Bmc Infect Dis
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HIV infection is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease beyond that explained by traditional risk factors. Altered gut microbiota, microbial translocation, and immune activation have been proposed as potential triggers. The microbiota-dependent metabolite trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) predicts myocardial infarction (MI) in the general population and has recently been shown to induce platelet hyperreactivity. In the present study, we investigated if TMAO was associated with platelet function, microbial translocation, and immune activation in both untreated and combination anti-retroviral therapy (cART) HIV infection. ⋯ In contrast to recent studies in HIV-uninfected populations, the present study found no evidence of TMAO-induced platelet hyperreactivity in HIV infected individuals. Microbial translocation and monocyte activation may affect TMAO levels in untreated individuals. Furthermore, the elevated ratios of TMAO/betaine and TMAO/carnitine in cART-treated individuals could possibly suggest a role of cART in TMAO metabolism.
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Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a major concern in developing countries. The present study sought to define the pattern of antimicrobial resistance in ICU patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. ⋯ These data indicated that critically ill patients on ventilator in Vietnam were at disturbingly high risk of antimicrobial resistance. The data also imply that these Acinetobacter, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and multidrug resistance pose serious therapeutic problems in ICU patients. A concerted and systematic effort is required to rapidly identify high risk patients and to reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance in developing countries.
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The incidence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections is increasing worldwide, however formal evaluations of the epidemiology of NTM infections are limited. Understanding the trends and true prevalence of NTM is a major priority for optimizing infection control programmes and resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and radiologic findings in NTM-infected patients at specialized Tuberculosis (Tb) treatment centre in South Korea, which is endemic to Tb, and find solutions to control NTM infections. ⋯ Given the increasing prevalence of NTM infections, precise epidemiological and surveillance data should be obtained by reporting NTM infections to public health authorities. Introducing nucleic acid amplification tests to differentiate between Tb and NTM in smear-positive specimens should be considered.
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Recently there has been a large outbreak of Zika virus infections in Colombia, South America. The epidemic began in September 2015 and continued to April 2017, for the total number of Zika cases reported of 107,870. For those confirmed Zika cases, there were nearly 20,000 (18.5%) suspected to be pregnant women, resulting in 157 confirmed cases of microcephaly in newborns reported by their health government agency. There is a clear under-estimation of the total number of cases and in addition no prior publications have been published to demonstrate the clinical aspects of the Zika infection in Colombia. We characterized one Zika presentation to be able to compare and contrast with other cases of Zika infection already reported in the literature. ⋯ We report a first case of maternal Zika virus infection associated with fetal microcephaly in Colombia and confirmed similar presentation to those observed previous in Brazil, 2015-2016.
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Cellulitis is a common infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. It is associated with significant morbidity from necrosectomies and amputations especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed at identifying the risk factors and burden of lower limb cellulitis to inform preventive strategies in Cameroon. ⋯ This study showed a high disease burden among patients with cellulitis. While risk factors identified are similar to prior literature, this study provides a contextual evidence-base for clinicians in this region to be more aggressive in management of these risk factors to prevent disease progression and development of cellulitis.