Emerging infectious diseases
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Jul 2018
Diagnosis of Methionine/Valine Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease by Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification.
A patient with a heterozygous variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) with a methionine/valine genotype at codon 129 of the prion protein gene was recently reported. Using an ultrasensitive and specific protein misfolding cyclic amplification-based assay for detecting variant CJD prions in cerebrospinal fluid, we discriminated this heterozygous case of variant CJD from cases of sporadic CJD.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Jun 2018
Historical ArticleOccupation-Associated Fatal Limbic Encephalitis Caused by Variegated Squirrel Bornavirus 1, Germany, 2013.
Limbic encephalitis is commonly regarded as an autoimmune-mediated disease. However, after the recent detection of zoonotic variegated squirrel bornavirus 1 in a Prevost's squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii) in a zoo in northern Germany, we retrospectively investigated a fatal case in an autoantibody-seronegative animal caretaker who had worked at that zoo. The virus had been discovered in 2015 as the cause of a cluster of cases of fatal encephalitis among breeders of variegated squirrels (Sciurus variegatoides) in eastern Germany. ⋯ Antibodies against bornaviruses were detected in the patient's cerebrospinal fluid by immunofluorescence and newly developed ELISAs and immunoblot. The putative antigenic epitope was identified on the viral nucleoprotein. Other zoo workers were not infected; however, avoidance of direct contact with exotic squirrels and screening of squirrels are recommended.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Apr 2018
Case Reports Historical ArticleTwo Infants with Presumed Congenital Zika Syndrome, Brownsville, Texas, USA, 2016-2017.
Since 2007, Zika virus has spread through the Pacific Islands and the Americas. Beginning in 2016, women in Brownsville, Texas, USA, were identified as possibly being exposed to Zika virus during pregnancy. ⋯ Despite standard of care testing of mothers and neonates, comparative results were unreliable for mothers and infants, which highlights the need for clinical and epidemiologic evidence for an accurate diagnosis. A high index of suspicion for congenital Zika syndrome for at-risk populations is useful because of current limitations of testing.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Apr 2018
Letter Historical ArticleCandida auris Infection Leading to Nosocomial Transmission, Israel, 2017.
A patient transferred from South Africa to Israel acquired a Candida auris infection. Phylogenetic analysis showed resemblance of C. auris to isolates from South Africa but not Israel, suggesting travel-associated infection. C. auris infection occurred weeks later in another patient at the same hospital, suggesting prolonged environmental persistence.
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The goal of ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic is theoretically achievable and would require addressing this global health catastrophe on individual and global levels by providing optimal prevention strategies and treatment regimens for individual persons living with or at risk for HIV, as well as ending the pandemic as an epidemiologic and global health phenomenon. However, from a practical standpoint, the pathway to ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic will be difficult and will require aggressive implementation of the biomedical research advances that have been made in the areas of treatment and prevention; development of additional tools, such as a moderately effective HIV vaccine; and attention to critical behavioral and social determinants. An end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic can be achieved only with provision of sustained and additional resources at the local, regional, national, and global levels.