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Query: UMLS:C0009450 (infectious diseases)
 83,438 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Infection with Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of pertussis (whooping cough) in humans, is followed by the production of antibodies of several isotypes, including immunoglobulin A (IgA). Little is known, however, about the role of IgA in immunity against pertussis. Therefore, we studied targeting of B. pertussis to the myeloid receptor for IgA, FcalphaRI (CD89), using either IgA purified from immune sera of pertussis patients or bispecific antibodies directed against B. pertussis and FcalphaRI (CD89 BsAb). Both IgA and CD89 BsAb facilitated FcalphaRI-mediated binding, phagocytosis, and bacterial killing by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) and PMNL originating from human FcalphaRI-transgenic mice. Importantly, FcalphaRI targeting resulted in enhanced bacterial clearance in lungs of transgenic mice. These data support the capacity of IgA to induce anti-B. pertussis effector functions via the myeloid IgA receptor, FcalphaRI. Increasing the amount of IgA antibodies induced by pertussis vaccines may result in higher vaccine efficacy.
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PMID:Immunoglobulin A-mediated protection against Bordetella pertussis infection. 1144 59

Intensive care and especially pediatric intensive care originated in connection with fatal forms of infectious diseases, some forty years ago. It has come a long way during the last quarter of the past century. Several infectious diseases have disappeared in France during this period such as poliomyelitis, dipteria and tetanus. Many other are receding. Nevertheless problems remain: serious infections by pneumococcus or staphylococcus, maternofoetal infections, whooping cough in very young infant. Now, thanks to liver transplantations and intensive care, the fatal forms of infectious hepatitis can be overcome in more than 50% of the cases. Meanwhile HIV appeared involving intensivists participation. Toxic shock, and especially the purpura fulminans, remains a major difficulty. Great advances in understanding its mechanisms have been made and it seems today like the result of excessive and unsuitable defence reactions. In addition, intensive care takes charge of more and more vulnerable ill persons: immunosuppressed, extreme premature babies, children who had to undergo heavy operations. In those cases, intensive care faces superinfections, nosocomial infections, multi-resistant germs, related in part to the particular working and environmental conditions and an unsuitable use of antibiotics. To conclude, it is necessary to optimize the technical and working conditions in intensive care units, to strictly observe the well established regulations of hygienics and to develop vaccinations.
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PMID:[Development of intensive care for pediatric infectious diseases over the last 20 years]. 1158 11

The amino acid sequence rules that specify beta-sheet structure in proteins remain obscure. A subclass of beta-sheet proteins, parallel beta-helices, represent a processive folding of the chain into an elongated topologically simpler fold than globular beta-sheets. In this paper, we present a computational approach that predicts the right-handed parallel beta-helix supersecondary structural motif in primary amino acid sequences by using beta-strand interactions learned from non-beta-helix structures. A program called BETAWRAP (http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/betawrap) implements this method and recognizes each of the seven known parallel beta-helix families, when trained on the known parallel beta-helices from outside that family. BETAWRAP identifies 2,448 sequences among 595,890 screened from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) nonredundant protein database as likely parallel beta-helices. It identifies surprisingly many bacterial and fungal protein sequences that play a role in human infectious disease; these include toxins, virulence factors, adhesins, and surface proteins of Chlamydia, Helicobacteria, Bordetella, Leishmania, Borrelia, Rickettsia, Neisseria, and Bacillus anthracis. Also unexpected was the rarity of the parallel beta-helix fold and its predicted sequences among higher eukaryotes. The computational method introduced here can be called a three-dimensional dynamic profile method because it generates interstrand pairwise correlations from a processive sequence wrap. Such methods may be applicable to recognizing other beta structures for which strand topology and profiles of residue accessibility are well conserved.
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PMID:BETAWRAP: successful prediction of parallel beta -helices from primary sequence reveals an association with many microbial pathogens. 1175 29

Antigen-specific T helper type 1 (Th1) cells mediate protective immunity against a range of infectious diseases, including that caused by Bordetella pertussis. Distinct T cell subtypes that secrete interleukin (IL)-10 or tumor growth factor (TGF)-beta are considered to play a role in the maintenance of self-tolerance. However, the antigens recognized by these regulatory T cells in vivo have not been defined. Here we provide the first demonstration of pathogen-specific T regulatory type 1 (Tr1) cells at the clonal level and demonstrate that these cells are induced at a mucosal surface during an infection where local Th1 responses are suppressed. Tr1 clones specific for filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and pertactin were generated from the lungs of mice during acute infection with B. pertussis. The Tr1 clones expressed T1/ST2 and CC chemokine receptor 5, secreted high levels of IL-10, but not IL-4 or interferon (IFN)-gamma, and suppressed Th1 responses against B. pertussis or an unrelated pathogen. Furthermore, FHA inhibited IL-12 and stimulated IL-10 production by dendritic cells (DCs), and these DCs directed naive T cells into the regulatory subtype. The induction of Tr1 cells after interaction of a pathogen-derived molecule with cells of the innate immune system represents a novel strategy exploited by an infectious pathogen to subvert protective immune responses in vivo.
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PMID:Pathogen-specific T regulatory 1 cells induced in the respiratory tract by a bacterial molecule that stimulates interleukin 10 production by dendritic cells: a novel strategy for evasion of protective T helper type 1 responses by Bordetella pertussis. 1180 49

A gene encoding the mature Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) lacking the nick site in the A subunit by deleting tripeptides was introduced in a vector pNH301 and expressed extracellularly as mutant molecule of holotoxin at high levels in Bacilus brevis HPD31-S5 of the host bacterium. The mucosal adjuvant activities of the produced mutant LT (mLT) preparation were studied in pigs and cattle. Intranasal immunization of pigs with the recombinant subunit vaccine of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae or the component vaccine of Bordetella bronchiseptica mixed with the mLT resulted in a substantial enhancement of both mucosal and serum-specific antibody levels. The immunized pigs were also protected when challenge-exposed intradermally with a highly virulent E. rhusiopathiae strain or challenge-exposed intranasally with a highly virulent strain of B. bronchiseptica. The mLT intranasally administered with recombinant intimin (an outer membrane adhesin) of E. coli O157:H7 also induced an elevation of IgA-specific antibody in the nasal secretion and saliva of calves as well as an elevation of IgG1-specific antibody level against the intimin in the sera and colostrum of cows. The three kinds tested protein antigens were poorly immunogenic when antigen administered intranasally alone. The mLT intranasally administered at a higher effective dose did not induce local adverse reactions or diarrhea in pigs and cattle. The present study demonstrates that the recombinant mLT produced using the B. brevis expression system might represent promising immunoadjuvants for the potential application of intranasal vaccines directed against infectious diseases in pigs and cattle.
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PMID:Mucosal immunoadjuvant activity of the low toxic recombinant Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin produced by Bacillus brevis for the bacterial subunit or component vaccine in pigs and cattle. 1207 49

Bordetella pertussis, the etiological agent of whooping cough, produces a number of factors, such as toxins and adhesins, that are required for full expression of virulence. Filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) is the major adhesin of B. pertussis. It is a protein of approximately 220 kDa, found both associated at the bacterial cell surface and secreted into the extracellular milieu. Despite its importance in B. pertussis pathogenesis and its inclusion in most acellular pertussis vaccines, little is known about the functional importance of individual domains in infection and in the induction of protective immunity. In this study, we analyzed the role of the approximately 80-kDa N-terminal domain of FHA, designated Fha44, in B. pertussis adherence, colonization, and immunogenicity. Although Fha44 contains the complete heparan sulfate-binding domain, it is not sufficient for adherence to epithelial cells or macrophages. It also cannot replace FHA during colonization of the mouse respiratory tract. Infection with a B. pertussis strain producing Fha44 instead of FHA does not induce anti-FHA antibodies, whereas such antibodies can readily be induced by intranasal administration of purified Fha44. In addition, mice immunized with purified Fha44 were protected against challenge with wild-type B. pertussis, indicating that Fha44 contains protective epitopes. Compared to FHA, Fha44 is much smaller and much more soluble and is therefore easier to purify and to store. These advantages may perhaps warrant considering Fha44 for inclusion in acellular pertussis vaccines.
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PMID:Eighty-kilodalton N-terminal moiety of Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin: adherence, immunogenicity, and protective role. 1211 22

This article discusses changes in disease patterns affecting human health that may be related to environmental and social changes in the world. The World Health Report reveals that 30 new diseases emerged in the past 20 years. Old diseases are becoming resistant to new drugs. Infectious diseases that were in decline are spreading: diphtheria, whooping cough, and measles. Illnesses such as malaria, fevers, cholera, and rodent-borne viruses are becoming more frequent. Diseases that are transmitted by animals or water are related to environmental and social changes. Degraded environments are susceptible to the appearance of opportunistic species, such as weeds, rodents, insects, and microorganisms. Stable environments support the welfare of large predators and control opportunistic species. Owls, coyotes, and snakes eat rodents that carry Lyme disease ticks and a variety of viruses, plague, and bacteria. Reptiles, birds, spiders, ladybugs, bats, and fish consume larvae and mosquitoes that cause malaria and fevers. Habitat loss and fragmentation, monocultures, excessive use of toxic chemicals, climate change, and weather instability are widespread global changes that reduce the predator population. Small wilderness habitats favor pests. Monocultures reduce genetic diversity and increase vulnerability. Excessive use of pesticides harms birds and helpful insects. A sign of a failing ecosystem is the population explosion of pests and disequilibrium. The Environmental Distress Syndrome is characterized as: 1) emerging infectious diseases, 2) loss of biodiversity, 3) increased generalist species and decreased specialist species, 4) declines in specific specialists, such as pollinators responsible for preservation of flowering plants, and 5) increased coastal algal blooms. The impacts of disease mean considerable costs to humans, agriculture, and livestock. Loss of resources is also costly.
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PMID:The threatened plague. 1232 Oct 43

The project for the struggle against childhood diseases began in Rwanda in 1984. Lack of birth spacing, malnutrition, unhealthy environments and infectious diseases sicken and kill children in all of Africa, and many may be alleviated by simple measures. The project focuses on diarrhea and malaria, attempting to reduce mortality by 25%, administering chloroquine to children with fever and pregnant mothers for malaria, and oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for diarrhea. Goals are breastfeeding and gradual weaning being as universal as possible, and proper alimentation for sufferers of infant diarrhea. ORT is expected to be administered by the mother herself, and should reduce the 60% to 70% of diarrhea deaths caused by dehydration. Measles, whooping cough, neonatal tetanus, polio, diphtheria, and tuberculosis among children will be the targets of innoculation campaigns. All of the diseases are major child killers in Africa; measles are responsible for an estimated 31.3% of child deaths from 1 to 4, 10.3% in the 1st year of life. Community oriented primary care of the type necessary to execute these programs is not presently a priority among medical personnel; it should become an important component of medical education. Education to counter ignorance and the designation of the family as the primary instrument of good health will assure child survival and eliminate the need for multiple births to maintain the family.
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PMID:[Program to combat communicable diseases in children]. 1234 Mar 78

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious disease, which is most dangerous to infants less than one year old. About half of the babies reported nationally to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as having the disease are hospitalized. As many as 16/100 babies reported with pertussis get pneumonia, and about 2/100 have convulsions. For those babies reported to have pertussis, about 1/500 has brain problems, some of which can become permanent, and about 1/250 will die because of complications from the disease. Serious illness is less likely in older children and adults. Pertussis vaccine is generally administered in combination with diphtheria and tetanus vaccines, known as DTP vaccine. A primary series of DTP keeps 70-90/100 children from getting pertussis, usually through the elementary school years at least. About half of the children who receive DTP vaccine will not experience any discomfort at all. Some will have minor problems such as soreness, swelling and redness where the shot was given; fever; fussiness; drowsiness; and loss of appetite lasting 1-2 days. Once per 100 to 1000 shots, moderate problems can occur: crying non-stop for 3 hours or more, fever of 105 degrees (F) or higher. For 1 shot in 1750, a child may experience a seizure (convulsions, fits, spasms, twitching, jerking, or staring spells) usually caused by fever, or collapse or fainting (becoming blue, pale, limp, and non-responsive). Very rarely, DTP causes long seizures, decreased consciousness, or coma that usually does not last. Permanent brain damage can very infrequently follow such acute brain problems. There are no tests that can tell in advance if a child will be adversely affected by the DTP vaccine. Definitely the benefits from the DTP vaccine far outweigh the risks for almost all children.
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PMID:Facts about pertussis and DTP vaccine. 1234 38

This document presents an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the development of a new generation of vaccines to prevent and possibly eradicate a legion of deadly diseases ranging from tuberculosis to AIDS. Infections that have caused major devastations in the world today include tuberculosis, malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis, pneumococcal pneumonia, influenza, AIDS, and Ebola. Agencies should be making sure that the basic research base in microbiology, immunology, antimicrobials, and vaccinology is at the very highest level. The integration of research efforts between countries depends on collaboration between the investigators of home countries with foreign investigators. Among new developments in vaccinology are an acellular pertussis vaccine for pertussis/whooping cough (an extremely contagious disease that causes death), DNA immunization (a new technique applicable to all types of diseases), and transgenic plants for immunization against hepatitis, pertussis, and polio. As of now, AIDS in Western countries has declined, while in Africa and Asia its spread has accelerated. Combination therapy for AIDS has had a profound impact on the level of the virus in the body; however, the treatment is still vague. The good news with regard to AIDS is that education is having an impact; this is exemplified by the situation in Thailand, where the government together with nongovernmental organizations and the military has begun a crash education campaign regarding prostitutes and the use of condoms. Progress is being made in the search for better vaccine candidates. AIDS-like epidemics involving new diseases are bound to emerge at some future point, though, given the long-term historical trend.
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PMID:New drugs, new vaccines, new diseases. An interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). 1234 52


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