Infectious Disease
Paul I Oyegoke; Busayo O Olayinka; Joseph O Ehinmidu; Babajide A Tytler
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 03 April 2021
Abstract
Background and aim: The spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health threat complicating treatment and resulting in prolonged hospitalization. Due to the dearth of appropriate surveillance systems, the prevalence of AMR threat is not well defined. This study sought to assess the ...
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Background and aim: The spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health threat complicating treatment and resulting in prolonged hospitalization. Due to the dearth of appropriate surveillance systems, the prevalence of AMR threat is not well defined. This study sought to assess the prevalence of AMR among bacterial isolates from sputum specimens obtained from patients with pneumonia presenting at two secondary healthcare facilities in Zaria over 3 months (June 1 to August 31, 2018). Methods: Standard methodology was followed in processing sputum samples that met the acceptance criteria. The antibiotic susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens cultured from sputum specimens obtained over a 3-month period (June 1 to August 31, 2018) was evaluated using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute’s recommendation. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics.Results: Acinetobacter spp were the predominant pathogens accounting for 32% of recovered isolates, followed by Staphylococcus spp (18%) and Klebsiella spp (17%). AMR was seen in 91% of the isolates. Most isolates were resistant to erythromycin (80%) and amoxicillin (83.3%). Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index ≥ 0.3 was observed in 76% of the isolates. Conclusion: This study showed that AMR rates were observed to be high and may display a serious therapeutic challenge to the management of community-acquired pneumonia. Concerted efforts are needed to combat the worrisome AMR trends revealed in this study.
Infectious Disease
Morteza Arab-Zozani; Hosein Ameri
Abstract
Dear Editor, We have witnessed many advances in all fields of science over the years, especially in the field of health. However, various facts can be obtained in times of adversity. Although programs usually work well until a crisis occurs, they do not well continue during the crises. ...
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Dear Editor, We have witnessed many advances in all fields of science over the years, especially in the field of health. However, various facts can be obtained in times of adversity. Although programs usually work well until a crisis occurs, they do not well continue during the crises. In addition, there are some experiences in every crisis although they are insufficiently used in future plans. Accordingly, we frequently experience various problems in face of similar crises. The outbreak of coronavirus is considered as one of these crises. The world has embraced a new unknown virus called the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since late December 2019.The first outbreak of this virus was reported in Wuhan, China. Further, it has been reported in all countries worldwide as a pandemic. In the information era, conflicting news exists about the origin of the disease and there is still no general agreement in this respect although we do not intend to discuss it clinically in this article. Some helpful lessons on managing the condition are as follows. From this point of view, the virus revealed some interesting facts about governments and health systems around the world. First, this pandemic showed us that we cannot claim that health systems are capable of responding to emergencies. There are several reasons regarding the inability of a system to respond to a crisis. The weaknesses of governance in health systems worldwide are considered among the substantial reasons. Many health systems do not yet have a clear arrangement, and health decisions are outside the purview of health professionals. For example, when it comes to quarantine a city, many factors affect it and different institutions have to consider it no matter whether they have a health professional. Furthermore, the second point is about how we think about health. Various countries still do not view health as a universal phenomenon and have not realized that their decisions at the level of one country and one system can affect all systems worldwide. Whether or not, there is good thinking among health leaders although the absence of systemic thinking is undeniable. For example, some countries are still blaming each other for the statistics and how they manage the disease after several months of illness and are more looking for the culprit than the solution. Moreover, there are rumors that some countries do not publicly announce their achievements in disease management. The third point is the transparency of governments and health systems in presenting the realities of a disease or crisis. Many health systems in different countries of the world either do not have or publish accurate statistics, and this can be related to a variety of economic, private, political, and other reasons. Additionally, the next point is the lack of cross-sectoral cooperation that can be observed at all international, national, and regional levels. The lack of proper collaboration leads to scattered decisions confusing the general population in a society. The most important issue in times of crisis is to keep calm although this calmness must be accompanied by the expression of reality instead of concealment. Crises have been permanently present and will continue to exist from epidemics to disasters, war, and the like. However, the question remains why responding to a crisis and being prepared for it are always considered as a challenge. Many crises occur unnoticeably and unexpectedly, which is true for China. Nonetheless, the question arises whether the rest of the world consider this crisis as an unexpected one. The other question is why countries are not taking advantage of Chinese experiences and delaying reality. It is assumed that policymakers, especially those in the health area, need to address the behavioral causes of this issue and provide sound and rational decision-making models in times of crisis. The era of hopeful closure is over, and the international community requires a holistic approach for decision making. It should be noted that the implementation of any program necessitates a mutual commitment between the government and the community, and even the best advice will not work well without the commitment of people in the community. Accordingly, it is necessary to comprehensively study why the people of society do not pay enough attention to the recommendations of the government and health systems.
Infectious Disease
Seyed Mahmood Banihashemi; Eissa Soleymani; Rahman Abdizadeh; Mousa Motavalli Haghi; Bahman Khalili
Abstract
Background and aims: Parasitic infections, especially opportunistic parasites, can cause serious problems for immunocompromised patients. In this regard, this study aimed to evaluate parasitic infections in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy after referring to Kashani hospital of Shahrekord ...
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Background and aims: Parasitic infections, especially opportunistic parasites, can cause serious problems for immunocompromised patients. In this regard, this study aimed to evaluate parasitic infections in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy after referring to Kashani hospital of Shahrekord from January to May 2018. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 750 stool samples were collected from 250 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (three fecal samples from each patient) and sent to the Parasitology Laboratory of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. All samples were examined macroscopically and microscopically through the direct method and a specific acid-fast staining method. To confirm the microscopic results, DNA was extracted from isolated parasites and amplification was performed by the polymerase chain reaction with the specific primers on positive samples. Results: In this study, 106 (42.4%) and 144 (57.6%) patients were males and females, respectively. In addition, 187 (74.8%) and 63 (25.2%) of them were living in urban and rural areas, respectively. In terms of the education level, most patients had a low level of literacy. Further, 12 (4.8%) patients were infected with intestinal parasites that including, 7 (2.8%), and 5 (2%) samples were infected with Blastocystis hominis and Giardia lamblia, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that B. hominis and G. lamblia are the most prevalent parasites in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Although the prevalence of intestinal parasites in cancer patients was low, these findings should not be contrary to the need for healthcare regarding the prevention of parasitic infections in cancer patients.
Infectious Disease
Seyed Mehdi Hosseini; Masoud Parvin; Masoud Bahrami; Manoochehr Karami; Meysam Olfatifar
Volume 4, Issue 2 , Spring 2017, , Pages 111-117
Abstract
Background and aims: One of the most common approach to understanding spatial and temporal trends of event data is to break it up into a series of time snapshots. Therefore space-time cube method applied in order to portray the likely trend in occurrence of the pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases. Methods: ...
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Background and aims: One of the most common approach to understanding spatial and temporal trends of event data is to break it up into a series of time snapshots. Therefore space-time cube method applied in order to portray the likely trend in occurrence of the pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases. Methods: In this study, information of all patients with pulmonary TB recorded in surveillance system of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences from 2005 to 2013 years were studied. After geocoding the residence location address of pulmonary TB cases and converted to point layer, the space-time cube was used to detect likely trends in occurrence of tuberculosis. Then, based on the space-time cube results the Emerging Hot Spot Analysis was run to clustering hot and cold spots. Results: There was significant increasing trend in occurrence of pulmonary TB cases. The statistic trend was 2.1871 and P-value was 0.0287, as well as 36 hot spots locations was detected that have been form approximately in central areas of province. Conclusion: Significantly increasing trend in occurrence of TB cases and existence of hot spot, especially intensifying hot spots in central areas of province can represent pay more attention to this disease in mentioned areas in order to detect the change in epidemiological face and to implement suitable prevention programs.
Infectious Disease
Farid Gharibi; Yousof Pashaei Asl; Jamal Saraei; Aref Nekoufar; Behnam Amini Daghalian
Volume 3, Issue 2 , Spring 2016, , Pages 152-161
Abstract
Background and aims: Needle stick injuries are a common and serious occupational hazard in the medical settings. So, this study was aimed to assess the incidence of needle stick injury among medical students at Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital in 2014. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which its data ...
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Background and aims: Needle stick injuries are a common and serious occupational hazard in the medical settings. So, this study was aimed to assess the incidence of needle stick injury among medical students at Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital in 2014. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which its data was collected from 211 medical students in Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital. The study was done using valid and reliable researcher's made questionnaire in December 2014 with getting inform consent from participants. The mentioned tool has two main parts; the first part studies the demographic and background variables and the second part focuses on the phenomenon of needle stick injuries and its relevant parameters. The data were firstly analyzed descriptively and the obtained results reported the qualitative variables in form of frequency (percentage) and for the quantitative variables the mean (standard deviation) was reported. Further on, the statistical relationship between demographic and background with Needle stick injuries parameters were assessed using Chi-square test. All these analyses were conducted using SPSS software and in all cases the significance of P was considered as less than 0.05. Results: Obtained findings showed that 36% of the medical students have experienced needle stick injuries in the last year (with Confidence Interval of 95%) and the mean annual frequency is equal to 3.11 times per person. Moreover, the study findings indicated that there is a statistical relationship between needle stick exposure and age (P=0.019), educational level (P=0.001) and the hospital ward (P=0.004) which students older than 30, medical research fellows and students working in the surgery and pathology wards experience needle stick injuries more than others significantly. Conclusion: This study showed the high incidence of needle stick injuries in medical students and highlighted the need for implementing precise interventions.
Infectious Disease
Javid Sadraie; Ehsan Shariat Bahadory; Sekhavat Ghaffari Novin
Volume 3, Issue 1 , Winter 2016, , Pages 3-11
Abstract
Background and aims: Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease which may cause some laboratory symptoms in infected individuals. One of the main ways of transmition this organism is placenta to fetus pathway. If this transmission occurs in the 3th month of pregnancy, the abortion, central nerve system and ...
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Background and aims: Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease which may cause some laboratory symptoms in infected individuals. One of the main ways of transmition this organism is placenta to fetus pathway. If this transmission occurs in the 3th month of pregnancy, the abortion, central nerve system and ocular disorder will happen. Because of this issue, the precise technique for detection of Toxoplasma Antibody such as IgG and IgM is important, that contains ELISA to detect Toxoplasma Antibody such as IgG and IgM and AFP.
Methods: This was a cross sectional study. In this study, the main sample was serum that was randomly collected from 255 pregnant women infected with toxoplasma Gondi in Avesina center. Then, It was detected the serum concentration of AFP in toxoplasmosis pregnant women with high level of IgG and IgM toxoplasma antibody by ELISA assay.
Results: The results of this survey showed that the infection in these pregnant women by toxoplasma gondii was occurred and 13% of them (13% of 255 infected mothers) had high levels of AFP in their serum. The statistical analyses was done by SPSS consisted of t-test, case number, comparative study, and Q-Q plot evaluations.
Conclusions: In some pregnant women with high level of IgG and IgM toxoplasma antibody was observed in high levels of AFP in their serum and this index correlates with NTD in their fetus.
Infectious Disease
Somayyeh Namroodi; Ehsan Shariat Bahadory
Volume 2, Issue 4 , Autumn 2015, , Pages 190-196
Abstract
Background and aims: Cats carry a lot of zoonotic parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) which causes toxoplasmosis in warm-blooded animals. Toxoplasmosis includes wide range of symptoms in its intermediate and definitive hosts but the worst symptoms have been seen in pregnant women and also ...
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Background and aims: Cats carry a lot of zoonotic parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) which causes toxoplasmosis in warm-blooded animals. Toxoplasmosis includes wide range of symptoms in its intermediate and definitive hosts but the worst symptoms have been seen in pregnant women and also on immunocompromised hosts. Considering the importance of the fact that cats are as the only definitive host that spread T. gondii oocytes in environment, it is necessary to obtain comprehensive information about the role of cats in life cycle of T. gondii.
Methods: This comparative study was done during the January 2012 to February 2014, a total of 210 feral cats were captured by hand made traps. Age, sex, season and locality were documented. Blood samples from carotid vein were collected. Sera were separated by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 10 min and stored at 20oC until laboratory examination. Serum sample of 210 feral cats from 20 villages of Golestan province were obtained and analyzed for presence of Ig G antibody against T. gondii by ELIZA Kit.
Results: The frequency of T. gondii infection in serum samples was 85% (180/210). Percentage of T. gondii infection was similar in male and female and different seasons but significant difference was recorded between sampled villages. Also the seropositivity rate of T. gondii had positive relationship with age (P˂0.005).
Conclusion: High seropositive results of the current study highlight the risk of endemic toxoplasmosis in the sampled rural ecosystem. Performing suitable screening test in rural population, keeping feral cats far from the villages, controlling of feral cats population by sterilization and making villagers aware of toxoplasmosis danger are recommended.
Infectious Disease
Mehdi Agha Seyed Hosseini; Amir hossein Mansourabadi; Ali Shams; Nastaran Razavi; Mohammad Hassanzadeh
Volume 2, Issue 3 , Summer 2015, , Pages 152-161
Abstract
Background and aims: IL-22 is an alpha- helical cytokine. IL-22 binds to a heterodimeric cell surface receptor composed of IL-10R2 and IL-22R1subunits. IL-22R is expressed on tissue cells, and it is absent on immune cells. L-22 and IL-10 receptor chains play a role in cellular targeting and signal transduction ...
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Background and aims: IL-22 is an alpha- helical cytokine. IL-22 binds to a heterodimeric cell surface receptor composed of IL-10R2 and IL-22R1subunits. IL-22R is expressed on tissue cells, and it is absent on immune cells. L-22 and IL-10 receptor chains play a role in cellular targeting and signal transduction to selectively initiate and regulate immune responses. The aim of this study was to investigate the Role of Interleukin (IL-22) in Immune Response in human diseases. Methods: This study was a mini-review research to investigate the role of T helper 22 (Th22) in immune response. Results: IL-22 contributes to immune disease through the stimulation of inflammatory responses, S100s and defensins. IL-22 also promotes hepatocyte survival in the liver and epithelial cells in the lung and gut similar to IL-10. In some contexts, the pro-inflammatory versus tissue-protective functions of IL-22 are regulated by the often co-expressed cytokine IL-17A. IL-22 confirms regulation of antimicrobial proteins. Targeting the IL-22–IL-22R pathway may yield new therapeutic potential for the treatment of certain human diseases. Conclusion: IL-22 is expressed constitutively by LTi-like cells within the small intestine, a tissue that is under the careful immune balance between inflammation and tolerance. Gaining a better understanding of the expression and role of IL-22 in health and disease is important for development of IL-22 as a potential drug target IL-22 is expressed constitutively by LTi-like cells within the small intestine, a tissue that is under the careful immune balance between inflammation and tolerance. Obtaining a better understanding of the expression and role of IL-22 in health and disease is important for development of IL-22 as a potential drug target.