Late Identification of Chikungunya Virus in the Central Nervous System of a 2-Month-Old Infant: Persistence of Maternal-Neonatal Infection?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-377
Author(s):  
Fátima C P A Di Maio Ferreira ◽  
Anamaria S V da Silva ◽  
Ana M Bispo de Filippis ◽  
Patrícia Brasil

Abstract We report here a probable case of vertical transmission of chikungunya infection with confirmed maternal viremia close to labor that led to severe infection in the newborn. The newborn progressed with cutaneous lesions and irritability 2 months after vertical transmission, when chikungunya virus was detected in the infant’s CSF by a molecular diagnostic test (real-time polymerase chain reaction).

Author(s):  
Carla Martín Grau ◽  
Clara Benavent Bofill ◽  
Ester Picó-Plana ◽  
Gemma Recio Comí ◽  
Margarida Terrón-Puig ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is widely spreading and represents a critical threat to global health. In the fight against this pandemic, provincial hospitals urgently need rapid diagnostic of COVID-19 infected patients to avoid collapsing of emergency units. However, the high demand of patients with severe acute respiratory symptoms limits the fast delivery of results by the gold standard method reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction real time (rRT-PCR) for the identification of COVID-19 positive pneumonia. The principal aim is to find other useful laboratory indicators to assist rRT-PCR tests and to help controlling of this outbreak.MethodsBlood, coagulation and inflammatory parameters were collected from a total of 309 patients classified as negative (128) and positive (181) rRT-PCR test groups. Patients were classified as positive by molecular diagnostic test.ResultsLeukocyte count (WBC), neutrophils count, lymphocytes count and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were statistically different between both groups of patients. The use of LDH/WBC ratio increases the diagnostic performance with the best area under the curve (0.783), sensibility (82%) and the best percentage (80.5%) of correctly identified COVID-19 positive patients.ConclusionsThe combination of predictive LDH/WBC ratio with clinical illness features could help in medical management of patients and improve the technical resources of hospitals, especially in a critical scenario with a large shortage of medical equipment and lack of reagents for performing rRT-PCR.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (01) ◽  
pp. 63-66
Author(s):  
D. Schaudien ◽  
C. Flieshardt ◽  
I. Moser ◽  
H. Hotzel ◽  
A. Tipold ◽  
...  

SummaryGranulomatous myelitis due to infection with Mycobacterium avium was diagnosed in a 4-year-old male neutered European mink (Mustela lutreola). The causative agent was detected by an acid-fast stain and further characterized by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing of the PCR product. A thorough histological evaluation of the remaining organs revealed no granulomatous lesions or detectable acid-fast organisms. Although minks are generally highly susceptible for mycobacteria, localised infections, especially of the central nervous system, are unusual and may represent an atypical chronic form of the disease.


Author(s):  
Joshua C Chen ◽  
Darren Wong ◽  
Sina Rabi ◽  
Scott Worswick ◽  
Brittney DeClerck ◽  
...  

Abstract Coccidioides immitis (and C. posadasii) are endemic fungi of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Uncomplicated, symptomatic Coccidioides infection most commonly causes a self-limited pneumonia; however, immunocompromised patients can manifest severe pneumonia with an additional risk of dissemination to bone, joints, soft tissues, and in the most severe the cases, the central nervous system. In the year 2020 clinicians are challenged with a previously unseen volume of acute respiratory complaints as a result of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. We present a patient with respiratory failure secondary to SARS-CoV-2 who experienced prolonged hypoxia and neurologic deterioration, eventually leading to a diagnosis of occult disseminated coccidiomycosis involving meningitis, miliary-pattern pneumonia, and cutaneous lesions.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Idalécia Cossa-Moiane ◽  
Hermínio Cossa ◽  
Adilson Fernando Loforte Bauhofer ◽  
Jorfélia Chilaúle ◽  
Esperança Lourenço Guimarães ◽  
...  

Cryptosporidium is one of the most important causes of diarrhea in children less than 2 years of age. In this study, we report the frequency, risk factors and species of Cryptosporidium detected by molecular diagnostic methods in children admitted to two public hospitals in Maputo City, Mozambique. We studied 319 patients under the age of five years who were admitted due to diarrhea between April 2015 and February 2016. Single stool samples were examined for the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts, microscopically by using a Modified Ziehl–Neelsen (mZN) staining method and by using Polymerase Chain Reaction and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique using 18S ribosomal RNA gene as a target. Overall, 57.7% (184/319) were males, the median age (Interquartile range, IQR) was 11.0 (7–15) months. Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts were detected in 11.0% (35/319) by microscopy and in 35.4% (68/192) using PCR-RFLP. The most affected age group were children older than two years, [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 5.861; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.532–22.417; p-value < 0.05]. Children with illiterate caregivers had higher risk of infection (aOR: 1.688; 95% CI: 1.001–2.845; p-value < 0.05). An anthroponotic species C. hominis was found in 93.0% (27/29) of samples. Our findings demonstrated that cryptosporidiosis in children with diarrhea might be caused by anthroponomic transmission.


Author(s):  
Deanna G. Brockman ◽  
Christina A. Austin-Tse ◽  
Renée C. Pelletier ◽  
Caroline Harley ◽  
Candace Patterson ◽  
...  

Biomedika ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Mustika Sari Hutabarat ◽  
Firdaus Hamid ◽  
Irawaty Djaharuddin ◽  
Alfian Zainuddin ◽  
Rossana Agus ◽  
...  

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a Gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacterium that is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. But the lack of reporting of disease by this bacterium in Indonesia, one of the causes is because the diagnosis of pneumococcal infection is often clinically not typical and conventional methods which are still the standard gold method often give false-negative results. So the purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of culture and molecular diagnostic methods using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique in detecting Streptococcus pneumoniae in sputum clinical samples using the Autolysin (LytA) gene which is a virulence factor of this bacterium. 57 isolates from 60 samples were confirmed as Streptococcus sp through microscopic identification, culture, and biochemical tests. Then the sensitivity test with an optochin test of 9 (9%) compared the results descriptively with the PCR technique using the Autolysin A (LytA) gene which was obtained more sensitive by 15 (25%).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document