Background: Toxic-shock syndrome (TSS) is an acute onset; multiorgan disease caused mainly by Toxic-shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) producing Staphylococcus aureus strains.Testing for TSST-1 or anti-TSST-1 antibodies in the clinical setting may help to predict and prevent the appearance of TSS caused by nosocomial S. aureus infection.Objectives: Detection of TSST-1 in the sera of children patients arranged to undergo surgical operations, and its relevance with certain demographic factors.Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Baquba General Teaching Hospital- Diyala province for the period from August 2015 to April 2016. Eighty eight patients from those undergoing surgical operations were enrolled. The age range was 1-14 years. Thirty one (35.2%) were males and fifty seven (64.8%) were females. Human privacy was respected by taking patient’s consensus. Venous blood samples were collected aseptically; the sera were separated and kept frozen till use. Serum samples were investigated for the presence of TSST-1 using ELISA technique. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS version 18. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.Results: The results showed that the overall detection rate of TSST-1 among children undergoing surgeries was 44.3%. It was insignificantly higher among younger age group, females, and ruralizes. According to the type of surgery, the detection rate was higher among those patients with fractures (10.2%), followed by patients with burns (9.1%), but it failed to reach the levels of statistical significant.Conclusion: About one half of children patients undergoing surgical operations are infected with TSST-1 producing S. aureus.

Background: Toxic-shock syndrome (TSS) is an acute onset; multiorgan disease caused mainly by Toxicshock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) producing Staphylococcus aureus strains.Testing for TSST-1 or anti-TSST-1 antibodies in the clinical setting may help to predict and prevent the appearance of TSS caused by nosocomial S. aureus infection. Objectives: Detection of TSST-1 in the sera of children patients arranged to undergo surgical operations, and its relevance with certain demographic factors. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Baquba General Teaching Hospital-Diyala province for the period from August 2015 to April 2016. Eighty eight patients from those undergoing surgical operations were enrolled. The age range was 1-14 years. Thirty one (35.2%) were males and fifty seven (64.8%) were females. Human privacy was respected by taking patient's consensus. Venous blood samples were collected aseptically; the sera were separated and kept frozen till use. Serum samples were investigated for the presence of TSST-1 using ELISA technique. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS version 18. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results showed that the overall detection rate of TSST-1 among children undergoing surgeries was 44.3%. It was insignificantly higher among younger age group, females, and ruralizes. According to the type of surgery, the detection rate was higher among those patients with fractures (10.2%), followed by patients with burns (9.1%), but it failed to reach the levels of statistical significant. Conclusion: About one half of children patients undergoing surgical operations are infected with TSST-1 producing S. aureus.

Background: Infertility is a common problem affecting 15% -20% of couples. The increased incidence of anticardiolipin (ACL) antibodies in infertile women supports the contention that these autoantibodies contribute to the infertility. Objectives: To investigate whether there is an association between the presence of serum ACL antibodies and infertility in both men and women in Diyala province. Subjects and methods: The present study was conducted in Baquba city for the period from October 2013 to November 2014. Subjects included in this study were chosen from those attending Baquba Teaching Hospital, Al-Batool Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children and some Primary Health Care Centers in Baquba. The subjects were categorized as follows: 30 apparently healthy males with age ranged between (18 -45) years; 30 apparently healthy women (age range: 18 -47 years) had at least two live births without any miscarriages; 25 women (age range: 18 -43 years) had reproductive failure for at least one year of marriage; 30 women (age range: 24 -44 years) with at least one live birth had no pregnancy for at least two years after last child; 40 males with primary infertility (no children after at least five years of marriage and their active sperm count was zero). Detection of anti-ACL IgG and IgM was done using enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) commercial kits (Wendell/Shelm/Germany). All data were statistically analyzed. Results: The results revealed that the anti-ACL IgM positivity rate was significantly higher among women with primary fertility compared to healthy women (p = 0.006). Similarly, the anti-ACL IgM and anti-ACL IgG were significantly among women with secondary infertility compared to healthy women (p = 0.012) and (p = 0.038) respectively. Although the anti-ACL IgG and IgM positivity rate among men with primary infertility was higher than that of healthy control. However, the differences were failed to reach the statistical significance (p = 0.07) and (p = 0.31) respectively. Conclusion: The presence of high levels of anticardiolipin antibodies in * Corresponding author.A.-R. Sh. Hasan et al. 96women with primary and secondary infertility as well as in men with primary infertility may support the contention that these autoantibodies contribute to the infertility in both sexes.