Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0026918 (Mycobacterium)
 52,428 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The diagnosis of mycobacterial disease still relies heavily on conventional microscopy and culture techniques. More modern methods, such as the Bactec 460 radiometric system and the Roche biphasic system, are becoming available but are not yet widely used. Non-culture methods eg, using molecular biology techniques or gas liquid chromatography, are being developed but are currently the province of research and reference laboratories. Disease caused by species other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis poses problems of diagnosis and treatment. These other species can be identified by comparatively simple techniques but, as they are widely distributed in the environment, deciding between casual contamination and true infection can be difficult. Although such infections are not a major problem in numerical terms, the variable response of patients to treatment means that conventional sensitivity testing is of little assistance, and it is necessary to seek evidence of synergy in drug combinations for the effective treatment of these infections.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Rev 1992 Aug 14
PMID:The laboratory diagnosis of mycobacterial disease. 128 39

Outbreaks of tuberculosis in centres for the care of patients with AIDS, including outbreaks involving drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have been reported from a number of countries and present special problems. Transmission of infection may be facilitated by procedures commonly used with AIDS patients, and recognition of the diagnosis in an infectious case may be delayed. Although no similar outbreaks have been identified in the United Kingdom, it may be timely to review the policy and procedures used in this country in the light of experience elsewhere.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Rev 1992 May 22
PMID:Nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis in AIDS care centres. 128 12

A total of 1833 out of over 16,000 'initial' isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, submitted by hospital laboratories to the PHLS Regional Tuberculosis Centres in England and Wales between 1982 and 1991, were resistant to one or more first line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Isoniazid resistance was found in 6.1% of these strains, half of which were resistant to isoniazid alone. Resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin, with or without resistance to other drugs, was found in 0.6% of isolates. The proportion of initial isolates resistant to one or more drugs was 9.8%. It ranged from 8.0% to 10.9% between 1982 and 1990, and increased to 14.2% in 1991. The incidence of multiple drug resistance remained very low throughout the period. However, in the light of the problems with tuberculosis and drug resistance emerging elsewhere in the world, vigilance is essential, and enhanced surveillance is being planned in England and Wales.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Rev 1993 Dec 03
PMID:Drug resistance in initial isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in England and Wales, 1982-1991. 750 70

The World Health Organization and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease published two joint statements on tuberculosis (TB). The first statement confirms that HIV infection is the most potent factor promoting the development of TB in people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The lifetime risk of developing TB is estimated to be at least 50% for co-infected people. TB in this group is thought to result largely from the reactivation of previously acquired infection, but re-infection may be important in populations with a high prevalence of TB. Chemoprophylaxis, usually with isoniazid, prevents the development of TB in all patients infected with M. tuberculosis, whether or not they are also infected with HIV. The second joint statement is aimed at developing countries and follows UK and US guidelines for preventing the transmission of TB in health care settings. Essentially, patients with confirmed or suspected infectious TB should be isolated until they are no longer infectious or the diagnosis is revised; risks should be minimized to patients, health care workers, and laboratory staff during procedures producing aerosols; TB isolation rooms should be safely and effectively ventilated to the outside of buildings; and all immunocompromised patients and health care workers should be protected from exposure to patients with infectious TB.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Wkly 1994 Feb 25
PMID:Joint statements on preventing tuberculosis. 751 35

Three thousand and fifty-two infections with opportunist mycobacteria were reported to the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre from 1982 to 1994. The commonest reported species was Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI), followed by M. kansasii and M. malmoense. The annual totals of opportunist mycobacteria increased steadily over this period, mostly, but not exclusively, due to an increase in reports of MAI associated with HIV infection. There were also increases in reports of MAI not associated with HIV infection, and in reports of M. malmoense. The increase in reports of opportunist mycobacteria was seen throughout England and Wales, but underreporting of MAI infection in the National Health Service Thames regions appears to have increased in recent years. Continued referral of isolates of opportunist mycobacteria to one of the PHLS regional centres for mycobacteriology or the Mycobacterium Reference Unit, and reporting to CDSC, is essential for the surveillance of these infections.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Rev 1996 Oct 11
PMID:Opportunist mycobacteria in England and Wales: 1982 to 1994. 891 89

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most important cause of infectious disease in the world, with eight million new cases and three million deaths each year. The increasing incidence of TB in the developed and the developing world, increasing drug resistance, and the occurrence of nosocomial outbreaks of drug sensitive as well as drug resistant TB has led the PHLS to establish TB as a priority area. This article reviews the enhanced reference services for mycobacteriology provided by the PHLS in England and Wales. These include microscopy and culture on solid and liquid media, rapid culture systems, identification of mycobacteria using macroscopic, microscopic, growth, and biochemical characteristics, and molecular DNA analysis. The Mycobacterium Reference Unit (MRU) provides rapid molecular DNA amplification techniques to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis in specimens. All four PHLS Regional Centres test isolates for drug susceptibility. This work is quality controlled by MRU, which is one of the World Health Organisation's reference centres for global surveillance on drug resistance in tuberculosis. National data on drug resistance are collated through 'Mycobnet', a surveillance scheme run through the collaboration of PHLS and other UK reference centres and the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.
Commun Dis Rep CDR Rev 1997 Jul 25
PMID:PHLS mycobacteriology reference services in England and Wales. 925 30

Mini-inteins derived from Synechocystis sp. (Ssp DnaB intein) and Mycobacterium xenopi (Mxe GyrA intein) that have been modified to cleave peptide bonds at their C and N termini, respectively, were cloned in-frame to the N and C termini of a target protein. Peptide bond cleavage of the modified inteins generated an N-terminal cysteine and a C-terminal thioester on the same protein. These complementary reactive groups underwent intra- or intermolecular condensation to generate circular or polymeric protein species with a new peptide bond at the site of ligation. Three cyclic peptides, BBP, an organ specific localization peptide; RGD, an inhibitor of platelet aggregation; and CDR-H3/C2, which inhibits HIV-1 replication, were isolated using the two-intein system. BBP, RGD, and CDR-H3/C2 had masses of 977.1, 1119.9, and 2098.6 g/mol, respectively, as determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption-time of flight mass spectrometry, which agreed well with the values of 977.2, 1120.3, and 2098.3 g/mol, respectively, predicted for the cyclic species. This system was used to cyclize proteins as large as 395 amino acids. Furthermore, multimers of thioredoxin were formed upon concentration of the reactive species, indicating the potential to form novel biomaterials based on fibrous proteins.
 ...
PMID:The cyclization and polymerization of bacterially expressed proteins using modified self-splicing inteins. 1037 40