Japanese journal of infectious diseases
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Nov 2007
Association between isolation sites of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in patients with MRSA-positive body sites and MRSA contamination in their surrounding environmental surfaces.
In 106 inpatients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-positive body sites, MRSA contamination on their surrounding environmental surfaces and the palm of their dominant hand were detected and quantified. The association between MRSA-positive sites (palm of dominant hand, sputum, nasal discharge, pharyngeal mucosa, open pus, closed pus, urine, feces, and others) in patients and MRSA contamination in their surrounding environmental surfaces was evaluated by quantification theory II of multivariate analysis. The surrounding environmental surfaces were contaminated with MRSA in 54 (50.9%) of the 106 patients. ⋯ In the palm, 6,743.3 +/- 65,446.5 cfu/palm MRSA was detected in 29 (29.6%) of 98 patients. MRSA in patients' palms had the most marked influence on MRSA contamination of their surrounding environmental surfaces. When MRSA is detected in patients' palms the possibility of MRSA contamination of their surrounding environmental surfaces is high.
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Nov 2007
First report on clinical features of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in Vietnamese children.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children, but there has been no clinical report on M. pneumoniae infections in Vietnamese children. We investigated the clinical features of M. pneumoniae infection when the pathogen was detected in the respiratory tract in hospitalized children aged 1-15 years due to lower respiratory tract infections or CAP in Vietnamese children. Throat swabs from 47 patients (18.6%) of 252 patients with a clinical diagnosis of CAP were PCR positive (male, 34; female, 13), and 21 throat swabs (8.3%) showed culture positive for M. pneumoniae. ⋯ The major clinical signs in the 52 patients were fever (>38 degrees C) in 100%, pharyngitis in 100%, tachypnea in 94%, dry cough in 86.5%, and rough breathing in 83% of patients. The average term of illness prior to hospitalization was 7.5+/-4.1 days, and the average number of hospitalized days was 7.9+/-3.5 days. Beta-lactam group antibiotics, which were ineffective against M. pneumoniae infection, were used in 37 cases (71%).
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · May 2007
The risk factors for infections acquired by cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarct patients in a neurology intensive care unit in Turkey.
Few studies have investigated the risk factors for nosocomial infections developed in neurology intensive care units (ICUs). In this study, the risk factors for ICU-acquired infections in patients with cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarct who were treated for more than 24 h at the Ankara Training and Research Hospital were prospectively evaluated over a study period of 14 months. Of 171 patients included in the study, 71 (41.5%) were found to have acquired 163 infections in the ICU unit throughout 1,867 patient days. ⋯ The presence of infection on admission was identified as a factor decreasing the risk of ICU-acquired infection (P < 0.001). The high infection rates found in this study may be due to lack of full compliance to infection control measures. In conclusion, each type of ICU has its own epidemiological findings for nosocomial infections and thus needs to determine the risk factors using periodical surveillance studies to guide control measures.
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Aug 2006
Emergence of Vibrio cholerae O1 biotype El Tor serotype Inaba causing outbreaks of cholera in Orissa, India.
A total of 431 rectal swabs, collected from acute diarrheal cases at a surveillance site and at different diarrheal outbreak areas of Orissa from May to October 2005, were bacteriologically analyzed. Out of 265 culture-positive samples, Vibrio cholerae O1 was isolated in 56 samples (20.8%), of which 37 were the Inaba serotype and 19 were the Ogawa. The antibiogram profile revealed that all the V. cholerae O1 Ogawa and Inaba serotypes were uniformly sensitive to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and tetracycline. ⋯ The outbreaks of diarrheal disorders in one geographical area of the state (in the Pattamundai area, Kendrapara district) in 2005 were due to V. cholerae O1 Ogawa, whereas the other outbreaks in other areas (Puri, Khurda and Dhenkanal districts) from August to October 2005 were due to V. cholerae O1 serotype Inaba. This is the first report that an emergence of V. cholerae O1 serotype Inaba caused sporadic outbreaks of cholera in different parts of Orissa. Switching over of V. cholerae O1 Ogawa strains to Inaba, causing diarrheal outbreaks in Orissa, needs close monitoring.
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Apr 2006
Molecular characterization and clinical evaluation of dengue outbreak in 2002 in Bangladesh.
During the febrile illness epidemic in Bangladesh in 2002, 58 people died out of the 6,132 affected. Two hundred hospitalized patients were analyzed clinically, serologically and virologically to determine the features of this dengue infection. Among the 10- to 70-year-old age group of the 200 clinically suspected dengue patients, 100 (50%) were confirmed as dengue cases by virus isolation and dengue IgM-capture ELISA. ⋯ Sequence data for the envelope gene of the DEN-3 Bangladeshi isolates were used in a phylogenetic comparison with DEN-3 from other countries. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that all 8 strains of DEN-3 were clustered within a well-supported independent sub-cluster of genotype II and were closely related to the Thai isolates from the 1990s. Therefore, it is likely that the currently circulating DEN-3 viruses entered Bangladesh from neighboring countries.