Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0017160 (gastroenteritis)
 11,398 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The significance of Aeromonas spp. as potential water-borne enteric pathogens in Tasmania, Australia, an area with a mild climate and comparatively low year-round water temperatures, was investigated in view of the reported marked peak of Aeromonas-associated gastroenteritis in the summer and the apparent influence of temperature on levels of potentially pathogenic species in water supplies. Biochemical characteristics and virulence-associated properties--exotoxin production (hemolysin, enterotoxin), ability to grow at 43 degrees C, and possession of pili--were determined for 105 Tasmanian isolates of Aeromonas spp.; 43 isolates were from clinical specimens (greater than 75% diarrhea associated) and 62 were from water. Current classification schemes were evaluated for these isolates. A. sobria comprised 35% of the clinical isolates and 16% of the water isolates, A. hydrophila comprised 56 and 79%, and A. caviae comprised 9 and 5%. A total of 42% of the clinical isolates and 15% of the environmental isolates were enterotoxigenic (by the suckling mouse assay); these levels were significantly lower than those found in warmer environments. The majority (74%) of enterotoxigenic isolates were A. sobria. Enterotoxin-producing isolates possessed three or more of the following properties. They were Voges-Proskauer positive, did not hydrolyze arabinose, were positive for lysine decarboxylase, were able to grow at 43 degrees C, and produced large amounts of hemolysin (titer, greater than 128). Thus, the biochemical scheme proposed by Burke et al. (V. Burke, J. Robinson, H.M. Atkinson, and M. Gracey, J. Clin. Microbiol. 15:48-52, 1982) for identifying enterotoxigenic isolates appears to have widespread applicability. Environmental enterotoxigenic isolates possessed numerous pili, but these appeared to be lost once infection was established, as a similar isolates from patients with diarrhea were poorly piliated.
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PMID:Virulence characteristics of Aeromonas spp. in relation to source and biotype. 287 8

Intestinal protozoa are one of the leading causes of waterborne outbreaks. Stool samples of 196 residents from a village of Izmir, using the public water supply, were collected during an outbreak of gastroenteritis. Patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire reporting on gender, age, gastrointestinal symptoms, whether or not there was a toilet in the house, their hygiene practices, and similar symptoms in the household members. Of the patients who had gastrointestinal symptoms (74.5%), diarrhea was observed in 69.5% whereas bloody and mucoid stools were observed in 20.4 %. The stool samples were examined for intestinal parasites by wet mount and trichrome stain and were also cultured in the Robinson medium. Pathogenic parasites were detected in 11 samples (5.6%) as follows: Giardia intestinalis in 7, Hymenolepis nana in 1 and Blastocystis hominis in 4. Entamoeba histolytica/dispar was not detected by direct wet mount in any of 8 patients who had E. histolytica/E. dispar in culture whereas it was detected in the trichrome stained slides of 3 patients. Amoeba prevalence in the 15-44 age-group was significantly high when compared with the 0-14 age group. The prevalence of pathogenic parasites was high among the people who had a toilet outdoors. Drinking water was thought to be a principal source of this outbreak.
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PMID:An outbreak of gastroenteritis associated with intestinal parasites. 1898 82

In this study, we aimed to investigate the incidence of Dientamoeba fragilis with different diagnostic methods in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and determine the sensitivity and specificity of existing diagnostic methods. Fecal samples collected from 101 patients with gastrointestinal complaints (especially upper abdominal pain, abdominal and pelvic pain, nausea and vomiting, gastroenteritis and colitis, unexplained fever and diarrhea) and 20 control cases from various clinics were included in the study. Samples were first examined with native-Lugol (N-L) method and cultured in Robinson medium. All 121 stool and culture samples were stained with iron hematoxylin stain (IHS) and trichrome stain (TS) methods and examined by PCR and QPCR for D.fragilis. Among 121 stool samples 13 (10.7%), 2 (1.7%), 7 (5.7%) 13 (10.7%), and 7 (5.8%), 4 (3.3%), 2 (1.7%), 3 (2.5%) of cultured samples were determined positive with IHS, TS, PCR, QPCR respectively. Fifteen of the 121 stool samples were determined as diarrheal. All diarrheal stool samples were negative with IHS and TS. One of the diarrheal stools and 6 (4.9%) of the non-diarrheal stools were positive by PCR. All of the diarrheal stools were negative. Thirteen of the non-diarrheal stool samples (10.7%) were positive by QPCR. When the QPCR method was considered as gold standard, sensitivity and specificity values were determined as 46% and 93% in IHS, 0% and 99% in TS, 54% and 100% by PCR and sensitivity and specificity values were 67% and 96% in IHS, 33% and 98% in TS, 67% and 100% by PCR among cultured stool samples. As a result, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the samples of the patients and the control groups and the sensitivity and specificity of the conventional and molecular methods (IHS, TS, PCR and QPCR) determined in this study supported the results of other compared studies. It has been determined that staining methods used for the diagnosis of D.fragilis gave false positivite or negativite results. In addition, the QPCR method is more advantageous in terms of time saving for the diagnosis and initiation of the treatment and in cases where QPCR is not available, IHS and conventional PCR methods should be used together. In our opinion, this study will contribute to the results of epidemiological and scientific studies on D.fragilis in Turkey.
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PMID:[Dientamoeba fragilis infection in patients with gastrointestinal system complaints]. 2993 34