Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0021051 (immunodeficiency)
 71,517 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have studied the cross-reaction with Borrelia burgdorferi of sera positive for leptospirosis, syphilis, or human immunodeficiency virus by using the microimmunofluorescence test (micro-IF). The percentage of sera reactive in the micro-IF before absorption varied from 7 to 37% and was reduced to 3 to 8% after absorption with a commercial Reiter treponemal antigen. The cross-reaction of sera positive for syphilis or human immunodeficiency virus was distinguished from the homologous reaction with sera from patients with Lyme disease in the immunoblot test results. However, the cross-reaction could not always be distinguished from the homologous reaction with sera from patients with leptospirosis whose sera scored positive in the micro-IF for B. burgdorferi.
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PMID:Cross-reaction with Borrelia burgdorferi antigen of sera from patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection, syphilis, and leptospirosis. 268 16

Time course of cellular immunity parameters was followed up in 56 patients with different forms of icterohemorrhagic leptospirosis of various severity. A grave course of the disease was associated with development of secondary structural immunodeficiency manifesting by reduction of E = RFC count, of immunoregulatory index, and of the count of T lymphocytes. The course of convalescence was found related to the immune response: if immunodeficiency persisted during the early convalescence period, the patients developed late complications.
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PMID:[Clinical features and cellular immunity in patients with icterohemorrhagic leptospirosis]. 775 63

Just over a year ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued the final bloodborne pathogens standard, "Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens; Final Rule," which requires healthcare institutions to protect their employees from all occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens." According to OSHA, the only criterion for applying the standard is the likelihood of exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials (OPIMs). Thus, the standard is designed to protect all vulnerable personnel, from the clinical engineers who service contaminated equipment to the staff in clinical laboratories, patient care or treatment areas, and housekeeping and laundry services--any location where the nature of the work poses the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. All department heads and employees must have access to the standard and should carefully review our analysis of the regulations and recommendations for implementing them, as presented in this special issue of Health Devices. The standard is aimed at protecting employees from occupational exposure to all bloodborne pathogens and, especially, to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the hepatitis B virus (HBV)--the most infamous pathogens transmitted through occupational exposure to blood and body fluids. Other bloodborne diseases referenced by OSHA in the preamble to the standard include arboviral infections, babesiosis, brucellosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, hepatitis C, human T-lymphotropic virus type I, leptospirosis, malaria, relapsing fever, syphilis, and viral hemorrhagic fever. In this issue, we provide a clinical overview of HIV and HBV and the diseases they cause, as well as a brief discussion of other bloodborne pathogens; an analysis of the most significant regulations affecting hospitals; and our recommendations for compliance. The recommendations presented in this article do not exhaust the possibilities for reducing exposure and complying with the standard. We invite you to communicate your ideas and practices regarding compliance issues to the ECRI-sponsored Center for Healthcare Environmental Management (CHEM) for possible inclusion in a future update to its loose-leaf reference publication, the Healthcare Environmental Management System. We wish to acknowledge CHEM's contribution in developing this special report, which was reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and OSHA. Also see "CDC's Recommendations for Hepatitis B Vaccination and Postexposure Follow-up" and "A Minimal Training Syllabus" in this issue.
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PMID:OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard: analysis and recommendations. 844 29

Emerging and reemerging infections are attracting greater attention from the public health and medical communities. Pathologists and other physicians are increasingly aware of the importance of the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology as a tool for diagnosis, surveillance, and research of emerging infections. In this communication, we describe the role that infectious disease pathologists have played during the last 2 years in broadening our understanding of selected emerging infections, including such examples as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, leptospirosis, microsporidiosis, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and cyclosporiasis. The significance of providing pathology services, especially the autopsy, to patients with potentially hazardous communicable diseases is discussed with the supposition that it is unethical to exclude or withhold health care from a patient based on his or her underlying disease or on risk factors for acquiring a disease. The increasing occurrence of infectious diseases imported into the United States and other nations, including human immunodeficiency virus-1 group O, dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, diphtheria and cholera in immigrants and travelers, and Ebola virus in nonhuman primates, emphasizes the necessity for pathologists of having competence with infectious disease pathology. It is critical that new generations of pathologists not only be trained in the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology, but that they also be willing participants in the diagnosis and investigation of infectious diseases. The lack of training programs for infectious disease pathologists, as well as the deficiency in infectious disease pathology support for ongoing and future epidemiologic investigations and research, has led to the broadening of pathology services and initiation of a dedicated section of Infectious Disease Pathology at one of the nation's premier public health institutions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga. Together with preexisting groups of medical and veterinary infectious disease pathologists at universities, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health, this new program will significantly strengthen the capability of the United States to respond to future challenges of emerging and reemerging infections, both in this country and abroad.
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PMID:Emerging and reemerging infections. Progress and challenges in the subspecialty of infectious disease pathology. 927 4

A study made in three autopsies suggested development during the second to third week of leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagica against the background of secondary immunodeficiency (due to severity of the underlying condition or induced by glucocortocoid and antibiotic therapy) Aspergillus affection of the heart that had significantly aggravated the clinical course of leptospirosis and appeared to be the immediate provoking cause of acute cardiovascular insufficiency with a fatal result to follow. Two cases demonstrated an isolated fungal infection of the myocardium. In one of these running a longer (20 days in duration) course there took place a hematogenic dissemination of the aspergilli present in the liver during the development of the metastatic focus in the myocardium. The observations done suggest that each case requires individual consideration as to part the fungus infection plays in the outcome of the pathological process depending upon its type and extension in the organ.
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PMID:[Aspergillosis of the heart and liver in leptospirosis]. 1087 79

The ability of infectious disease agents to cross the species barrier has long been recognised for many zoonotic diseases. New viral zoonotic diseases, such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by human immunodeficiency viruses 1 or 2, emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, and have become established in the human population. Influenza virus continues to find new ways to move from avian species into humans. The filoviruses and the newer paramyxoviruses, Hendra and Nipah, highlight the increasing proclivity of some animal viral agents to infect human populations with devastating results. A previously unknown transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has emerged in cattle in Europe and spread to humans as well as other animal species. A novel toxicosis, caused by Pfiesteria spp. dinoflagellates, has become a secondary problem in some areas where large fish kills have occurred. The increasing proximity of human and animal populations has led to the emergence of, or increase in, bacterial zoonoses such as plague, leptospirosis and ehrlichiosis. The factors which influence the ability of each infectious agent to effectively across the species barrier and infect new cells and populations are poorly understood. However, for all of these diseases, the underlying theme is the growth of the human population, the mobility of that population, and the efforts expended to keep that population nourished.
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PMID:Emerging zoonoses: crossing the species barrier. 1118 24

We report a case of fulminant leptospirosis that was acquired in New York City by a patient with underlying infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Review of the literature on leptospirosis in HIV-infected persons showed that all patients were severely ill but responded well to treatment, which highlights the importance of recognizing this potentially life-threatening illness, especially in unusual settings.
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PMID:Fulminant leptospirosis in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection: case report and review of the literature. 1147 34

Four rapid tests for the serologic diagnosis of leptospirosis were evaluated, and the performance of each was compared with that of the current standard, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The four rapid tests were a microplate immunoglobulin M (IgM)-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), an indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA), an IgM dipstick assay (LDS), and an IgM dot-ELISA dipstick test (DST). A panel of 276 sera from 133 cases of leptospirosis from four different geographic locations was tested as well as 642 sera from normal individuals or individuals with other infectious or autoimmune diseases. Acute-phase sera from cases (n = 148) were collected <or=14 days (median = 6.0) after the onset of symptoms, and convalescent-phase sera (n = 128) were collected >or=15 days after onset (median = 29.1). By a traditional method (two-by-two contingency table), the sensitivities for detection of leptospirosis cases were 93.2% by LDS, 92.5% by DST, 86.5% by ELISA, and 79.0% by IHA. Specificity was 98.8% by DST, 97% by ELISA and MAT, 95.8% by IHA, and 89.6% by LDS. With a latent class analysis (LCA) model that included all the rapid tests and the clinical case definition, sensitivity was 95.5% by DST, 94.5% by LDS, 89.9% by ELISA, and 81.1% by IHA. The sensitivity and specificity estimated by the traditional methods were quite close to the LCA estimates. However, LCA allowed estimation of the sensitivity of the MAT (98.2%), which traditional methods do not allow. For acute-phase sera, sensitivity was 52.7% by LDS, 50.0% by DST, 48.7% by MAT and ELISA, and 38.5% by IHA. The sensitivity for convalescent-phase sera was 93.8% by MAT, 84.4% by DST, 83.6% by LDS, 75.0% by ELISA, and 67.2% by IHA. A good overall correlation with the MAT was obtained for each of the assays, with the highest concordance being with the DST (kappa value, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 0.90). The best correlation was between ELISA and DST (kappa value, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81 to 0.91). False-positive LDS results were frequent (>or=20%) in sera from individuals with Epstein-Barr virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and periodontal disease and from healthy volunteers. The ease of use and significantly high sensitivity and specificity of DST and ELISA make these good choices for diagnostic testing.
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PMID:Evaluation of four commercially available rapid serologic tests for diagnosis of leptospirosis. 1257 87

There are huge numbers of wild animals distributed throughout the world and the diversity of wildlife species is immense. Each landscape and habitat has a kaleidoscope of niches supporting an enormous variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species, and each species or taxon supports an even more impressive array of macro- and micro-parasites. Infectious pathogens that originate in wild animals have become increasingly important throughout the world in recent decades, as they have had substantial impacts on human health, agricultural production, wildlife-based economies and wildlife conservation. The emergence of these pathogens as significant health issues is associated with a range of causal factors, most of them linked to the sharp and exponential rise of global human activity. Among these causal factors are the burgeoning human population, the increased frequency and speed of local and international travel, the increase in human-assisted movement of animals and animal products, changing agricultural practices that favour the transfer of pathogens between wild and domestic animals, and a range of environmental changes that alter the distribution of wild hosts and vectors and thus facilitate the transmission of infectious agents. Two different patterns of transmission of pathogens from wild animals to humans are evident among these emerging zoonotic diseases. In one pattern, actual transmission of the pathogen to humans is a rare event but, once it has occurred, human-to-human transmission maintains the infection for some period of time or permanently. Some examples of pathogens with this pattern of transmission are human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, influenza A, Ebola virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome. In the second pattern, direct or vector-mediated animal-to-human transmission is the usual source of human infection. Wild animal populations are the principal reservoirs of the pathogen and human-to-human disease transmission is rare. Examples of pathogens with this pattern of transmission include rabies and other lyssaviruses, Nipah virus, West Nile virus, Hantavirus, and the agents of Lyme borreliosis, plague, tularemia, leptospirosis and ehrlichiosis. These zoonotic diseases from wild animal sources all have trends that are rising sharply upwards. In this paper, the authors discuss the causal factors associated with the emergence or re-emergence of these zoonoses, and highlight a selection to provide a composite view of their range, variety and origins. However, most of these diseases are covered in more detail in dedicated papers elsewhere in this Review.
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PMID:The role of wildlife in emerging and re-emerging zoonoses. 1570 16

Before twentieth centuries and during early twentieth centuries, communicable diseases were the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Korea. But reliable data are not available. After 1975, the overall morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases, rapidly declined. Recently many new pathogenic microbes were recognized: L. monocytogenes, Hantaan virus, Y. pseudotuberculosis, P. multocida, L. pneumophilia, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), G. seoi, H. capsulatum, C. burnetii, V. cholerae 0139, C. parvum, F. tularensis, E. coli 0157:H7, B. burgdorferi, S. Typhimurium DT104, Rotavirus, hepatitis C virus and so on. Since the first HIV infection recognized in 1985, the reported cases of infection and deaths from HIV/AIDS have been steady increased each year. Legionnaire's disease, E. coli 0157:H7 colitis, listeriosis and crytosporidiasis have been occurring just sporadically among immunocompromized cases. Many re-emerging communicable diseases were occurred in Korea: leptospirosis, malaria, endemic typhus, cholera, tsutsugamushi disease, salmonellosis, hepatitis A, shigellosis, mumps, measles, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, brucellosis and so on. Leptospirosis and tsutsugamushi diseases have been noticed as major public health problems since 1980s. The malaria that had been virtually disappeared for a decade has reappeared from 1993 with striking increase of patients in recent 3-4 years. The distributions of salmonella and shigella serotypes have been changed a lot in recent few decades. Furthermore rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains induces more difficult and complex problems in control of communicable diseases. We must recognize on the importance of environment and ecosystem conservation and careful prescription of anti-microbial agent in order to prevent communicable diseases.
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PMID:[Changing patterns of communicable diseases in Korea]. 1631 47


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