BackgroundSEN virus is a blood-borne, circular ssDNA virus and possessing nine genotypes (A to I). Among nine genotypes, SENV-D and SENV-H genotypes have the strong link with patients with unknown (none-A to E) hepatitis infections. Infection with blood-borne viruses is the second important cause of death in thalassemic patients. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of SENV-D and SENV-H genotypes viremia by performing nested-PCR in 120 and 100 sera from healthy blood donors and thalassemic patients in Guilan Province, North of Iran respectively. Also, to explicate a possible role of SEN virus in liver disease and established changes in blood factors, the serum aminotransferases (ALT and AST) and some of the blood factors were measured.ResultsFrequency of SENV-D, SENV (SENV-H or SENV-D) and co-infection (both SENV-D and SENV-H) viremia was significantly higher among thalassemic patients than healthy individuals. Frequency of SENV-H viremia was significantly higher than SENV-D among healthy individuals. In comparison to SENV-D negative patients, the mean of mean corpuscular hemoglobin was significantly higher in SENV-D positive and co-infection cases (P < 0.05). The means of AST and ALT were significantly higher in thalassemic patients than healthy blood donors, but there were not any significant differences in the means of the liver levels between SENV-positive and -negative individuals in healthy blood donors and thalassemic patients. High nucleotide homology observed among PCR amplicon's sequences in healthy blood donors and thalassemic patients.ConclusionsThe high rate of co-infection shows that different genotypes of SENV have no negative effects on each other. The high frequency of SENV infection among thalassemic patients suggests blood transfusion as main route of transmission. High frequency of SENV infection in healthy individuals indicates that other routes rather than blood transfusion also are important. Frequency of 90.8% of SENV infection among healthy blood donors as well as high nucleotide homology of sequenced amplicons between two groups can probably suggest that healthy blood donors infected by SENV act partly as a source of SENV transmission to the thalassemic patients. In conclusion, SENV-D isolate in Guilan Province may be having a pathogenic agent for thalassemic patients.

Shigellosis (bacillary dysentery) is an acute enteric infection caused by members of genus. It causes annual deaths of approximately five million children in developing countries. Among spp., causes more serious forms of dysentery than other species. Due to the appearance of multidrug-resistant strains of spp., it is necessary to find alternative antimicrobial agents. The aims of this study were the isolation of a novel species-specific phage against and to evaluate its potential and efficacy for biocontrolling of in foods. PTCC 1234 was used as the host strain for bacteriophage isolation from waste water. A lytic phage of the family was isolated and designated as vB_SflS-ISF001. The phage activity remained at high levels after 1 h of incubation at - 20 to 50 °C and was fairly stable for 1 h at pH values ranging from 7 to 9. The latent period and burst size were approximately 20 min and 53 ± 4 phages per host cell, respectively. Raw and cooked chicken breast were inoculated with a predetermined amount of and subjected to biocontrol test. The results showed that using vB_SflS-ISF001 phage led to more than two logs reduction in the count of viable . It was demonstrated that using vB_SflS-ISF001 phage is of high potential for developing an alternative strategy against contamination in foodstuffs.

A B S T R A C TBackground: Staphylococcus aureus is associated with different infections ranging from skin and soft tissue infections to endocarditis and fatal pneumonia. S. aureus is still the most common bacterial species isolated from inpatient specimens and the second most common from outpatient specimens. Today, methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates are present in the hospitals of most countries and are often resistant to several antibiotics. Objectives: This study was conducted from 2007 to 2011 to detect prevalence and antibiotic resistance patterns among MRSA and methicillin sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolated from hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: Totally 726 isolates of S. aureus were collected from three referral hospitals in Tehran. All isolates were identified at the species level by standard biochemical tests. Susceptibility to eighteen antibiotics was determined by disc diffusion method. Then oxacillin and vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of resistant isolates was also determined using Etest. mecA gene was detected using specific primers. Results: A total of 216 (30%) strains were found to be MRSA isolates. The highest antibiotic resistance was to penicillin, clindamycin, tobramycin and tetracycline respectively. Ninety three and 61% of MRSA and MSSA isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) respectively. However, no strain was resistant to vancomycin, synercid, linezolid and chloramphenicol. Sixty nine percent of MRSA isolates showed high level of resistance to oxacillin (MIC ≥ 256 µg/mL). mecA gene was detected among all MRSA isolates. Conclusions: Although the frequency of MRSA isolates in the current study was low, resistance to other antibiotics was high and most of the isolates were found to be MDR. Regular surveillance of hospital-associated infections and monitoring of their antibiotic sensitivity patterns are required to reduce MRSA prevalence. High frequency of MDR isolates of S. aureus could be considered as an urgent warning for public health.

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