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

Infection of the urinary tract in childhood is common. It may start already in neonates or infants. Clinical signs are not always present but asymptomatic socalled bacteriuria may occur at any age. The earlier a child contracts the infection the more common are uncharacteristic clinical signs like loss of appetite, a raised temperature, parenchymatous icterus and, finally signs of involvement of the central nervous system. During the last few years purposeful research has established the important fact that, if there has been a urinary tract infection particularly in the first months of life, recurrence may more often be asymptomatic than on the first occasion. A mid-stream specimen is diagnostically valuable. If this does contain any bacteria, then supapubic aspiration from the bladder is useful in enabling us to start a specific, if possible bactericidal, therapy. Asymptomatic bacteriuria may at any time lead to clinical signs of pyelonephritis, particularly during periods of stress. Such silent unrecognized cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria may, we feel, lead to pyelonephritic nephrosis in a so far unknown percentage of cases.
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PMID:[Recurrent urinary tract infection in childhood. Diagnosis, treatment, prognosis (author's transl)]. 116 77

Infection with verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli has been implicated in the cause of hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Cases of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and verotoxin infections have been also described. In this study we sought to determine the following: (1) whether verotoxin induces microvascular lesions in the rabbit, (2) the organ distribution of such lesions, and (3) the distribution of verotoxin glycolipid receptors in the various organs. Rabbits challenged with verotoxin-1 purified from E. coli O157:H7 had anorexia, lethargia, and limb paralysis; renal function, however, was normal. Central nervous system lesions found included pericellular and perivascular edema, focal hemorrhage, vascular lesions, and severe alterations of Purkinje cells. Histologic changes were also seen in the colon, with mucosal and submucosal edema and hemorrhage, and in the lung, with interstitial fibrosis and focal lymphohistiocitic infiltration. No lesions were detected in kidney, heart, liver, and spleen. Screening of various tissues for the presence of the verotoxin receptors revealed galabiosyl ceramide in the central nervous system and globotriosyl ceramide in the gastrointestinal tract, lung, and spleen. No receptors for verotoxin were found in the heart, liver, and kidney. These results indicate that organ localization of the disease in rabbits is dependent on the distribution of verotoxin receptors.
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PMID:Verotoxin glycolipid receptors determine the localization of microangiopathic process in rabbits given verotoxin-1. 132 33

Although chickenpox is a highly contagious disease affecting 90% of susceptible persons exposed, its morbidity and mortality in healthy patients is minimal. Treatment of chickenpox with oral acyclovir appears to decrease the number of pox lesions and shorten the duration of new lesion formation. Most importantly, children treated with acyclovir begin to feel better soon and had fewer systemic signs and symptoms of chickenpox (fever, fatigue, loss of appetite). However, the greatest mortality from chickenpox is seen in the immunocompromised patient, or in elderly patients with zoster (shingles) due to reactivation of latent varicella infection. Therefore, prevention of varicella is necessary to decrease mortality from the varicella-zoster virus. It is hopeful that the varicella vaccine will be licensed in the U.S. for routine immunization of healthy children within the next year. While its general use will not eliminate either chickenpox or zoster, there will be a considerable decrease in the morbidity and mortality caused by this agent as a result of routine immunization.
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PMID:Acyclovir in the treatment of chickenpox. 140 23

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF), a polypeptide produced by mononuclear phagocytes, has been implicated as an important mediator of inflammatory processes and of clinical manifestations in acute infectious diseases. To study further the potential role of TNF in infectious diseases, recombinant Escherichia coli (E. coli) derived human (r.HuTNF-alpha) and bovine TNF (r.BoTNF-alpha) were intravenously (i.v.) administered in dwarf goats. Rectal temperature, heart rate, rumen motility, plasma zinc and iron concentrations, and certain other blood biochemical and haematological values were studied and compared with the changes seen after E. coli endotoxin (LPS) was administered (dose: 0.1 microgram/kg i.v.). Following a single injection of 4 micrograms/kg of r.BoTNF-alpha, shivering and biphasic febrile response were observed, accompanied by tachycardia, inhibition of rumen contractions, drop in plasma zinc and iron concentrations, lymphopenia, and neutropenia followed by neutrophilia. The i.v. administration of a single injection of 4 micrograms/kg r.HuTNF-alpha induced shivering and biphasic febrile responses, accompanied by anorexia and a similar drop in plasma trace metal concentrations when compared with r.BoTNF-alpha-treated goats. The TNF-alpha-induced symptoms were essentially the same as those that occurred after LPS administration. However, the time of onset of these changes after the injection of TNF-alpha was significantly shorter than after LPS. Moreover, the r.BoTNF-alpha induced a longer lasting neutrophilic leucopenia, less neutrophilia, and a more persistent lymphopenia than after LPS injection. Neither r.BoTNF-alpha nor LPS caused severe haemo-concentration. Furthermore, no cross-tolerance between r.BoTNF-alpha and LPS could be demonstrated. We conclude that both r.BoTNF-alpha and r.HuTNF-alpha induce many of the physiologic, haematologic and metabolic changes that characterize the acute phase response to LPS. The overlapping biological activities of r.BoTNF-alpha, r.HuTNF-alpha and LPS in dwarf goats may indicate that both recombinant tumour necrosis factors have some homology with caprine TNF-alpha.
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PMID:Fever and acute phase response induced in dwarf goats by endotoxin and bovine and human recombinant tumour necrosis factor alpha. 148 32

The numerous interactions between the immune and neuroendocrine systems are being studied in a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field called "immunoneuroendocrinology" or "psychoneuroimmunology". We have recently reported that interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine mainly produced by activated monocytes and macrophages, has various central nervous system (CNS) actions besides its immunological activities. Among these activities, for example, IL-1 activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, a main hormonal response to stress, by stimulating the release of corticotropin-releasing factor from the hypothalamus. IL-1 also acts centrally in the brain to decrease food intake in a dose-related manner, suggesting that anorexia, a typical clinical manifestation frequently observed in acute infectious diseases, may be caused by IL-1, a cytokine that is released under such conditions as acute infection. Furthermore, we have very recently found that IL-1 has potent antisecretory and anti-ulcer actions mediated by the CNS. Based upon these results, we have proposed that there may be an "immune-brain-gut" axis, in which IL-1 acts as an afferent signal and gastric functions as efferent one. At this symposium, by presenting some of our data on the CNS effects of IL-1, we report the potential of these immunoneuroendocrinological studies for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of stress-induced gastrointestinal disorders.
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PMID:[Stress and gastroenterology: an immunoneuroendocrinological approach]. 151 74

Symptoms of infection in the elderly may be absent, vague or atypical. Infection should be suspected when an elderly patient presents with a decline in well-being or with non-specific symptoms such as falls, dizziness, confusion, anorexia or weakness. Common infections include bacterial pneumonia, urinary tract infection, intra-abdominal infections, gram-negative bacteremia and infection of decubitus ulcers. Antibiotic therapy is not recommended for asymptomatic bacteriuria or locally infected decubitus ulcers. Drug dosages should be adjusted for the age-associated decline in renal function and for hepatic or renal insufficiency. The trend in antibiotic therapy is evolving toward the use of third-generation cephalosporins instead of aminoglycosides to avoid the side effects of nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. Pneumococcal, influenza and tetanus/diphtheria immunizations help prevent morbidity and mortality.
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PMID:Common infections in the elderly. 848 May 62

In the late 1970s, a new infectious disease in horses, involving acute enteritis, was recognised in the Potomac River area of Maryland, U.S.A. The causative agent was identified subsequently as a new species of rickettsial organism, later named Ehrlichia risticii. Since then, the disease has been reported in many other states, and in enzootic areas vaccination is common. Signs associated with the clinical disease included depression, fever, anorexia, decreased or absent intestinal sounds, profuse watery diarrhoea and laminitis. However, considerable variation in clinical manifestations has been reported in both the natural and experimental disease. Accurate diagnosis depends on serological testing; currently, the immunofluorescent antibody test (IFA) is used widely, although an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed recently. Mortality in untreated cases is 15 to 35 per cent. Antibiotics of the tetracycline series have shown activity against the organism in vitro, in an in vivo murine model and appear to be useful in clinical cases.
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PMID:Equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac horse fever): a review. 177 55

Infection and inflammation are associated with hypertriglyceridemia, which is thought to be mediated by cytokines. Previous studies at our laboratory and others have shown that tumor necrosis factor acutely increases serum triglyceride levels primarily by stimulating hepatic lipid synthesis and secretion. The role of interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine that is also secreted by stimulated macrophages and that has many actions that overlap those of tumor necrosis factor, has not been studied in depth. The present study demonstrates that IL-1, at doses similar to those that cause fever and anorexia and that stimulate adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion, rapidly increases serum triglyceride levels; this elevation persists for at least 17 hours. Serum cholesterol levels are not altered by IL-1. Neither is the clearance of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins affected by IL-1. However, hepatic triglyceride secretion, measured by the Triton WR-1339 technique, is increased in IL-1-treated animals. Accompanying this stimulation in hepatic lipid secretion is an increase in de novo fatty acid synthesis in the liver. IL-1 does not increase serum free fatty acid and glycerol levels, suggesting that IL-1 does not stimulate lipolysis in vivo. Additionally, inhibition of lipolysis does not prevent the increase in serum triglyceride levels, providing further evidence that lipolysis does not play a crucial role in the increased hepatic lipid synthesis and secretion induced by IL-1. In contrast, tumor necrosis factor increases lipolysis, which contributes to the increase in serum triglycerides. That multiple cytokines rapidly elevate plasma triglyceride levels suggest that these changes in lipid metabolism may play an important role in the organism's response to infection and inflammation.
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PMID:Effect of interleukin-1 on lipid metabolism in the rat. Similarities to and differences from tumor necrosis factor. 202 92

Preexistent feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection greatly potentiated the severity of the transient primary and chronic secondary stages of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection. Of 10 FeLV-FIV carrier cats, 5 died of experimentally induced FIV infection, compared with 2 deaths in 10 cats infected only with FeLV and 1 death in 7 cats infected only with FIV. FIV-infected cats with preexistent FeLV infections developed severe depression, anorexia, fever, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, and leukopenia 4 to 6 weeks after infection and were moribund within 2 weeks of the onset of signs, whereas cats infected only with FIV developed much milder self-limiting gross and hematologic abnormalities. Pathologic findings in dually infected cats that died were similar to those observed previously in cats dying from uncomplicated primary FIV infection but were much more widespread and severe. Coinfection of asymptomatic FeLV carrier cats with FIV did not increase the levels of FeLV p27 antigen present in their blood over that seen in cats infected with FeLV alone. The amount of proviral FIV DNA was much higher, however, in dually infected cats than in cats infected only with FIV; there was a greater expression of FIV DNA in lymphoid tissues, where the genome was normally detected, and in nonlymphoid tissues, where FIV DNA was not usually found. Dually infedted cats that recovered from the primary stage of FIV infection remained more leukopenic than cats infected with FIV or FeLV alone, and their CD4+/CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratios were inverted. One of these cats developed what was considered to be an opportunistic infection. It was concluded, therefore, that a preexistent FeLV infection in some way enhanced the expression and spread of FIV in the body and increased the severity of both the resulting transient primary and chronic secondary stages of FIV infection. This study also demonstrated the usefulness of the FIV model in studying the role of incidental infectious diseases as cofactors for immunodeficiency-causing lentiviruses.
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PMID:Feline leukemia virus infection as a potentiating cofactor for the primary and secondary stages of experimentally induced feline immunodeficiency virus infection. 215 26

Infection of seronegative Welsh mountain ponies was established by intranasal instillation or exposure to nebulised aerosol of egg grown H3N8 viruses. Pyrexia and coughing were noted following intranasal instillation and high titres of virus were recovered from the nasopharynx. Exposure to aerosol resulted in more severe clinical signs characterised by high temperatures, dyspnoea, anorexia and coughing; lower levels of virus were recovered from the nasopharynx. The severity of clinical signs and the kinetics of virus shedding were dose-related with the minimal infectious dose being 10(2)EID50/ml when ponies were exposed to aerosols produced by nebulisation of 20ml allantoic fluid. Full clinical signs only developed when ponies were exposed to a dose of 10(6)EID50/ml. It was concluded that exposure to nebulised aerosols of egg grown H3N8 viruses was a more reliable method of inducing clinical influenza than intranasal inoculation and would be more suitable for challenge studies.
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PMID:Experimental infection of ponies with equine influenza (H3N8) viruses by intranasal inoculation or exposure to aerosols. 215 88


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