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Query: UMLS:C0032285 (pneumonia)
 54,520 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Varicella zoster virus is known by many different names, including chickenpox virus, varicella virus, zoster virus and human herpes virus type 3, and it causes chickenpox. Primary chickenpox skin involvement is a benign and self-limiting condition. The incidence in the Western world is on the rise. Varicella pneumonitis is a potentially fatal complication. Immunocompromised patients develop aggressive lung disease, but immunocompetent can have serious pulmonary compromise. Timely ICU support, respiratory intervention and antiviral therapy play a key role in improving outcomes. Aciclovir is an established therapy for treating varicella-related illnesses and early commencement in patients with or at risk of complications can be beneficial. This case demonstrates, healthy individuals with chickenpox can develop varicella pneumonitis. Despite being immunocompetent, the patient had significant radiologic changes.
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PMID:Varicella pneumonitis in an immunocompetent patient. 2270 24

Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infection is a serious illness with significant mortality and morbidity for disseminated disease. Clinical diagnosis of neonatal HSV infection is often difficult without evidence of HSV exposure, for example, absence of a rash or the presence of non-specified manifestations in an infant. Early recognition and treatment with high-dose Acyclovir may dramatically improve the short and long-term outcomes. We describe an infant with disseminated disease due to HSV-1 infection, who first presented clinical and radiologic features of pneumonia. The diagnosis was performed post-mortem by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and pleural liquid of the infant. Tissue PCR revealed a disseminated HSV-1 infection, with a high viral load detected in liver, lungs, brain, heart, striated muscle, kidneys, and thymus tissues. This case report highlights the need for neonatologists to raise awareness about the different clinical manifestations of disseminated neonatal HSV infection. HSV infections should be prominent in the differential diagnosis of an infant under four weeks of age with fever, pneumonia, unexplained seizures or sepsis-like disease, particularly if unresponsive to antibiotics. Early initiation of appropriate antiviral therapy for high-risk infants undergoing testing for HSV infection can be essential to prevent significant morbidity and mortality.
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PMID:Herpes Simplex Virus 1 infection: misleading findings in an infant with disseminated disease. 2391 73

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a virus belonging to the Beta Herpes virus family. Its genome contains many different genes clustered in immediate early, early and late genes. This last cluster includes UL99, a late gene that encodes for a tegument protein called pp28. In immunocompetent patients, HCMV infection occurs asymptomatically, while its reactivation in immunocompromised patients can be a cause of pneumonia, retinitis and gastrointestinal diseases. To prevent or to contrast HCMV infection, several drugs (such as Ganciclovir, Acyclovir, Foscarnet) are available, and their efficiency is evaluated by HCMV DNA load monitoring, as also for antiviral resistance onset that may occur after the therapy. In this study is described the development of a Real Time PCR for the detection and quantification of UL99 transcript and the clearance of this target compared to HCMV DNA, both in vitro and in vivo on bronchoalveolar lavage samples.
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PMID:Evaluation of UL99 transcript as a target for antiviral treatment efficacy. 2497 14

Good's syndrome (GS) or thymomaassociated immunodeficiency is a rare clinical entity that should be ruled out in patients with thymoma who develop severe, recurrent bacterial infections and opportunistic viral and fungal infections. There are no treatment protocols established, hence, early recognition is imperative to avoid complications. We report the case of a 42-year-old female, known for a previous thymectomy for giant thymoma who has suffered for a long time from recurrent pulmonary and urinary tract infections and cold sores. In March 2016 she referred to our unit complaining of fever, cough, chest pain, and cold sores due to Herpes simplex virus (HSV), confirmed serologically as HSV-1. Chest X-ray showed left pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. She started antibiotics (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid associated with azithromycin) with gradual improvement. Given her history she was studied for an underlying immunodeficiency: IgG, IgA, and IgM were significantly low or absent, as well as all IgG subclasses; blood and bone marrow aspirate leucocyte immunophenotyping showed complete absence of B lymphocytes and reduced CD4+ T cells. In light of: i) thymoma; ii) B lymphocyte deficit; iii) hypogammaglobulinemia; iv) recurrent infections, GS was diagnosed and pre-emptive immunoglobulin treatment, associated with HSV and Pneumocystis jiroveci prophylaxis (Acyclovir for HSV and Sulfamethoxazole- Trimethoprim for P. jiroveci) were started. Since then the patient has no longer presented any infectious episodes.
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PMID:Good's syndrome, a rare form of acquired immunodeficiency associated with thymomas. 3124 91

This chapter discusses the agents with activity primarily against RNA viruses. The communicable diseases of the respiratory tract are probably the most common cause of symptomatic human infections. The viruses that are causative agents for human respiratory disease comprise the five taxonomically distinct families: orthomyxoviridae, paramyxoviridae, picornaviridae, coronaviridae, and adenoviridae. The influenza viruses, which consist of types A, B, and C, belong to the family orthomyxoviridae. Types A and B have been associated with significant increases in mortality during epidemics. The disease may be asymptomatic or cause symptoms ranging from the common cold to fatal pneumonia. Immunization against influenza has been recommended for high-risk groups and antiviral chemotherapy (amantadine) is available for the treatment and prophylaxis of all influenza A infections. There is both a great need for and interest in developing a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of these two viral, respiratory tract pathogens. The family picornaviridae contains the genus Rhinovirus that is composed of over a hundred distinct serotypes. Amantadine and rimantadine are specifically active against influenza A virus infections. The amantadine recipients reported a higher incidence of side effects largely attributed to the central nervous system (CNS) symptoms. This difference in side effects may be a pharmacokinetic phenomenon that results in higher plasma concentrations of amantadine. Significant progress continues to be made in the clinical use and development of agents active against DNA viruses. Acyclovir (9-(2-h droxyethoxymethyl)guanine) has been the subject of several reviews and of a syrnposium. Considerable progress has been made in evaluating the clinical promise of acyclovir; however, there remains much to be learned concerning the best use of this drug in clinical practice. Significant strides have been made in the development of clinically useful antiviral agents, especially against the DNA viruses of the herpes family. Most of these agents are directed against viral nucleic acid synthesis and require activation by a virus-induced thymidine kinase. Researchers have begun to focus on other strategies that may produce broader spectrum anti-viral agents with different mechanisms of action.
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PMID:Chapter 12. Antiviral Agents. 3233 13


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