The prevalence of intestinal parasites in hemodialysis patients in Bushehr, Iran

Hemodialysis patients, due to a dysfunction of the immune response, are prone to a variety of opportunistic infections. Studies of intestinal parasitic infections in these patients are limited. Therefore, the present study was performed to determine the prevalence of these infections in patients on hemodialysis in Bushehr. In this cross-sectional study, fecal samples have been collected from all hemodialysis patients who were continuously referred from September 2011 to September 2012 to the dialysis center at Bushehr and tested using routine parasitological methods. From a total of 88 patients studied, 25 patients (28.4%) were infected with one or more intestinal parasites. Blastocystis hominis and Entamoeba coli with 13.6% and 6.7% prevalence had the highest prevalence among the patients, respectively. The age group 51–70 years had the highest rates of infection. Statistical analysis showed no relationship between sex and the risk of intestinal parasites. Seventeen percent of infected patients showed up with diarrhea and this relationship was statistically significant. Considering the high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection among hemodialysis patients in Bushehr and also the high probability of infection in these patients, it is recommended that periodic examinations and screening patients during dialysis and before kidney transplantation should be a part of routine medical care

Parasitic infestation in cancer patients chemotherapy

Parasitic infections, especially opportunistic ones are important problems of immune deficient patients. These groups of patients can encompass a broad spectrum of cancer patients. Patients receiving immune suppressive chemotherapeutic agents and those who receive radiotherapy. This group of patients has much more susceptibility to infections and suffers more complications. The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestations in patients receiving immune suppressive anti-cancer agents. Stool sample of 261 patients under treatment with chemotherapeutic agents were collected and sent to parasitologic laboratory of Shahid Beheshti medical school. Every sample was evaluated with direct smears formalin and ether concentration technique, shitter dilution, zeil-nelson strip stain, culture on strip of filtration paper according to Hadamvory method and on agar plates. Thus, the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestations was evaluated. In this study 34% (89 samples) of patients, who had receive immunosuppressive medicine, had intestinal parasitic infestation. 31.4% of patients with intestinal parasitic infestation were under 20 years of age, 31.6% were between 21-50 years and 36.5% were above 51 years old. Statistical method did not show significant difference between the incidence of intestinal parasitic infestation and the 2 variables of age and sex. The rate of intestinal parasitic infestations in cancer patients with 1-4 courses of treatment was 34.5% and after more than 5 courses was 33.6%. Statistical analysis with X² test did reveal significant differences. Considering the above studies, we recommend: 1) Stool exam of all chemotherapy patients for intestinal parasites before chemotherapy treatment. 2) Five to seven stool exam is necessary for high-risk group. In other patients one stool examination is enough. 3) Repeated stool examination is recommended during chemotherapy. 4) More specific method is needed for detection of high-risk patients and suspected cases

Evaluation of JAK2V617F Mutation Prevalence in Myeloproliferative Neoplasm by AS-RT-PCR

Background and Aim: The JAK2 is an acquired mutation that is observed in majority of patients with classical Philadelphia-negative Myeloproliferative neoplasms that include polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), primary myelofibrosis (PMF). This acquired mutation is characterized by a G to T transversion at nucleotide 1849 in exon 12 of the JAK2 gene, leading to a substitution of valine to phenylalanine at amino acid position 617(V617F) of the JAK2 protein, and result in constitutive JAK2 activation that promotes hypersensitivity to growth factors and cytokines.Materials and Methods: In this study we evaluated RNA from 58 patients with MPNs and statistical analysis was done with mann whitney test. The mutation detected by AS-PCR. In addition, 3 samples were sequenced in Mille gen company.Results: 46 patients:86.6%(26/30) of those with polycythemia vera, 53.3% (8/15) of those with essential thrombocythemia,61.5% (8/13) of those with idiopathic myelofibrosis polycythemia vera patient carrying the mutation displayed higher levels of WBC (p=0.03). on the other hand,16 out of 26 JAK2V617F positive patients were female there is a demonstrate correlation between the presence of a mutant allele and female gender. The difference in other groups were not significant.Discussion and Conclusion: The JAK2V617F mutation has been detected in the vast majority of patients with polycythmia vera (65-95%) and in a lower frequency in patients with essential thrombocythemia (23-57%), idiopathic myelofibrosis (23-57%) and chronic myeloid leukemia 19% (3/16 CML Ph-).Detection of the mutation is helpful in differential diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of therapeutic response