Human herpesviruses 6 and 7 were infrequently found in cerebrospinal fluid of children with central nervous system infection.

Abstract.A study was conducted to describe the genetic diversity of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a population of positive blood donors from throughout Indonesia. Repeat analysis by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of 102 anti-HCV positive samples showed that 67 gave HCV-specific positive signals by the PCR for the 5Ј-untranslated genomic region of HCV. Further genotypic analysis on 64 HCV RNA-positive samples indicated that 57 belonged to the following individual genotypes: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 3b. The predominant HCV genotypes in this donor population were 1b (57.8 %), 2a (17.2 %), and 3b (10.9 %). The core sequences of the 4 indeterminate samples when aligned with published sequences of various HCV genotypes showed a range of homology from 16.16% to 78.67%. Comparative analysis of genotypic representation from other anti-HCV-positive study populations, including polytransfused pediatric and adult renal dialysis groups, is now being carried out to determine the potential genotypic association with mechanistic HCV spread.Ever since its molecular characterization in 1989, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been shown to be the major cause of acute and chronic blood borne non-A non-B hepatitis and the leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide (for a review see 1,[2][3][4] . This initial molecular characterization led to the use of genomic sequence information from reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-assisted amplified partial and/or full length HCV RNA on viral isolates as a means to classify these isolates into genetic groups, genotypes, and subtypes, and to the definition of primers, probes and first-and second-round PCR techniques to identify, group, and classify known and unknown isolates of HCVs worldwide. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] An accumulation of such sequence information has led to the definition of HCV types, subtypes, and genetic groups. So far, 6 major HCV types and more than 74 different subtypes have been catalogued, and the number continues to grow as new isolates are sequenced and more countries are included in the sampling of HCV. However, whether genetic group, sub-type, and even type influence clinical outcome, response to therapy, and immune response remains to be established. Such sequence information and typing/subtyping data is nonetheless considered important for a number of reasons, some of which include the fact that such databases are critical to 1) the understanding of the global, regional and national epidemiology of HCV virus infection and transmission, 2) the design and evaluation of serologic assays, 3) the rational design of vaccine candidates against these isolates, 4) the study of the differences in the response of such HCV-infected patients to therapy with agents such as interferon-alpha, 17,18 and 5) the study of the diverse clinical outcomes associated with such diverse viruses. The clinical outcome of HCV infection is markedly variable ranging form subclinical, self-limiting infection to end-stage liver disease with...

Background:Pure neural leprosy (PNL) still remains a diagnostic challenge because of the absence of sine qua non skin lesions of leprosy and a confirmatory diagnostic method. The authors had earlier described a simple yet objective technique of combining fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) coupled with a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a pilot study, wherein the technique showed promise of a reliable diagnostic tool. In the pursuit of further evidence, the authors carried out a 4-year study with PNL cases to find the efficacy and reliability of the said method in a larger sample size.Aim:This study was conducted to find the efficacy, reliability, and reproducibility of FNAC coupled with multiplex PCR and Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining in identifying the cases of PNL.Materials and Methods:All cases that were suspected to be suffering from PNL, following evaluation by two independent observers were included in the study and were subjected to FNAC from the affected nerve, and the aspirates were evaluated for cytology, ZN staining, and multiplex PCR for Mycobacterium leprae genome. In addition, serum anti-PGL1 levels were also performed in all the study subjects. Fifteen non-PNL cases were also included in the control arm.Results:A total of 47 cases were included in the test arm and subjected to FNAC. Conventional ZN staining could demonstrate acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in only 15 out of 47 cases (31.91%) while M. leprae DNA could be elicited in 37 (78.72%) cases by the multiplex PCR. Only 13 (27.65%) out of 47 cases showed anti-PGLI-1 antibody positivity. On cytological examination of the nerve aspirates, only 11 (23.40%) cases showed epithelioid cells whereas nonspecific inflammation was seen in 26 (75.60%) cases.Conclusion:The results of this study conducted over a larger sample size corroborate with the findings of our pilot study. In a resource poor set up, FNAC in combination with ZN staining and multiplex PCR is a rapid, simple, and easily performed test, which can give a reproducible and objective diagnosis in cases of PNL.

Background:Awareness against abuse of topical corticosteroids (TC), especially over the face, has been going on for last 5 years in India. In spite of that we are getting lots of cases in our hospitals.Aims:The aims of this study were to ascertain the demographics, magnitude and clinical features of TC misuse on the face among the dermatology outpatient department (OPD) attendees and to analyze its causes.Methods:This study was conducted in a tertiary care medical center of eastern India. Patients with relevant facial dermatoses were asked about their current use of topical formulations and confirmed to be TSDF were included in the study.Results:A total of 748 patients with facial dermatoses were screened, of which 271 (36.22%) were using TC. Of them mostly young adults between 20 and 29 years (37.10%) were using TC. Average duration between starting of use of medication and the onset of symptoms was 5 months. Ninety-eight (36.16%) patients were using topical corticosteroid for the treatment of acne and 74 (27.30%) were using as depigmenting cream. About 108 (39.85%) patients bought medicine over the counter being recommended by pharmacist/shop owner. Rosacea like features with photosensitivity was the most common adverse effect found in 79 (29.15%) patients whereas comedonal acne/acne exacerbation were found in 68 (25.09%) patients. Most of them (227, 83.76%) were unaware about the side effects of steroids.Conclusions:TC misuse in patients with facial dermatoses is still quite common even after efforts to grow the awareness among population.

A study was carried out on 135 commercial dairy farms of five upazillas of Sirajgonj district to know the prevalence of Brucella abortus antibody in herds during the period from January 2012 to December 2013. A total of 270 blood samples were tested by Anigen® Rapid Brucella Ab test kit. The overall prevalence of bovine brucellosis was recorded as 8.51%. Distribution on the basis of breed, age, sex and pregnancy revealed the significant relationship among the infection, breed, sex, age and pregnancy in the population. The prevalence was relatively high in older cattle (9.09%) and the highest prevalence was 9.34% in the pregnant female. The prevalence of Brucella abortus antibody was considerably high in most of the large herds. Further study is needed to know the species and biovar of Brucella circulating in the study area.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v11i2.19127 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2013). 11 (2): 127-130