Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P17174 (aspartate aminotransferase)
 14,872 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We measured levels of virus in sequential specimens from 137 patients with Lassa fever. The probability of fatal disease increased significantly with the level of viremia measured either on admission or during the course of illness. The odds ratio of death in patients with viremia greater than 10 TCID50/ml was 3.7 (90% confidence interval, 1.9-7.2). The same ratio in patients with viremia greater than 10 TCID50/ml and with levels of aspartate aminotransferase greater than or equal to 150 IU/liter was 21.5 (95% confidence interval, 5.2-99.0). Virus was found in throat cultures from 39% of viremic patients, compared with 14% of nonviremic patients (P less than .002); however, the level of virus was usually less than or equal to TCID50/ml. Fewer than 3% of patients were viruric during acute illness, and virus was isolated from three of three samples of cerebrospinal fluid. On admission, 53% of patients had IgG antibodies, and 67% had IgM antibodies. Recovery was not associated with the presence of either IgG or IgM. Virus was isolated from greater than 100 serum specimens that also contained high titers of IgG. Clinical Lassa fever was shown to be a disseminated systemic, primary viral infection, with an outcome highly associated with viremia but not with development of antibody.
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PMID:Clinical virology of Lassa fever in hospitalized patients. 380 73

In a study of Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, West Africa, we identified two variables associated with a high risk of death, and we evaluated the efficacy of ribavirin and Lassa virus-convalescent plasma for the treatment of Lassa fever. A serum aspartate aminotransferase level greater than or equal to 150 IU per liter at the time of hospital admission was associated with a case-fatality rate of 55 percent (33 of 60). Patients with the same risk factor who were treated for 10 days with intravenous ribavirin, begun within the first 6 days after the onset of fever, had a case-fatality rate of 5 percent (1 of 20) (P = 0.0002 by Fisher's exact test). Patients whose treatment began seven or more days after the onset of fever had a case-fatality rate of 26 percent (11 of 43) (P = 0.01). Viremia with levels greater than or equal to 10(3.6) TCID50 per milliliter on admission was associated with a case-fatality rate of 76 percent (35 of 46). Patients with this risk factor who were treated with intravenous ribavirin within the first six days after onset of fever had a case-fatality rate of 9 percent (1 of 11) (P = 0.006), whereas those treated after seven days or more of illness had a fatality rate of 47 percent (9 of 19) (P = 0.035). Oral ribavirin was also effective in patients at high risk of death. Lassa-convalescent plasma did not significantly reduce mortality in any of the high-risk groups. We conclude that ribavirin is effective in the treatment of Lassa fever and that it should be used at any point in the illness, as well as for postexposure prophylaxis.
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PMID:Lassa fever. Effective therapy with ribavirin. 394 Mar 12

During 2000, four cases of fatal Lassa fever were imported from Africa to Europe. In two patients, consecutive serum samples were available for monitoring of virus load and cytokine levels in addition to standard laboratory data. Both patients had non-specific early clinical symptoms including high fever. Patient 1 developed multi-organ failure and died of hemorrhagic shock on day 15 of illness, while patient 2 died of respiratory failure due to aspiration without hemorrhage on day 16. Ribavirin was administered to both patients beginning only on day 11. High serum aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were remarkable in both patients. Patient 1 had an initial virus load of 10(6) S RNA copies/ml as measured by real-time RT-PCR. Viremia increased steadily and reached a plateau of approximately 10(8)-10(9) copies/ml 4 days before death, while IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha rose to extremely high levels only shortly before death. In contrast, in patient 2 the virus load decreased from 10(7) to 10(6) copies/ml during the late stage of illness which was paralleled by a decrease in the IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha levels. The IL-10 level increased when specific IgM and IgG appeared. These data suggest that a high virus load and high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the late stage of Lassa fever play an important role in the pathogenesis of hemorrhage, multi-organ failure, and shock in Lassa fever.
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PMID:Monitoring of clinical and laboratory data in two cases of imported Lassa fever. 1182 74