Mikrobiyol Bul
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Acute bronchiolitis, mostly seen in infants and younger children, is a lower respiratory tract infection frequently caused by viral agents. We aimed to determine the frequency of a broad panel of respiratory viruses including human bocavirus (HBoV) and to assess the clinical characteristics of acute bronchiolitis in a group of children under 24 months of age. A total of 62 children (45 male, 17 female; age range: 0-2 years) with the initial diagnosis of acute bronchiolitis and 33 healthy children (21 male, 12 female; age range: 0-2 years) as control group who were admitted to the Pediatrics Department of Mersin University Hospital, southern Turkey, from January to July 2010 were included in the study. ⋯ However the rates of antibiotic and steroid use in hospitalized patients (24/34 and 5/34, respectively) were significantly higher than those of outpatients (7/28 and 0/28, respectively) (p= 0.001 and p= 0.03). Our data indicated a high rate (~84%) of respiratory viruses in children with bronchiolitis in the Mersin province and the detection of hMPV (21%) and HBoV (4.8%) only in the patient group encouraged their roles in the etiology of acute brochiolitis. It was concluded that viral etiology should be investigated in selected cases to prevent unnecessary antibiotic treatment and to initiate appropriate antiviral therapy when necessary.
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Case Reports
[A pediatric case of pneumococcal meningitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 35F].
Pneumococci are one of the most common causes of bacterial meningitis in children. It's also responsible for the other invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) including bacteremia and pneumonia worldwide. Unvaccinated children are more prone to IPD. ⋯ Vaccination can be extended for otherwise healthy children older than 6 years of age because of increasing trends in incidence of IPD both with vaccine and NVTs like serotype 35F. Recent studies have indicated the emergence of serotype 35F as a cause of IPD in children over 6 years of age and there have been also reports of IPD cases with 35F after the introduction of PCV13. Although serotype 35F is not yet a well-known serotype causing IPD, it might probably gain importance owing to its increasing frequency and virulence and might attract attention to be considered for inclusion in the future pneumococcal vaccines.
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Early and accurate detection of tuberculosis (TB) is a global priority for TB control. In order to obtain results in a short period of time, nucleic acid amplification tests are increasingly used worldwide for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis. The Xpert MTB/RIF® (Cepheid, USA) is a commercially available, real-time PCR-based assay, which can detect both TB and resistance to rifampicin directly in clinical samples. ⋯ Rifampicin resistance was detected by Xpert MTB/RIF assay in only two specimens, however, rifampicin resistance was failed to be detected by BACTEC MGIT 960 TB method in one of these samples. Xpert MTB/RIF assay appeared to be a reliable method for the diagnosis of TB for AFB smear-positive samples, but less sensitive for smear-negative samples, particularly for extrapulmonary samples which include low numbers of bacilli. However, we concluded that the MTB/RIF is a useful assay for rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis, considering that the results can be given in the same day of sample collection and the assay is superior in sensitivity than microscopic examination.
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Myiasis is defined as a parasitic infestation of tissues and organs in living vertebrates with dipterous larvae. Infestation with dipterous larvae can occur when flies deposit their eggs or first stage larvae on the host's tissues. Myiasis is seen more frequently in tropical and subtropical countries, especially in rural regions where people are in close contact with animals. ⋯ The morphological characteristics of cephalopharyngeal skeleton, anterior spiracles and slits of the posterior spiracles were examined and the larvae were identified as third stage of Sarcophaga spp. Diabetes, coronary artery disease and low socio-economic level as well as the presence of an open, neglected wound were attributed as the most important predisposing factors that led to the development of myiasis in this patient. It should be kept in mind that the diabetic patients with open wounds may develop myiasis especially in the summer months and larvae can cause progressive wound infection.
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), seen endemically in many countries, is a widespread protozoon disease all around the world. The neighboring countries of Turkey namely Iran, Iraq and Syria are highly endemic regions for CL, and more than 98% of the cases in Turkey are reported from South and Southeastern Anatolian regions. The aim of this study was to detect the prevalence of CL in Nizip, a district of Gaziantep province of southeastern Turkey, for three and half year period and to call attention to the dramatic increase of CL cases observed after the Syrian civil war. ⋯ Since the number of the cases admitted to the hospital was significantly low in comparison to the total population of refugees living in the camps, it was assumed that the real incidence of CL was much higher than determined. The data obtained in this study revealed that Nizip and the surroundings which have already had favourable climate and vector potential for CL, exhibited a higher threat for the spread of the disease following the hosting of the refugees. Thus implementation of effective prevention and control measures should be taken into consideration implemented in that specific area.