Occupational Health and Safety in Turkey: Problems And Solutions

Since the 1980's, the rate of foreign investments by multi-national companies have been increasing very fast, the structure and percentage of sectors have been changing dramatically causing more occupational health and safety problems than ever before in Turkey. Industrialized nations transfer their old and more risky factory equipments, materials and more risky jobs such as mining to new industrializing countries; thus, industrializing countries such as Turkey have been facing serious occupational health and safety problems. The purpose of this study is to analyze occupational health and safety problems in Turkey by using current statistics and give suggestions to minimize the severe effects of occupational accidents

Parasitic zoonotic diseases in Turkey

Zoonoses and zoonotic diseases are becoming more common and they are now receiving increased attention across the world. Zoonotic parasites are found in a wide variety of protozoa, cestodes, nematodes, trematodes and arthropods worldwide and many zoonotic parasites have assumed an important role. The importance of some parasitic zoonoses has increased in recent years due to the fact that they can be agents of opportunistic infections. Although a number of zoonotic parasites are often found and do cause serious illnesses in Turkey, some are more common and these diseases are more important as they cause serious public health problems, such as leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, echinococcosis, trichinellosis and toxocariasis. Information on these zoonotic diseases is provided here as these are the most important zoonotic parasitic diseases in Turkey

Molecular Analysis of Cattle Isolates of Echinococcus granulosus in Manisa Province of Turkey

WOS: 000321750600015Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of cystic echinococcosis (CE) in humans and many domestic animals, and still one of the most important global health problem in the world and in Turkey. Infection with metacestode causes severe illness and high economic losses. Several strains of Echinococcus have been identified based on the epidemiological and biological characteristics of strains. In this study, a total of 18 individual hydatid cyst samples from cattle were examined. They were obtained from central slaughterhouse in the province of Manisa/Turkey between 2010-2012. The total genomic DNA (gDNA) was extracted using RTA-DNA Isolation Kit (Gebze/Kocaeli, Turkey) according to manufacturer instructions from protoscoleces and cystic germinal membranes. The aim of this study was to provide molecular characterization of E. granulosus isolates which were obtained from cattles by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in Manisa province of Turkey. After PCR, to investigate the genetic characteristics of isolates, deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 (NAD1) genes were performed with ABI Prism Genetic Analyzer 3100 instrument. As a result of our study, all (18) cattle isolates were detected as E. granulosus sensu stricto (G1-G3 complex). This is the first molecular study report genotyping of Echinococcus isolates from cattle in Manisa province.Scientific Research Projects Foundation Unite of Celal Bayar UniversityCelal Bayar University [2011-065]This study was supported financially by the Scientific Research Projects Foundation Unite of Celal Bayar University (Project No: 2011-065

The investigation of congenital toxoplasmosis in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey

WOS: 000267200200009PubMed ID: 19417963Objectives: To elucidate the prevalence of congenital toxoplasmosis in Turkey. Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey during the period of 2006 and 2007. Venous blood before delivery and cord blood during delivery were collected from 138 women, and we observed the presence of immunoglobulin (Ig)G and IgM antibodies by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA), western blotting, and other serologic tests. Results: The combination of ELISA and western blotting have the greatest sensitivity among the serological techniques used. The results of the cord and venous sera were comparable with no significant difference, except for one sample. Conclusion: Data obtained showed that early characterization of IgG antibodies synthesized by congenitally infected newborn is important. This preliminary study sets an example to the studies that would help both in determining the incidence of congenital toxoplasmosis by screening larger populations and in preventing sequels by early diagnosis

Genotoxic effects of albendazole in patients medicated for cystic echinococcosis

WOS: 000249640600004Cystic echinococcosis (CE) due to Echinococcus granulosus is one of the most important helminthic diseases in Turkey where it constitutes a public health and economic problems. Its mean annual incidence in humans is 4.4/100 000 and the prevalence of the tapeworm agent in domestic animals ranges from 11.2 to 50.7%. Since 1980s, albendazole has been used for treatment of the disease, and this benzimidazole drug has been considered to be of relatively low toxicity. However, prolonged albendazole therapy of CE became to be a common practice, and data on possible genotoxic effects of the medication in humans are lacking. This study has concerned 17 women and 11 men, in total 28 patients with liver cystic hydatid complaints, who were administered albendazole ( 15 mg/kg) preoperatively ( 2 weeks) and postoperatively ( 6 months). Genotoxic effects of albendazole were searched using Sister Chromatid Exchange ( SCE), mitotic index (MI) and chromosomal aberations (CAs) methods, comparing lymphocyte chromosomes of treated patients and a control group of healthy individuals. The results indicated a significant increase of SCE frequencies and decrease of MI in the treated group ( p < 0.001). Regarding CAs, any difference between the groups was not determined

Comparison of the multi-epitope recombinant antigen DIPOL and hydatid fluid for the diagnosis of patients with cystic echinococcosis

16 páginas. -- The final version is available at http://www.elsevier.comThe use of serological tests containing multiple immunodominant antigens rather than single antigens have the potential to improve the diagnostic performance in Cystic Echinococcoses (CE) as a complement tool to clear the inconclusive imaging data. Here, we comparatively evaluated the diagnostic value of Hydatid Fluid (HF) and the recently described recombinant multi-epitope antigen DIPOL in IgG-ELISA in a clinically defined cohort of CE patients. The serum samples from 149 CE patients were collected just before surgical or Percutaneous- Aspiration- Injection- Reaspiration (PAIR) procedures. Additionally, serum samples of patients with other parasitic infections (n=49) and healthy individuals (n=21) were also included in the study as controls. To investigate the association between the genotype of the parasite and DIPOL, cyst materials from 20 CE patients were sequenced. In terms of overall sensitivity, HF was higher than DIPOL (82.55%,78.52%, respectively). However, while the sensitivity of HF was higher than DIPOL in patients with active and transitional cysts (83.3%, 75.4%, respectively), sensitivity of DIPOL in inactive cysts was higher compared to HF (95.6%, 78.3%, respectively). The sensitivity of DIPOL depending on cyst stage was statistically significant (P= 0.041). In terms of specificity, DIPOL was found to be better than HF (97.71%, 91.43%, respectively). By genotyping, the majority of 20 patients showed G1 genotype (80%). All patients harboring G3 and G1/G3 cyst genotypes were positive with both antigens, while 87.5% of patients with G1 genotype were seropositive with HF and 75% with DIPOL. The overall sensitivity and high specificity of DIPOL suggest that this recombinant protein containing immunodominant epitopes is a potential substitute for the HF by serological tests for the diagnosis of CE.This study was produced from Eylem Akdur Ozturk’s doctoral thesis and supported by Teaching Staff Training Program. The study AC, MSL, RMR and CSO were also supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under the HERACLES project (grant agreement 602051; http://www.heracles-fp7.eu/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptPeer reviewe