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

The causative agents of nearly all bacterial and viral infectious diseases are either directly excreted by the infected animals or they reach the floor via other ways and thus end-up also in the fecal and urinary excretions of the animals. Occasionally pathogens also can be found in slurries of clinically unsuspected livestock for a short period of time while they pass through the gut of individual animals without colonization or invasion of the tissues (e.g. salmonellas). Consequently the manures are a potential for spreading infectious diseases. But their real significance as a vector for infectious agents is to a large extent still unsolved, because in the literature only very few and sometimes doubtful cases are described. During storage of manures the numbers of pathogens are reduced. This effect can be intensified by prolongation of the storage time. To assess the real epidemiological significance of the animal manures as vectors for infectious diseases further research work is urgently needed. After disinfection of animal manures in accordance with the regulations during eradication of notifiable diseases no cases of spread of disease became known in the Federal Republic of Germany. The problems of agricultural utilization of manures in water protection areas are discussed from a microbiological point of view.
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PMID:[Livestock manure as a vector for infectious agents]. 191 46

In summary, the pathogenesis of many gut virus infections remains uncertain. However, human and animal studies indicate that the majority of gut viruses infect villous enterocytes. Viruses appear to have different affinities for enterocytes at different sites on the villus. Infection of enterocytes leads to cell death, extrusion into the lumen, and villous atrophy when the rate of cell production in the crypts cannot keep pace with the rate of enterocyte loss. This results in a reduced surface area as well as impairment of digestive and absorptive functions. This may also result in a net secretory state. All these changes, along with others such as reduced enzymatic activity and reduced epithelial integrity, may contribute to the induction of an acute but transient malabsorptive diarrhoea which may persist until the digestive/absorptive functions of the enterocyte are restored. However, if colonic compensation is sufficient to handle the increased fluid load, diarrhoea may not be evident. The roles of villous ischaemia, altered countercurrent exchanger of altered immune responses still remain uncertain and require further investigation.
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PMID:Pathogenesis of gut virus infection. 196 25

Hela S3 cells were grown in suspension both randomly and, synchronously using hydroxyurea which blocks cells at the G1/S interface. Cryosections were prepared, freeze-dried and analyzed by X-ray microanalysis. As cells moved into S and through M phases [Na] and [Cl] increased; both returned to normal levels upon re-entering G1 phase. The Na/K ratio was 1:1 in G1 phase. Infection of HeLa S3 cells in G1 phase with vaccinia virus resulted in no change in intracellular [Na]. Infection of neonatal mice with murine rotavirus was localized to villus tip enterocytes and gave rise to diarrhoea which was maximal at 72h post-infection (p.i.). Diarrhoea was preceded by ischemia of villi (18-42h p.i.) and villus shortening (maximal at 42h p.i.), and was also coincident with a dramatic regrowth of villi. At 48h p.i. a proliferative zone of electron lucent cells was observed in villus base regions. Cryosections of infected gut, taken before, during, and after infection, together with corresponding age-matched controls, were freeze-dried and analysed by X-ray microanalysis. At 48h p.i. electron lucent villus base cells were shown to be more hydrated, and, to contain higher levels of both Na and Cl and lower levels of P, S, K and Mg than corresponding control cells. These studies (we argue) increase confidence in the use of X-ray microanalysis in studying biological systems, provide some insight into the process of cell division, and constitute the basis of a new concept of diarrhoeal secretion.
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PMID:From HeLa cell division to infectious diarrhoea. 196 48

Patients treated for schistosomiasis during a 10-year period at a hospital for infectious diseases in Stockholm were investigated by a retrospective analysis in order to evaluate the diagnostic procedures. 80% of the 182 individuals originated from an endemic area and 78% were men. The mean age was 28 years for men and 27 for women. 137 had no other detectable parasites. 127 were asymptomatic. Haematuria was found in 6/15 patients with S. haematobium. 143 patients had infection with S. mansoni. Pathological findings during physical examinations were rare. 61% of the patients had eosinophilia. IgE was a sensitive marker among the patients with a chronic infection (84%). Analysis of antibodies directed against the somatic structure of the adult worm by use of immunofluorescence (IFL) technique had a sensitivity of 80% among the patients with a chronic infection. The detection of antibodies against the gut-associated antigens in IFL indicated an early infection. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using a crude soluble egg antigen, had a sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 96% and is of important diagnostic value.
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PMID:Diagnostic and clinical aspects of schistosomiasis in 182 patients treated at a Swedish ward for tropical diseases during a 10-year period. 212 73

Human ethanol consumption has a profound impact on nutritional status, causing major alterations in intermediary metabolism and critical deficiencies of vitamins and trace elements. The major enzyme systems responsible for the principal steps in ethanol metabolism have been characterized and the genes cloned, and significant functional polymorphisms have been identified. An inactive allele of the mitochondrial ALDH is associated with flushing and reduced alcohol intake. This allele may also confer greater sensitivity to some of ethanol's toxic effects. In populations not possessing this variant, twin and adoptive studies have revealed that heritability for alcoholism is greater than 50%. The occurrence of three functional polymorphisms in the ethanol metabolic pathway, including two mutations which are conserved across populations, suggests a role for selection in their maintenance. The two general categories of selective forces to maintain these polymorphisms are food toxins and infectious diseases. Of the infectious agents, amoebi and other anaerobic and microaerophilic organisms of the gut are the most logical candidates.
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PMID:Genetic epidemiology of ethanol metabolic enzymes: a role for selection. 219 94

To identify causes of mortality in young captive crocodiles, detailed necropsy and laboratory examination was done on 54 (30 Crocodylus porosus, 22 C. novaeguineae, 2 of unrecorded species). Although multiple infections often confounded interpretation it was concluded that the major infectious diseases, of approximately equal importance, were coccidiosis, bacterial septicaemia with Gram-negative organisms, and metazoan parasitism including ascariasis and pentastomiasis. A range of other lesions and agents was recognised, including keratitis, enteritis of unknown aetiology, non-suppurative encephalitis, traumatic peritonitis and trematodes located in renal tubules, gut and blood vessels. Some crocodiles in poor condition had only mild lesions associated with metazoan parasites and the cause of death or illness could not be clearly determined, although it was considered likely that adaptation failure was a contributing factor.
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PMID:Diseases of young captive crocodiles in Papua New Guinea. 226 4

Eight neutropenic patients with acute lymphocytic or nonlymphocytic leukemia had septicemia due to different strains of Streptococcus mitis (St. mitis), a microorganism not commonly recognized as a special pathogen in leukemic patients. Four of the patients had been treated with high-dose cytosine arabinoside as part of the cytostatic regimen, six had a central venous line and four patients had oral lesions prior to the infection. Selective gut decontamination consisted of co-trimoxazole/colistin in five patients and quinolones in three patients. The first three patients died, either due to interstitial pneumonia with the adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), or due to infection-triggered disseminated intravascular coagulation despite prompt empiric antibiotic therapy including vancomycin. The other patients improved after empiric supplementation of penicillin G (30 Mega/day) to the antibiotic regimen. Beginning ARDS in two of these patients dramatically responded to high-dose steroids. We conclude that St. mitis is a major pathogen in neutropenic leukemic patients. Infection appears to occur independently of acute leukemic cell type, regimen of selective gut decontamination, venous access, visible oral lesions or treatment with high-dose cytosine arabinoside. The clinical course of our patients raises questions about the value of commonly recommended empiric antibiotic regimens, which were clearly ineffective to control infections with St. mitis in this patient group. Our data indicate that immediate antibiotic therapy with penicillin G is indicated and may be life-saving for suspected St. mitis infections in neutropenic leukemic patients.
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PMID:Septicemia due to Streptococcus mitis in neutropenic patients with acute leukemia. 229 85

Infection via the gastrointestinal tract is likely to be a natural route of scrapie infection in sheep. This paper describes the pathogenesis of the 139A strain of scrapie introduced intragastrically (i.g.) into CW mice. There was an almost immediate uptake of infectivity and onset of replication in Peyer's patches which preceded replication in spleen. Splenectomy had no effect on incubation period suggesting that, in contrast to the intraperitoneal route, the spleen plays little or no role in the pathogenesis of 139A scrapie administered intragastrically. Replication in the CNS was first detectable in the thoracic spinal cord and later in brain. The evidence is consistent with neural spread of infection from the gastrointestinal tract, via the enteric and sympathetic nervous systems to spinal cord. Neuroinvasion may be initiated either via infection of Peyer's patches or directly by infection of nerve endings in the gut wall. The latter possibility means that pathogenesis may be completely independent of the lymphoreticular system.
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PMID:Pathogenesis of scrapie in mice after intragastric infection. 249 35

Suckling BALB-c mice, subjected to nutritional deprivation in artificially expanded litters (18 to 20 pups), were compared to normally nourished pups (7-9 per litter) in a series of experiments designed to provide data on morphologic and functional alterations of the small intestine during malnutrition and infection. The effects of protein calorie malnutrition (PCM) on the viral replication pattern and severity of clinical disease were examined in suckling mice infected with murine rotavirus (MRV). The infection in nutritionally deprived animals was characterized by a significant decrease in the minimal infectious dose and in the incubation period for the onset of diarrhea as well as increased severity of disease when compared to well nourished controls. Rotavirus-specific antibody, administered orally prior to virus inoculation, significantly reduced MRV replication in both groups but most strikingly in malnourished animals. Additional studies of the uptake of a macromolecule [ovalbumin (OVA)] following oral administration to experimental and control groups showed more rapid and complete absorption in the malnourished animals. Infection further enhanced the uptake of OVA, suggesting that both PCM and rotavirus infection alter the permeability of the small intestine. An unexpected observation of rotavirus-associated hepatitis in CB-17scid mice was also made in nearly 40% of malnourished mice inoculated with 10(6) PFU of Rhesus rotavirus (RRV). Mice with PCM exhibited a susceptibility to hepatitis between SCID mice (80%) and immunologically normal mice (18%). While these data are not sufficient to confirm a nutritionally-mediated immunoincompetence, they do suggest that either loss of immune competence and/or increased gut permeability in malnourished animals may allow a more severe homologous rotavirus infection as well as extraintestinal spread of heterologous rotavirus.
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PMID:Effect of nutritional deprivation on mucosal viral infections. 254 24

Bacterial infection is a serious and often fatal complication of patients with liver disease and can prove fatal either directly or by precipitation of gastrointestinal bleeding, renal failure, or hepatic encephalopathy. At greatest risk are patients with alcoholic cirrhosis or decompensated chronic liver disease, or cases of acute liver disease who progress to fulminant hepatic failure or subacute hepatic necrosis. Infection appears to be unusual in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. The site and type of infection is unrelated to the aetiology of the liver disease. Bacteraemia, pneumonia, urinary tract infection and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis are most common but infective endocarditis and meningitis, especially with pneumococci, are easily overlooked. Clinical suspicion of infection must be high as the only indication may be a general deterioration in the patients' clinical state, increasing encephalopathy or renal impairment. In the case of patients with fulminant hepatic failure, infection may precipitate the initial or recurrent encephalopathy and contributes to death in 10% of fatal cases. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is now recognized to occur in the absence of clinical features of peritonitis. The PMN content of the ascitic fluid may provide the only indication of infection and is the most readily available screening test. The most common types of organism responsible for all types of infection are Gram-negative enteric and streptococci, especially pneumococci, while infection with anaerobes is rare. Risk factors for infection include decompensated alcoholic liver disease, fulminant hepatic failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, invasive practical procedures and impaired host defence mechanisms against infection. Of the host defence mechanisms, impaired function of the reticuloendothelial system, complement, and PMNs represent the most common and serious defects. Defects of humoral immunity are present in ascitic fluid from patients with cirrhosis and are probably a major reason for development of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Diuresis improves these functions and reduces the risk of peritonitis. Treatment of infections even with the appropriate antibiotic is still associated with a high mortality but the use of adjuvant gut sterilization is promising, particularly in cases infected with Gram-negative enteric organisms. Infusions of fresh frozen plasma, blood and cryoprecipitate improve some systemic host defences and may be beneficial in the treatment and reduction of risk of infection.
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PMID:Bacterial infections complicating liver disease. 265 49


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