Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0014118 (endocarditis)
 15,629 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Q fever was diagnosed in 443 patients in Northern Ireland between 1962 and 1989. From 1986 onwards there was an increase, which peaked in 1989 with 107 cases of whom 47 were infected in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. There were three outbreaks and 21 clusters of patients with Q fever. Most cases were in April and May which correlated with the peak lambing and calving season. Q fever mainly affected males in the 40-49 year old age group. County Antrim had the highest prevalence rate of 40/100,000 population and also had the most sheep. The number of sheep in Northern Ireland has doubled in the past ten years. Q fever was strongly associated with occupation and animal contact. Eighty-seven patients (19.6%) drank unpasteurized milk. The commonest presenting illnesses were pneumonia (62.8%), influenza-like illness (24.6%), involvement of the heart (9.0%) and hepatitis (1.6%). Thirty-two patients (7.2%) had endocarditis, 20 of whom had prosthetic valves and three of whom died. Coxiella burnetii was present on valves removed from seven patients.
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PMID:Clinical Q fever in Northern Ireland 1962-1989. 227 9

Human infection with the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii presents as acute influenza-like primary Q fever, subacute granulomatous hepatitis, or chronic endocarditis with hepatitis. To investigate whether persistent infection is associated with a possible immunologic defect, we tested lymphocyte proliferation specific for Coxiella in vitro in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients and controls. All four patients with endocarditis had profound lymphocyte unresponsiveness to Coxiella antigens with normal proliferation to control antigens. Hepatitis and primary Q fever were associated with vigorous responses in vitro to Coxiella antigens. Suppression of lymphocyte unresponsiveness was in part mediated by an antigen-nonspecific, glass-adherent cell. We hypothesize that specific T cell unresponsiveness is an important factor in persistent infection with C. burnetii and offer in vitro lymphocyte stimulation as a more specific diagnostic test to distinguish cases of endocarditis among those with chronic hepatitis due to Q fever.
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PMID:Cellular immunity in Q fever: specific lymphocyte unresponsiveness in Q fever endocarditis. 241 42

In order to evaluate the capacity of C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell count (WBC) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) to differentiate between bacterial and viral infection we studied 176 patients with septicaemia/endocarditis (SE), 59 patients with uncomplicated influenza (UI) and 22 patients with complicated influenza (CI) retrospectively. All 4 parameters were significantly more elevated in SE and CI than in UI. Among patients with SE 10 176 had a CRP value less than 50 mg/l and in patients with UI 5/56 had a CRP value greater than 100 mg/l. Patients with SE caused by pneumococci had the highest CRP levels and patients with alfa-haemolytic streptococci the lowest. The sensitivity and specificity favours the use of CRP as an indicator of bacterial superinfection in influenza.
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PMID:The value of C-reactive protein as a marker of bacterial infection in patients with septicaemia/endocarditis and influenza. 258 55

Rheumatoid factors (RF) occur during the course of various infections such as leprosy, infective endocarditis, tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, visceral larva migrans, infectious mononucleosis, influenza A, hepatitis A or cytomegalovirus. When first described it seemed logical to assume that host-self-immunization with autologous immune complexes provided the initial stimulus for RF production. Subsequently extensive characterization of bacterial, parasitic and viral Fc receptors has suggested an alternative explanation for rheumatoid factor associated with infections. It seems possible that patients make an initial immune response to infecting agent Fc receptors and that anti-anti-Fc receptors or anti-idiotypes either then directly stimulate rheumatoid factor production or are themselves rheumatoid factors. Such a hypothesis might also be applied to rheumatoid arthritis itself where either infecting agent or autologous cell Fc receptors could be the initial immunizing epitopes involved in rheumatoid factor production.
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PMID:Rheumatoid factors in subacute bacterial endocarditis and other infectious diseases. 307 Jul 27

In the Federal Republic of Germany no large Q fever epidemics (more than 200 cases) have been encountered within the last 20 years; however, Q fever was prevalent throughout that period on a constant level (between 27 and 100 officially reported cases per year). Besides classical pneumonic Q fever, chronic forms associated with endocarditis, myocarditis and hepatitis were recently diagnosed for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany. The disease Q fever in humans is often misdiagnosed as common cold or influenza, and more attention should be paid to this entity by the medical profession. Within ten years there has been a sharp increase of Q fever infections in livestock and pets as proved by seroepidemiologic investigations. Preliminary results of a seroepidemiological study indicate a parallel increase of seropositives in the human population, but further investigations on larger numbers of sera are required for statistic confirmation. There are reasons to believe that, in contrast to general opinion, in the Federal Republic of Germany C. burnetii is involved now in infertility in cattle, and besides being a zoonosis Q fever must be considered as a potentially important infectious disease of cattle causing economic losses in this country. Further investigations on this matter are required.
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PMID:Epidemiology and significance of Q fever in the Federal Republic of Germany. 332 69

Virus isolation and titration, electrocardiography, enzyme assays and light and electron microscopic studies were undertaken in male turkeys infected with influenza A/turkey/Ontario/7732/66 virus to determine its potential role in the genesis of heart disease. Virus was isolated from the heart initially before a demonstrable viremia and terminally in declining serum viral titer. Virus was isolated from the heart muscle as early as 1 day postinoculation. Highest viral titers were found in the heart at 6 days postinoculation and coincided with maximum elevations of serum glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase and lactic acid dehydrogenase, microscopic lesions in the heart and cardiac arrhythmias. Microscopic lesions in the heart were first detected at 4 days postinoculation and consisted of disseminated areas of necrosis, focal myocarditis, pericarditis and endocarditis. Alterations in myocardial ultrastructure which followed viral infection included fragmentation and dissolution of myofibrils, dilation of the sarcotubular system, increase in membrane vesicle formation in the region of the endoplasmic reticulum, discontinuity of the sarcolemma, proliferation of mitochondrial population, swelling of mitochondria with separation and disruption of the cristae, and the presence of intramitochondrial and perinuclear densities.
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PMID:Light and electron microscopic changes in the myocardium of influenza-infected turkeys. 463 35

Antimyolemmal antibodies can be demonstrated in sera of patients with coxsackie B, influenza, mumps and Q-fever perimyocarditis, in sera of patients with postpericardiotomy and postinfarction syndromes, in part of the sera of patients with endocarditis and in some patients with dilated heart disease most likely due to secondary immunopathogenesis after perimyocarditis. Antimyolemmal antibodies in titres greater than 1: 40 are complement fixing and cytolytic when added to cultures of vital myocytes. In vitro cardiocytolysis indicates that humoral effector mechanisms could also play a pathogenetic role in vivo. In vitro antibody dependent and independent cellular cytotoxicity of patients lymphocytes against isolated cardiocytes could not be observed in perimyocarditis and postmyocarditic cardiomyopathy. It could be demonstrated, however, in patients with postpericardiotomy syndrome and in some patients with dilated cardiomyopathies. Immunological investigations are therefore not only of diagnostic significance but have widened our knowledge of the etiology and pathogenesis of perimyocardial diseases. Furthermore they are helpful in the follow-up and prognosis of patients with protracted perimyocardial affections.
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PMID:[Secondary immunopathogenesis of cardiac diseases]. 637

Elderly persons are prone to more frequent or greater morbidity and higher mortality from selected infectious diseases than the average population. Factors that may affect this increased predilection or poorer prognosis include environmental exposure, normal physiological changes of aging, coexistence of chronic diseases and alteration of host defense mechanisms. Infections to which the aged are particularly vulnerable are pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, urinary tract infection, Gram-negative bacteremia, intra-abdominal sepsis, soft tissue infection, infective endocarditis, bacterial meningitis, bacterial arthritis and herpes zoster infection.
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PMID:Important infections in elderly persons. 703 32

Q fever is endemic throughout much of Australia and is most frequently seen in abattoir workers, farmers and veterinarians. Initially, there is a febrile, influenza-like illness. The infection is usually self-limited within several weeks, but rarely patients may develop infective endocarditis or hepatitis. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by finding risings titres of antibodies specific for C. burneti. The infection is not very responsive to treatment, but if tetracycline is administered early, the duration of fever is shortened.
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PMID:Q fever. 742 57

Q fever is caused by a rickettsial microorganism (Coxiella burnetii) harboured in sheep. The highest concentration of organisms are found in birth products. It is a very contagious organism which humans can contract by inhaling aerosolized organisms. Most commonly it leads to an acute 'flu-like illness. Rarely, chronic disease with endocarditis is fatal. Infected patients should be treated with tetracyclines or chloramphenicol. A number of outbreaks have been reported in hospital and research settings. Because of the fear of patients and staff contracting Q fever, Hospital Research Review Boards have increasingly resisted the presence of sheep in medical facilities. The authors have reviewed the circumstances leading to these outbreaks and believe researchers can minimize the risk of Q fever. The most important precautions are to use sheep only from Q fever controlled flocks and, depending on the nature of the research, only male sheep.
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PMID:Minimizing the risk of Q fever in the hospital setting. 816 58


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