Avian Influenza Virus A (H5N1), Detected through Routine Surveillance, in Child, Bangladesh

We identified avian influenza virus A (H5N1) infection in a child in Bangladesh in 2008 by routine influenza surveillance. The virus was of the same clade and phylogenetic subgroup as that circulating among poultry during the period. This case illustrates the value of routine surveillance for detection of novel influenza virus

Prevalence of G2P[4] and G12P[6] Rotavirus, Bangladesh

Rotavirus strains not covered by licensed vaccines are increasing

A flexible and low-cost polypropylene pouch for naked-eye detection of herpes simplex viruses

Effective viral detection is a key goal in the development of point of care (POC) diagnostic devices. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) could potentially be a valuable tool for rapid viral detection and diagnosis in commercial and hospital laboratories and resource limited settings. Here, we present a novel polypropylene pouch (PP) for detection of HSV-1 and HSV-2. With this plastic pouch we could detect up to 6.08 × 101 copies per μL of HSV-1 DNA and 0.598 copies per μL of HSV-2 DNA within 45 minutes. Since LAMP itself is less sensitive to inhibitory substances present in the real sample, we could also detect viral DNA without the need for viral DNA extraction and purification. The result from LAMP could be evaluated by naked eye due to the addition of hydroxy naphthol blue (HNB) dye in the reaction mixture. Since this proposed device is easy to handle, portable, user friendly and low cost, it offers a tremendous potential to be a perfect candidate for POC diagnostic device for use in resource limited settings

Association of Periprocedural Haemoglobin Reduction and Myocardial Injury in Patients with Unstable Angina Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background: Patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention are at risk of different complications such as periprocedural bleeding and acute hemoglobin reduction that can lead to myocardial injury. Blood loss through the catheter during the procedure and through puncture site haematoma causes periprocedural acute haemoglobin drop.Objectives: To find out the association between acute haemoglobin reduction and myocardial injury after PCI in patients with unstable angina. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) for one year of time. A total of 130 patients were enrolled based on inclusion and exclusion criteria during the study period. Haemoglobin and troponin-I were measured before and after PCI within 24 to 48 hours of the procedure. On the basis of post-procedural acute haemoglobin level, the study population was categorized into two groups: Group I patients with normal haemoglobin levels and Group II patients with significant acute haemoglobin reduction (≥ 1 gm/dl). Results: A total of 24 patients developed a periprocedural myocardial injury, among them 17 (70.8%) were in the reduced haemoglobin group and 7 (29.2%) in the normal haemoglobin group. Elevation of troponin I after PCI was higher in group II than in group I patients with a statistically significant difference. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that haemoglobin reduction was an independent predictor of PMI (OR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.241-8.684; p = 0.01). Conclusion: Periprocedural haemoglobin reduction in patients with unstable angina was associated with myocardial injury after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)

Comparative study on the inactivation of MS2

Femtosecond (fs) laser irradiation techniques are emerging tools for inactivating viruses that do not involve ionizing radiation. In this work, the inactivation of two bacteriophages representing protective capsids with different geometric constraints, i.e. the near-spherical MS2 (with a diameter of 27 nm) and the filamentous M13 (with a length of 880 nm) is compared using energetic visible and near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser pulses with various energies, pulse durations, and exposure times. Intriguingly, the results show that inactivation using 400 nm lasers is substantially more efficient for MS2 compared to M13. In contrast, using 800 nm lasers, M13 was slightly more efficiently inactivated. For both viruses, the genome was exposed to a harmful environment upon fs-laser irradiation. However, in addition to the protection of the genome, the metastable capsids differ in many properties required for stepwise cell entry that may explain their dissimilar behavior after (partial) disassembly. For MS2, the dominant mechanism of femtosecond-laser inactivation was the aggregation of the viral capsid proteins, whereas aggregation did not affect M13 inactivation, suggesting that the dominant mechanism of M13 inactivation was related to breaking of secondary protein links. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.</p

A flexible and low-cost polypropylene pouch for naked-eye detection of herpes simplex viruses

Effective viral detection is a key goal in the development of point of care (POC) diagnostic devices. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) could potentially be a valuable tool for rapid viral detection and diagnosis in commercial and hospital laboratories and resource limited settings. Here, we present a novel polypropylene pouch (PP) for detection of HSV-1 and HSV-2. With this plastic pouch we could detect up to 6.08 × 101 copies per μL of HSV-1 DNA and 0.598 copies per μL of HSV-2 DNA within 45 minutes. Since LAMP itself is less sensitive to inhibitory substances present in the real sample, we could also detect viral DNA without the need for viral DNA extraction and purification. The result from LAMP could be evaluated by naked eye due to the addition of hydroxy naphthol blue (HNB) dye in the reaction mixture. Since this proposed device is easy to handle, portable, user friendly and low cost, it offers a tremendous potential to be a perfect candidate for POC diagnostic device for use in resource limited settings