Kansenshōgaku zasshi. The Journal of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases
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Kansenshogaku Zasshi · Jul 2012
[Characterization of a nonspecific inhibitor found in human sera raised against the 2006/07 influenza vaccine strain A/Hiroshima/52/2005 (H3N2) virus].
The serology of influenza viruses typically uses hemagglutination inhibition (HI) or the neutralization test (NT). However, the sera of many humans and animals contain nonspecific inhibitors of hemagglutinin that must be inactivated or removed from the serum before use in the HI assay. ⋯ However, during the 2006/07 influenza circulating season, we observed that influenza vaccine strain A/Hiroshima/52/ 2005 (H3N2) exhibited susceptibility to an RDE-resistant inhibitor in human serum. We report herein on a preliminary characterization of this inhibitor, including the development of a novel inhibitor-inactivating technique for pre-treatment of human serum to be used for HI with the A/Hiroshima/52/2005 (H3N2) virus.
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Kansenshogaku Zasshi · Nov 2011
Case Reports[Emphysematous pyelonephritis and cystitis concurrence; A case report].
We report a case of emphysematous pyelonephritis coexisting with emphysematous cystitis. A 57-year-old woman seen for abdominal pain, diarrhea, and high fever had been referred after computed tomography (CT) elsewhere had shown an air density mass in the left kidney and pelvis. Abdominal CT on admission showed emphysematous change in the left renal parenchyma and intramural bladder. ⋯ She was diagnosed with sepsis based on these findings due to concurrent emphysematous pyelonephritis and cystitis caused by K. pneumoniae. She was treated conservatively with meropenem, intravenous immunoglobulin, and gabexate mesilate and cured. Concurrent emphysematous cystitis and pyelonephritis is rare., with ours only the fourth case reported in Japan.
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Kansenshogaku Zasshi · Jul 2011
Case Reports[A case of pneumonia due to Enterococcus faecium after near drowing].
A 73-year-old man admitted for near drowning was found after 24 hours of mild therapeutic hypothermia to have pneumonia. Blood gas analysis showed metabolic acidosis, hypercapnia, and hyponatremia. Chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) showed bilateral mainly lower-lobe consolidation. ⋯ Enterococcus faecium was isolated twice from sputum and raising the dose of vancomycin was effective, but it took 10 days to wean him from ventilator support. While this case may be rare, therapeutic hypothermia and near drowning together were considered predisposing factors in the severity of the pneumonia caused by E. faecium. The possibility of pneumonia due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococci should thus be considered in similar cases.