of both AFP antibody and the complex of AFP/anti AFP antibody.Gel filtration technique was used to separate 125I-anti AFP antibody bound to human AFP from unbound (free) 125I-anti AFP antibody. The characterization of human-AFP, anti-AFP, and (AFP/Anti-AFP) complex were carried out through the ultraviolet (U.V) spectroscopic studies.Factors affecting the light absorption properties of the molecules under investigation in this work such as pH, solvent polarity (solvent perturbation technique), spectrophotometric pH titration and thermal stability have been studied.The spectrophotometric pH titration for h-AFP, anti AFP, and (AFP/anti-AFP) complex showed that pKa for tyrosine was 9.5, 10.2, and 9.9, while for histidine was 5.7, 6.0, and 5.9 respectively. Spectrophotometric pH titration and several spectral changes were obtained in the presence of different polar and non-polar solvents, like the alteration of max position and intensities of protein spectrum, and the appearance of new chromophores on the surface of protein molecule. These chromophores where embedded in an interior region of the protein in the absence of the solvent.The difference in pH and polarity of the solvents is very important thing to characterize the protein molecules spectrophotometrially because they change the positions and values of molecules λmax in the UV region

Circulation of non-polio enteroviruses in 24 EU and EEA countries between 2015 and 2017: a retrospective surveillance study

Background Enteroviruses can cause severe infections, especially in young children. Non-polio enterovirus infections are not notifiable in most countries in the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) region, and surveillance varies substantially between countries. We collected and analysed available enterovirus data across EU and EEA countries to assess the current epidemiological situation and need for standardising surveillance. Methods Aggregated data on any enterovirus detected between Jan 1, 2015, and Dec 31, 2017, through national enterovirus reference laboratories were requested from representatives in all 31 EU and EEA countries. Information collected included enterovirus types detected by month, patient age group, symptom, and specimen type. We also collected sequence data on viral capsid sequences for the three most clinically relevant enterovirus types, as identified from the data. Findings Aggregated data were provided by representatives from 24 (77%) of 31 countries. 9914 (66%) of 14 999 enterovirus infections with information about age were in children younger than 5 years, and 3197 (45%) of 7139 individuals for whom symptoms were reported had neurological symptoms. Other symptoms were non-specific fever (in 1607 [23%] patients), respiratory symptoms (in 1197 [17%] patients), hand, foot, and mouth disease (in 528 [7% patients), and myocarditis (in 39 [1%] patients). 68 deaths were temporally associated with enterovirus infection. Typing for 11 559 (67%) of 17 136 specimens revealed 66 enterovirus types. Coxsackievirus A6 was the most frequently detected enterovirus type (in 1556 [13%] of 11 559 typed enteroviruses), and 292 (65%) of 448 patients with coxsackievirus A6 infection with available clinical data presented with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Echovirus 30 was the second most frequently detected enterovirus type, representing 1412 (12%) of 11 559 typed enteroviruses, and 384 (82%) of 467 individuals with echovirus 30 infection with available clinical data had neurological symptoms. Sequences available from 18 countries showed circulation of newly emerging strains of enterovirus A71 and enterovirus D68. Interpretation To our knowledge, this study is the largest investigation of enterovirus circulation in EU and EEA countries and confirms the availability of non-polio enterovirus data in the region. Our study highlights the wide circulation of non-polio enteroviruses in Europe, mostly affecting young children and leading to neurological symptoms. Collecting data on morbidity and mortality related to enterovirus infections, as well as harmonising case definition for surveillance, should be encouraged

Meningococcal carriage in military recruits and university students during the Pre MenB vaccination era in Greece (2014-2015)

Purpose The aim of the study was to estimate the meningococcal carriage rate and to identify the genotypic characteristics of the strains isolated from healthy military recruits and university students in order to provide data that might increase our understanding on the epidemiology of meningococcus and obtain information which helps to evaluate the potential effects on control programs such as vaccination., Methods A total of 1420 oropharyngeal single swab samples were collected from military recruits and university students on voluntary basis, aged 18-26 years. New York City Medium was used for culture and the suspected N. meningitidis colonies were identified by Gram stain, oxidase and rapid carbohydrate utilization tests. Further characterisation was carried out by molecular methods (multiplex PCR, MLST, WGS). Results The overall carriage rate was of 12.7%; 15% and 10.4% for recruits and university students respectively. MenB (39.4%) was the most prevalent followed by MenY (12.8%) and MenW (4.4%). Among the initial 76 Non Groupable (NG) isolates, Whole Genome Sequence Analysis (WGS) revealed that 8.3% belonged to MenE, 3.3% to MenX and 1.1% to MenZ, while, 53 strains (29.4%) were finally identified as capsule null. Genetic diversity was found among the MenB isolates, with 41/44 cc and 35 cc predominating. Conclusion Meningococcal carriage rate in both groups was lower compared to our previous studies (25% and 18% respectively) with predominance of MenB isolates. These findings, help to further our understanding on the epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Greece. Although the prevalence of carriage seems to have declined compared to our earlier studies, the predominant MenB clonal complexes (including 41/44cc and 35cc) are associated with invasive meningococcal disease. © 2016 Tryfinopoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited