The aetiologies of central nervous system infections in hospitalised Cambodian children

Background Central nervous system (CNS) infections are an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. The aetiologies of these potentially vaccine-preventable infections have not been well established in Cambodia. Methods We did a one year prospective study of children hospitalised with suspected CNS infection at Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap. Cerebrospinal fluid specimens (CSF) samples underwent culture, multiplex PCR and serological analysis to identify a range of bacterial and viral pathogens. Viral metagenomics was performed on a subset of pathogen negative specimens. Results Between 1st October 2014 and 30th September 2015, 284 analysable patients were enrolled. The median patient age was 2.6 years; 62.0% were aged <5 years. CSF white blood cell count was ≥10 cells/μL in 116/272 (42.6%) cases. CNS infection was microbiologically confirmed in 55 children (19.3%). Enteroviruses (21/55), Japanese encephalitis virus (17/55), and Streptococcus pneumoniae (7/55) accounted for 45 (81.8%) of all pathogens identified. Of the pathogens detected, 74.5% (41/55) were viruses and 23.6% (13/55) were bacteria. The majority of patients were treated with ceftriaxone empirically. The case fatality rate was 2.5%. Conclusions Enteroviruses, JEV and S. pneumoniae are the most frequently detected causes of CNS infection in hospitalised Cambodian children

Melioidosis in Animals, Thailand, 2006–2010

We retrospectively estimated the incidence of culture-proven melioidosis in animals in Thailand during 2006–2010. The highest incidence was in goats (1.63/100,000/year), followed by incidence in pigs and cattle. The estimated incidence of melioidosis in humans in a given region paralleled that of melioidosis in goats

Seroepidemiological surveillance of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Bangladesh

AbstractMelioidosis (Burkholderia pseudomallei infection) has yet to be demonstrated systematically in Bangladesh. A prospective, cross-sectional serological survey was conducted in 2010 at six Bangladeshi hospitals. Age, gender, occupation and residential address were recorded. Of 1244 patients, 359 (28.9%) were positive for B. pseudomallei by indirect haemagglutination assay. Farmers had an increased risk of seropositivity (risk ratio=1.4, 95% CI 1.0–1.8; p=0.03). There was no clear geographic clustering of seropositives. Melioidosis should be considered as a possible cause of febrile illness in Bangladesh. Further studies are needed to establish the incidence of clinical disease and distribution of environmental risk

Increasing Incidence of Human Melioidosis in Northeast Thailand

Melioidosis is a serious community-acquired infectious disease caused by the Gram-negative environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. A prospective cohort study identified 2,243 patients admitted to Sappasithiprasong Hospital in northeast Thailand with culture-confirmed melioidosis between 1997 and 2006. These data were used to calculate an average incidence rate for the province of 12.7 cases of melioidosis per 100,000 people per year. Incidence increased incrementally from 8.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.2–10.0) in 2000 to 21.3 (95% CI = 19.2–23.6) in 2006 (P < 0.001; χ2 test for trend). Male sex, age ≥ 45 years, and either known or undiagnosed diabetes were independent risk factors for melioidosis. The average mortality rate from melioidosis over the study period was 42.6%. The minimum estimated population mortality rate from melioidosis in 2006 was 8.63 per 100,000 people (95% CI = 7.33–10.11), the third most common cause of death from infectious diseases in northeast Thailand after human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and tuberculosis

Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies new loci associated with optic disc parameters

A new avenue of mining published genome-wide association studies includes the joint analysis of related traits. The power of this approach depends on the genetic correlation of traits, which reflects the number of pleiotropic loci, i.e. genetic loci influencing multiple traits. Here, we applied new meta-analyses of optic nerve head (ONH) related traits implicated in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness using Haplotype reference consortium imputations. We performed a multi-trait analysis of ONH parameters cup area, disc area and vertical cup-disc ratio. We uncover new variants; rs11158547 in PPP1R36-PLEKHG3 and rs1028727 near SERPINE3 at genome-wide significance that replicate in independent Asian cohorts imputed to 1000 Genomes. At this point, validation of these variants in POAG cohorts is hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity. Our results show that multi-trait analysis is a valid approach to identify novel pleiotropic variants for ONH

The eye in cerebral malaria: what can it teach us?

The pathophysiology of coma in cerebral malaria (CM) is not well understood. Obstruction of microcirculatory flow is thought to play a central role, but other hypotheses include roles for parasite- and host-derived factors such as immune mediators, and for increased blood–brain barrier permeability leading to raised intracranial pressure. The retinal vasculature is a direct extension of the cerebral vasculature. It is the only vascular bed easily accessible for visualisation and provides a unique opportunity to observe vascular pathology and its effect on neurological tissue. A specific retinopathy has been well described in African children with CM and its severity correlates with outcome. This retinopathy has been less well described in adults. The central mechanism causing malarial retinopathy appears to be microvascular obstruction, which has been demonstrated in affected retinas by fluorescein angiography. The presence in a central nervous system tissue of microvascular obstruction strongly supports the hypothesis that the sequestration of erythrocytes in small blood vessels and consequent obstruction of microcirculatory flow is an important mechanism causing coma and death in CM. Despite advances in the antimalarial treatment of severe malaria, its mortality remains approximately 15–20%. Adjunctive treatment targeting sequestration is a promising strategy to further lower mortality

First Report of an Orientia tsutsugamushi Type TA716–Related Scrub Typhus Infection in Thailand

Orientia tsutsugamushi causes scrub typhus and is a rural zoonosis endemic in the Asia Pacific region. This is the first report of O. tsutsugamushi TA716–like strain in a human in Thailand. The patient was in the 1st trimester of pregnancy when she developed scrub typhus. The O. tsutsugamushi strain TA716 was detected from her admission blood sample, and the pregnancy ended in spontaneous abortion. The effects of scrub typhus in pregnant women and the pregnancy outcome are sparsely documented in the published medical literature. Improved clinical recognition and laboratory diagnosis will be essential to better define the morbidity caused by this zoonosis especially in pregnancy