Background Allergic disorders are common ailments, which cause socioeconomic problems. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of allergic disorders and symptoms suggestive of asthma in Mashhad city, Northeast Iran. Methods We performed a cross-sectional survey in a randomly selected representative sample of the Mashhad population. A questionnaire was used based on the standard questionnaire of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). The questionnaires asked about allergy-related symptoms including nasal symptoms, eye symptoms, atopic dermatitis symptoms, confirmed asthma, asthma-related symptoms, and nonspecific allergic symptoms. Some of the environmental triggers of allergic reactions such as pollen, dried plant, dust, drugs, food, fruit, condiments, makeup, perfume, jewelry, latex gloves, and keeping a pet were considered in the questionnaire. Results The prevalence of allergic disorders in this study was found to be 27.5% in the city of Mashhad. According to our definitions, the rates detected of allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, conjunctivitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, and asthma were 22.4, 6.6, 13.5, 9.5, and 2.3%, respectively. Half of the allergic group suffered from rhinorrhea and other symptoms were significantly higher than in the nonallergic group. Dust and pollen were found to be the most important triggers of allergic reactions in the allergic group. Conclusion This report may be useful to understand the factors contributing to asthma and allergic disorders and may help in management and control of these problems.

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The susceptibility of 25 Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) clinical isolates to four different antimicrobials (trimethoprim/sulfomethoxazole, piperacillin/tazobactam, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin) were investigated by disk diffusion, E-test and commercial Sensititre and PASCO broth microdilution techniques. Discrepancies between the results of broth microdilution and the other methods studied were characterized as very major, major and minor errors. Using the broth microdilution as the reference method, 24% of the isolates were found susceptible to trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole, 24% to ceftazidime, 0% to piperacillin/tazobactam and 12% to ciprofloxacin. Good correlation was observed between the two broth microdilution Sensititre and PASCO for all antibiotics tested. Disc diffusion and E-test generated inconsistent results for all agents except trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. A great genomic diversity was demonstrated within the S. maltophilia strains tested. Although our results confirm that trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole had some in vitro activity against S. maltophilia, further clinical studies are necessary to evaluate the clinical efficacy of these compounds for the treatment of S. maltophilia infections, since no randomized controlled trials have been carried out and no correlation between the clinical response and susceptibility testing results has been reported. Furthermore, the high genomic diversity observed in the S. maltophilia strains indicates the need for careful epidemiological evaluation especially in nosocomial outbreaks.