Mikrobiyol Bul
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Neisseria meningitidis is an unusual pathogen among the causes of acute bacterial conjunctivitis. Meningococcal conjunctivitis may present as primary or secondary infection, while primary meningococcal conjunctivitis may emerge as invasive or non-invasive forms. N.meningitidis W135 strain is not common in Turkey, and is rarely reported as the cause of meningitis. ⋯ Both strains isolated from these cases were found similar according to their phenotypical characteristics, however genotyping could not be performed. Since no other sources of exposure could be found, it was concluded that the infant with conjunctivitis acquired the bacteria from the other patient during their shared hospital visit. This patient is the first N.meningitidis W135 conjunctivitis case reported from Turkey.
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Pneumocystis jirovecii causes pneumonia in premature, newborn or malnourished children, as well as in immunocompromised subjects such as chemotherapy receiving, transplant and AIDS patients. Since the mortality and morbidity rates of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in these patients were high, rapid and accurate diagnosis is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of Giemsa staining (GS), direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) assay, (1→3)-β-D-Glucan (BDG) test and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of P.jirovecii in clinical specimens. ⋯ In the ROC analysis performed for BDG test, with DFA and BAL-PCR taken as the gold standards, the sensitivity, specificity and cut-off values of BDG were estimated as 100%, 93.9% and 494 pg/ml, and 100%, 72.8% and 62 pg/ml, respectively. Our data indicated that, overall specificity was high (100%) when using GS and DFA tests together, while the sensitivity has been elevated to 93% with the additional use of PCR and BDG tests, in the diagnosis of PCP-suspected patients. In conclusion, combination of all these tests should be performed for the laboratory diagnosis of P.jirovecii.