Perinatal Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus

Perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the predominant mode of transmission in countries with a high prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen carriage. Perinatal transmission can occur via three modalities: intrauterine transmission; transmission during delivery; and postpartum transmission and perinatal transmission results in a high frequency of chronic infection. Therefore, it is important to prevent perinatal transmission. At-birth prophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first dose of the HBV vaccine can prevent transmission during delivery or in the postpartum period, but it has no effect on the intrauterine route of transmission. Due to the residual risk of perinatal transmission despite correct use of birth prophylaxis with HBIG and vaccine, other strategies (namely, antiviral drugs, HBIG to the mother, and mode of delivery) have been tested in several studies. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2016; 25(3.000): 304-318

Could mean platelet volume be a useful marker for infectious diseases? a review of literature

Mean platelet volume (MPV), a parameter of complete blood count analysis, measures the average size of platelets. The alterations of MPV levels have been described as a diagnostic or prognostic predictor in patients with infectious diseases including sepsis, infective endocarditis, pneumonia, brucellosis, cellulitis, acute pyelonephritis, ascites fluid infection, hepatitis B or hepatitis C in recent studies. Although some matters still remain unclear, it can be said that MPV, especially in a score system, may be a cost-effective and useful marker for monitoring and predicting outcomes in patients with some infectious diseases in the future. [Med-Science 2016; 5(4.000): 1059-62

Infectious Etiology of Hospitalized CommunityAcquired Pneumonia Patients in Turkey

This paper aims to evaluate the causative agents in patients hospitalized due to community-acquired pneumonia in Turkey. Fourteen local studies are assessed and pneumococci are the main etiological agents followed by enteric gram-negative bacilli, streptococci other than pneumococci, Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae. On the other hand, Mycoplasma species are the leading etiological agents preceeding Chlamydia and Legionella in atypical pneumonia that comprise 29% of community-acquired pneumonia in Turkey

The value of indirect serum markers in predicting severity of fibrosis in treatment naive patients with non-cirrhotic hepatitis C virus infection

We conducted this study for determining the value of indirect serum markers such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), INR (International Normalized Ratio) and platelet counts and the roles of the scores such as AST-to-ALT ratio (AAR), AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), FIB-4 index, Kings score, Goteborg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI) and FibroQ in predicting severity of fibrosis in treatment naive patients with non-cirrhotic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Treatment naive non-cirrhotic chronic HCV patients who underwent percutaneous liver biopsy between 01 January 2012 and 01 June 2015 were included in the study. For evaluating the difference in variables, patients were divided into 2 groups such as no or minimal fibrosis group (fibrosis score [Med-Science 2017; 6(2.000): 189-94

False resistance after artemether–lumefantrine treatment in a falciparum malaria patient in Turkey: A case report

Introduction: Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is recommended by the World Health Organization as first-line treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. ACT treatments failures among travellers returning from Africa to non-endemic countries are considered to be caused by resistance. Case presentation: We report on a case of artemether-lumefantrine treatment failure in a Turkish traveller with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria returning from Bamako, Mali. Conclusions: Information on returning travellers, includes ensuring that the patients receive supervised treatment with the recommended dose of a quality controlled medicine, routine follow-up of all cases, assessment of adequate absorption of the drug, and/or testing the prevalence of molecular markers of drug resistance if validated, can be an important source of an early warning system for emerging resistance. Keywords: Malaria, P. falciparum, Artemisinin-based combination therap