Prevaccination screening of health care workers for immunity to measles, rubella, mumps and varicella in a developing country. What do we save?

SummaryA structured questionnaire was administered to health-care workers (HCWs). The HCWs were also screened for measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella (MMRV) using serological methods. One thousand two hundred and fifty-five HCWs were tested. Of the HCWs examined, 94% were immune to measles, 97% to rubella, 90% to mumps and 98% to varicella. The positive predictive values of histories of measles, mumps, rubella and varicella were 96%, 93%, 100% and 98%, respectively. The negative predictive values of histories of measles, mumps, rubella and varicella were 13%, 17%, 5% and 2%, respectively. The cost of vaccination without screening was significantly more expensive (cost difference: €24,385) for varicella, although vaccination without screening was cheap (cost difference: €5693) for MMR. Although the use of cheaper vaccines supports the implementation of vaccination programs without screening, the cost of vaccination should not be calculated based only on the direct costs. The indirect costs associated with lost work time due to vaccination and its side effects and the direct costs of potential side effects should be considered. However, if prescreening is not conducted, some HCWs (2–7%) would be unprotected against these contagious illnesses because of the unreliability of their MMRV history. In conclusion, the screening of HCWs before vaccination continues to be advisable

Simkania negevensis: Is it a real respiratory pathogen?

Simkania negevensis, a recently discovered Chlamydia-like organism, has been associated with respiratory infections such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in children and adults. The aim of the present study was to evaluate S. negevensis in the etiology of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia, bronchiolitis and asthma exacerbation in our region. Overall, 102 patients and 46 healthy controls were included in the study. S. negevensis was investigated by real time PCR (Primer Design, UK) in nasopharyngeal swab samples. It failed to be detected in either the study or control group. In conclusion, our results suggest that S. negevensis is not an important respiratory pathogen in our region

Susceptibility testing of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata to Glycyrrhiza glabra L.

Medicinal plants and their botanical formulations have gained a pivotal attention among scientific researchers mainly due to its action as health promoters. Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) constitutes a great example, with an increasingly evidenced antimicrobial potential. Opportunistic yeast infections constitute an alarming public health problem, highly exacerbated by the inefficacy of antifungal drugs and the increase of drug-resistant microorganisms, being Candida species one of the most common invaders. The present work aims to assess Candida glabrata and Candida albicans susceptibility to G. glabra methanol: water extract by using flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy techniques. After 5 minutes, licorice extract (1.5 mg/mL) altered Candida membrane potential. Within an hour, it induced primary damages on Candida species cells, causing cell cytoplasm disorganization with high evidence of cell membrane invaginations, making cells turgid. Thus, based on the current findings, licorice extract seems to be a promising anti-Candida agent, without presenting any toxic potential at the effective concentrations used.The authors are grateful to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for N. Martins grant (SFRH/BD/87658/2012) and financial support to the research centre CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/ AGR/UI0690/2014). This work was also supported by the Programa Operacional, Fatores de competitividade – COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia on the scope of the projects FCT PTDC/SAU-MIC/119069/2010, RECI/EBBEBI/0179/2012 and PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013. The authors thank the Project “BioHealth – Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality”, Ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, cofunded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2–O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COMPARISON OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (CMV) ANTIGENEMIA AND CMV-DNA HYBRID CAPTURE ASSAYS USED IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF CMV INFECTION

2003, Cilt 17, Sayı 4, Sayfa(lar) 385-388[&nbsp;T&uuml;rk&ccedil;e &Ouml;zet&nbsp;] [&nbsp;PDF&nbsp;] [&nbsp;Benzer Makaleler&nbsp;]COMPARISON OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (CMV) ANTIGENEMIA AND CMV-DNA HYBRID CAPTURE ASSAYS USED IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF CMV INFECTIONSelma G&Ouml;KAHMETOĞLU1, Melek İNCİ1, Yusuf &Ouml;ZBAL1, Mustafa &Ccedil;ETİN2, Tamer G&Uuml;NEŞ31Erciyes &Uuml;niversitesi Tıp Fak&uuml;ltesi, Mikrobiyoloji ve Klinik Mikrobiyoloji Anabilim Dalı, Kayseri2Erciyes &Uuml;niversitesi Tıp Fak&uuml;ltesi, Hematoloji Bilim Dalı, Kayseri3Erciyes &Uuml;niversitesi Tıp Fak&uuml;ltesi, &Ccedil;ocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, KayseriKeywords:&nbsp;Cytomegalovirus (CMV), CMV antigenemia assay, CMV-DNA hybrid capture assay, diagnosisCytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major cause of severe infection in transplant recipients and also causes congenital infection in newborns. Detection of CMV pp65 antigen and CMV-DNA is important for the diagnosis of CMV disease. The aim of this study was to compare CMV antigenemia and CMV-DNA assays used in the diagnosis of CMV infection. Totally of 49 blood samples from 24 patients suspected of CMV disease were included in the study. Twelve of the patients were newborns and 12 were bone marrow and renal transplant recipients. The blood samples of transplant recipients were collected in months 1-3 following transplantation. Cytomegalovirus pp65 antigen was detected by indirect immunofluorescence technique (CINAkit, Argene-Biosoft, France), and CMV-DNA by hybrid capture assay (Digene, USA). Cytomegalovirus antigen and CMV-DNA were negative in 30 (61%) of the samples. Both assays were found positive in five. Nine samples were antigenemia positive, but CMV-DNA negative. Five samples were CMV-DNA positive, but antigenemia negative. No significant difference was found between the two methods by &chi;2&nbsp;test. It is concluded that CMV antigenemia and CMV-DNA assays should be performed together for the diagnosis of CMV infection.&nbsp;</p

Case report. Fatal Aspergillus flavus pericarditis in a patient with acute myeloblastic leukaemia

We report a case of Aspergillus flavus pericarditis treated with fluconazole for oral candidosis. The patient with acute myeloblastic leukaemia developed tachypnoea after antileukaemic chemotherapy. Pericardial effusion was seen in the echocardiogram. Aspergillus flavus was isolated from the pericardial fluid. The patient died from aspergillosis, before the antimycotic treatment could be changed to amphotericin B

Brucella detection in blood: comparison of the BacT/Alert standard aerobic bottle, BacT/Alert FAN aerobic bottle and BacT/Alert enhanced FAN aerobic bottle in simulated blood culture

The objective of this study was to compare the performances of the standard aerobic bottle (StAe), FAN aerobic (FANAe) and enhanced FAN aerobic (E-FANAe) (the charcoal component of the FANAe was revised recently to improve the feasibility of Gram smear interpretation) blood culture bottles for BacT/Alert system for the detection of Brucella melitensis in simulated blood culture. Triplicate strains of eight clinical isolates of B. melitensis were studied. Each bottle was inoculated with 5 mL of freshly collected human blood at three different targeted bacterial inocula (10(1), 10(2) and 10(3) CFU/bottle). All bottles were monitored for up to 21 days or until they became positive. The results of time to detection (TTD) on the eight B. melitensis samples were as follows: at 10(1) CFU/bottle, the E-FANAe had a mean TTD significantly shorter than the StAe (48 h vs. 56.2 h, P < 0.05); and at 10(3) CFU/bottle, the FANAe and E-FANAe had a mean TTD significantly shorter than the StAe (41.2 h and 40 h vs. 45.6 h, P < 0.05). The reproducibilities (no.of positive signals/no.of all bottles) of three bottle systems were as follows: at 10(1) CFU/bottle, the reproducibilities of StAe, FANAe and E-FANAe were 96, 83 and 58%, respectively. At 10(3) CFU/bottle, the reproducibilities of StAe, FANAe and E-FANAe were 95, 95 and 91%, respectively. Positive results for the presence of bacteria in Gram smears were confirmed in 68% of StAe, 54% of FANAe and 90% of E-FANAe. In case of suspected brucellosis, the combination of one StAe bottle and one E-FANAe bottle seems to provide the highest and fastest recovery of the organism

Antifungal susceptibility testing of Candida albicans by flow cytometry

Antifungal susceptibilities of 28 Candida albicans isolates and two quality control strains to amphotericin B and fluconazole were determined by flow cytometry and microdilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) obtained by flow cytometry were compared with the results obtained by The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards Subcommittee (NCCLS) broth microdilution method. The agreement of results (within two dilution) obtained was found as 96 and 93% for amphotericin B and fluconazole. respectively. At least 24 h incubation was required for reading the microdilution assays. Four hours of incubation was required for fluconazole, whereas 2-h incubation was sufficient for amphotericin B to provide MIC by flow cytometry. Results of this study show that flow cytometry provides a rapid and sensitive in vitro method for antifungal susceptibility testing of Candida albicans isolates

Effects of dexmedetomidine and esmolol on otoacoustic emissions during controlled hypotensive anesthesia: randomized clinical trial

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of esmolol and dexmedetomidine to achieve controlled hypotension on cochlea by measuring otoacoustic emission and stapedius reflex