Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0348321 (Haemophilus)
 15,372 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hereditary properdin deficiency is a rare genetic disorder of the complement system. Three propositi and six additional family members with properdin deficiency have been found following analysis of the hemolytic activity of the classical (CH50) and the alternative (AP50) complement pathways in the sera of 101 survivors of meningococcal infections and 59 survivors of severe pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenza infections. All the properdin-deficient individuals had undetectable levels of properdin by radial immunodiffusion and by Western blotting. They belonged to three non-related families of Tunisian Jews who came from different parts of Tunisia. Two patients had a meningococcal infection at 15 and 16 years of age, respectively, and one had Haemophilus influenza meningitis at 1.5 years of age. In contrast to the fulminant and fatal course of meningococcal infection which was previously described in some properdin-deficient patients, our patients had a relatively mild disease. Properdin deficiency may not be as rare as previously thought. Analysis of AP50, in addition to CH50, in sera of patients who had meningococcal infection, will probably disclose many more cases of hereditary properdin deficiency. In addition, our findings indicate that, as in other complement abnormalities, hereditary properdin deficiency may also be associated with the ethnic origin of the patient.
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PMID:Hereditary properdin deficiency in three families of Tunisian Jews. 824 70

A questionnaire was sent to 160 hospital doctors and 200 general practitioners about post-splenectomy prophylaxis during the month of September 1995. A total of 118 questionnaires were returned (43% hospital doctors and 25% GPs). Most doctors (99%) knew that splenectomised patients were at risk of pneumococcal infection; 72% of hospital doctors and 50% of GPs knew of the risk of Haemophilus influenza infection but only 50% of hospital doctors and 33% of GPs knew of the same risks involving meningococcal infection and malaria. Half of the GPs were not aware of H. influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine for prophylaxis and 85% of these and 50% of hospital doctors did not know prophylaxis should be lifelong. There was no significant difference in the knowledge between hospital doctors and GPs.
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PMID:Doctors' knowledge of post-splenectomy prophylaxis. 948 61

Comparative characterization (molecular typing) of isolates within a bacterial species is one of the major problems in microbiology and epidemiology. However, it is rather difficult to correlate data obtained in various laboratories, because traditional, including molecular, methods employed in typing pathogenic microorganisms cannot be standardized. In 1998, Maiden et al. proposed multilocus sequence typing (MLST); through which alleles of several housekeeping genes are directly assessed by nucleotide sequencing, each unique allele combination determining a sequence type of a strain. The advantages of this approach are that the culturing of pathogenic microorganisms is avoided, as their gene fragments are amplified directly from biological samples, and that the sequencing data are unambiguous, easy to standardize, and electronically portable. The latter makes it possible to generate an expandable global database for each species at an Internet site, in order to use it for the purposes of genotyping pathogenic bacteria (and other infectious agents). MLST protocols have been elaborated for Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Helicobacter pylori; those for Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Haemophilus influenzae are now being developed. Basic principles and the first results of MLST have been reviewed, including data on the distribution and microevolution of N. meningitidis clones causing epidemic meningococcal infection, the relative recombination and mutation rates in the N. meningitidis genome, the identification of antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae clones causing severe generalized infection, the grouping of H. pylori isolates from various geographic regions, etc.
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PMID:[Multilocus sequencing--a new method of genotyping bacteria and first results of its use]. 1086 74

Apart from meningococcal disease in the sub-Saharan meningitis belt, the incidence and impact of life-threatening bacterial diseases in children across Africa have not been quantified. The clinical and epidemiological data on pneumococcal, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and other forms of bacterial meningitis, as well as data on other severe bacterial infections throughout the continent were scrutinized. Pneumococci were the leading causative agents of nonepidemic meningitis and other bacteremic diseases, followed by Hib. Meningococcal diseases were less common. Mortality rates associated with pneumococcal, Hib, and meningococcal meningitis were 549 (45%) of 1211 patients, 389 (29%) of 1352 patients, and 104 (8%) of 1236 patients, respectively; sequelae occurred in 50%, 40%, and 10% of cases. At 0-4 years of age, the estimated incidences of Hib meningitis and all classic Hib diseases were 70 and 100 cases per 100,000 population per year, accounting for approximately 90,000 and 120,000 cases per year, respectively. Including older age groups and, especially, nonbacteremic Hib pneumonia in the estimates of Hib disease in Africa increased the overall numbers manifold; the numbers of pneumococcal infections were even greater. The only realistic way to combat these severe infections efficaciously would be through widespread vaccination, starting with Hib conjugates.
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PMID:Burden of meningitis and other severe bacterial infections of children in africa: implications for prevention. 1111 73

In a search for immunogenic virulence factors in Neisseria meningitidis, we have identified a gene encoding a predicted 160 kDa protein with homology to the autotransporter family of proteins. Members of this family are secreted or surface exposed and are often associated with virulence in Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. We named the gene adhesion and penetration protein (app), because of its extensive homology to the hap gene of Haemophilus influenzae. We reconstructed the gene with reference to genomic sequence data and cloned and expressed the protein in Escherichia coli. Rabbit antiserum raised against recombinant App reacted with proteins in all meningococcal isolates examined, which represented clonal groups responsible for the majority of meningococcal invasive disease. Antibodies to the protein were detected in the sera of patients convalescing from meningococcal infection. Purified App had strong stimulating activity for T cells isolated from a number of healthy donors and from one convalescent patient. We confirmed that App is surface localized, cleaved and secreted by N. meningitidis. Importantly, the rabbit anti-App serum killed the organism in the presence of complement. Thus, App is conserved among meningococci, immunogenic in humans and potentially involved in virulence. It therefore merits further investigation as a component of a future multivalent vaccine.
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PMID:Identification and characterization of App: an immunogenic autotransporter protein of Neisseria meningitidis. 1153 29

Acute bacterial meningitis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. There have recently been major advances in the prevention of the major causes of bacterial meningitis following improvements in vaccinology. The success of immunisation against Haemophilus influenzae type b infection is being mirrored with serogroup C conjugated meningococcal vaccine and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. However, there remain major challenges, notably, serogroup B meningococcal infection and shifts in epidemiology caused by vaccine introduction. In addition, much of the world's population is unvaccinated. Therefore, improvements in management of acute bacterial meningitis are vital. In this review we attempt to summarise important advances in both prevention and treatment of acute bacterial meningitis.
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PMID:New therapies and vaccines for bacterial meningitis. 1215 Jul 1

In 2000, there were 89,740 notifications of communicable diseases in Australia collected by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The number of notifications in 2000 was an increase of 5.9 per cent over those reported in 1999 (84,743) and the largest reporting year since the NNDSS commenced in 1991. Notifications in 2000 consisted of 28,341 bloodborne infections (32% of total), 24,319 sexually transmitted infections (27%), 21,303 gastrointestinal infections (24%), 6,617 vaccine preventable infections (7%), 6,069 vectorborne infections (7%), 2,121 other bacterial infections (legionellosis, meningococcal infection, leprosy and tuberculosis) (2%), 969 zoonotic infections (1%) and only one case of a quarantinable infection. Steep declines in some childhood vaccine preventable diseases such as Haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps and rubella, continued in 2000. In contrast, notifications of pertussis and legionellosis increased sharply in the year. Notifications of bloodborne viral diseases (particularly hepatitis B and hepatitis C) and some sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia, continue to increase in Australia. This report also summarises data on communicable diseases from other surveillance systems including the Laboratory Virology and Serology Surveillance Scheme (LabVISE) and sentinel general practitioner schemes. In addition this report comments on other important developments in communicable disease control in Australia in 2000.
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PMID:Australia's notifiable diseases status, 2000. Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. 1220 70

Bacterial infections are considered to be a major cause of sudden deaths. The recognition of infections caused by Neisseria meningitidis is an essential duty of medicolegal offices due to the risk of secondary cases. Since other microorganisms, such as Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, are also involved in infectious sudden deaths, the identification of the pathogen responsible for death is essential in order to establish a positive diagnosis while also preventing secondary meningococcal cases. However, because of the unreliability of culture methods used for autopsy specimens and the fragile nature of the microorganisms, other techniques were used. In this study, the detection of specific antigens of N. meningitidis (serogroups A, B, C, Y and W135), H. influenzae type b, S. pneumoniae and Group B Streptococcus was undertaken in 40 samples from sudden death cases in legal procedures with a latex agglutination test. In addition, a meningococcus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (ctrA, crgA and siaD genes) was also used as a corroboration method for positive N. meningitidis agglutinations. Eleven cases of sudden death were confirmed to be due to meningococcus while one case was confirmed to have been caused by H. influenzae type b fulminant epiglottitis. Rapid laboratory diagnosis of meningococcal infection allowed contacts management and notification to the health authorities. From the point of view of the authors, forensic diagnosis of unascertained deaths should include latex agglutination and meningococcus PCR when a fulminant infection by N. meningitidis or H. influenzae is suspected as well as in deaths where the cause is unclear.
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PMID:Latex agglutination for bacterial antigens and meningococcus PCR: two useful tools in legal sudden deaths. 1554 86

Acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) is an acute inflammation of leptomeninges caused by bacteria, and has a case fatality rate of 10-30%. Prevention strategies, such as vaccination and prophylactic antibiotics, can prevent ABM and have substantial public health impact by reducing the disease burden associated with it. The aim of this paper is to summarize the main findings from Cochrane systematic reviews that have considered the evidence for measures to prevent ABM. We assessed the evidence available in the Cochrane Library. We found five Cochrane reviews focused on the prevention of ABM; three with use of vaccination and two with prophylactic antibiotics. Polysaccharide serogroup A vaccine is strongly protective for the first year, against serogroup A meningococcal meningitis in adults and children over 5 years of age. Meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MCC) vaccine is safe and effective in infants. Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine is safe and effective against Hib-invasive disease at all ages. Ceftriaxone, rifampicin and ciprofloxacin are the most effective prophylactic antibiotics against Neisseria meningitidis. There is sufficient evidence to use polysaccharide serogroup A vaccine to prevent serogroup A meningococcal meningitis, MCC conjugate vaccines to prevent meningococcal C meningitis and Hib conjugate vaccine to prevent Hib infections. More studies are needed to evaluate the effects of Hib conjugate vaccine on mortality. Further, studies are required to compare the relative effectiveness of ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and rifampicin in chemoprophylaxis against meningococcal infection.
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PMID:Prevention of bacterial meningitis: an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews. 1770 8

Meningococcal diseases are serious threats to global health, and new vaccines specifically tailored to meet the age-related needs of various geographical areas are required. This paper focuses on the meningococcal conjugate vaccines developed by GSK Biologicals. Two combined conjugate vaccines were developed to help protect infants and young children in countries where the incidence of meningococcal serogroup C or serogroup C and Y disease is important: Hib-MenC-TT vaccine, which offers protection against Haemophilus influenzae type b and Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C diseases, is approved in several countries; and Hib-MenCY-TT vaccine, which adds N. meningitidis serogroup Y antigen, is currently in the final stages of development. Additionally, a tetravalent conjugate vaccine (MenACWY-TT) designed to help protect against four meningococcal serogroups is presently being evaluated for global use in all age groups. All of these vaccines were shown to be highly immunogenic and to have clinically acceptable safety profiles.
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PMID:Conjugate Meningococcal Vaccines Development: GSK Biologicals Experience. 2199 44


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