Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiología clínica
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Enferm. Infecc. Microbiol. Clin. · Nov 2003
Review[Active immunization against serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis].
Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis causes high morbidity and mortality rates over the world. This article reviews the current vaccination strategies against this microorganism, including vaccines already tested on a large scale, particularly those based on class 1 outer membrane proteins, and vaccines in different stages of development. The latter involve several approaches, such as modification of the polysaccharide capsule composition or conjugation with proteins, and the use of recombinant DNA techniques to obtain vaccines that express the prevalent sero-subtypes in a particular geographical area. The challenges that have emerged with the sequencing of the meningococcus B genome are also addressed.
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Enferm. Infecc. Microbiol. Clin. · Oct 2003
Review[Community-acquired pneumonia due to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. Study of 97 cases].
Legionella pneumophila is the causal agent of 5% to 12% of sporadic community-acquired pneumonia cases, though rates are changing with the use of new diagnostic methods. ⋯ The Legionella urinary antigen test permits early diagnosis and treatment of this disease. The severity scale is an indicator of complications or death.
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Enferm. Infecc. Microbiol. Clin. · May 2003
Review[Incidence, risk factors and influence on survival of infectious complications in liver transplantation].
Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is successful therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease. Infection is currently a life-threatening complication for these patients. The aims of this study are to determine the incidence of various infections in patients with OLT, to study overall survival rates and survival as related to individual infections, and to investigate the risk factors associated with first episodes of bacterial (BI), fungal (FI), invasive fungal (IFI) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. ⋯ Among the total, 66% of patients developed infection: 41.8% viral, 33.9% BI, 20.6% FI and 4.2% IFI. One-year and 4-year survival rates after transplantation were 90% and 75%, respectively. All the infections decreased survival. Multivariate analyses identified the following risk factors for the specific infections: BI - dialysis, mechanical ventilation, and time of organ ischemia during harvesting; FI - number of hours of surgery and pretransplantation plasma albumin concentrations; IFI - number of blood units transfused, pretransplantation plasma albumin and retransplantation. Cytomegalovirus infection was associated with FI and IFI in the univariate analysis, but the multivariate analysis identified no variables that independently increased the risk of developing this infection.