Przegla̧d epidemiologiczny
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PCT is a new highly sensitive and specific marker of bacterial and fungi infection--to be used in differential diagnosis at Infectious Diseases Departments. Author in this paper presents structure and mechanism of stimulation of PCT as a factor of "early infection's fase" for many infectious agents: bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. PCT may be found useful in diagnosing diseases; for ex.: sepsis, meningitis, inflammation of respiratory system, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SPB) and other local inflammatory foci (otitis media, endocarditis). PCT level is low in systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) of non-infectious origin (< 0.5 ng/ml), medium in case of localized infections (1.0-2.0 ng/ml) and in severe cases of disseminated infections (sepsis-->SIRS-->MODS) high (approximately 20 ng/ml).
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2367 cases of meningitis and 571 of encephalitis were reported in Poland in 2001. Among meningitis 1324 cases were classified as viral and 838 as bacterial. ⋯ Among them Neisseria meningitidis was found in 106 cases, Haemophilus influenzae in 75 cases and Streptococcus pneumoniae in 99 cases. As in the past type B was the predominant type of N. meningitidis cultured from patients. 210 cases of tick borne encephalitis were reported in Poland in 2001, most of them from endemic areas of north-eastern part of the country.