Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Diagnose

This Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial (RCT) was conducted among the indoor patients of general surgery wards in a tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh to assess the possible link between the surgical site infections among the gastrointestinal emergency patients of surgery through midline incisions and timing of preoperative shaving. Follow up of at least 30 days period after surgery was done in each patient and has been found that 31.7% patients in control group (received razor shaving 24 hrs prior to surgery) and 27.5% (received razor shaving at OT table) patients in experimental group has developed surgical site infections (SSIs) and the overall infection rate was found to be 29.6%. SSIs were found to be only 1.2 fold higher in case of the patients who received razor shaving at least 24 hour prior to surgery in contrast to the patients received razor shaving at OT table. Grade IIId (18.4% and 27.3% respectively) and grade IVb (21.1% and 21.2% respectively) were found to be the most common types of surgical site infections among the gastrointestinal emergency post-surgical patients.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis has been linked with female infertility in male infertility and sequelae especially in developing countries which is the rationale for this study. This study view Chlamydia trachomatis as causing low sperm count in males which is a factor of male fertility.
 
Methods: A total of 666 sperm samples were collected from males with low sperm count and another 666 from normal individuals to serve as control. Blood samples (n=855) were collected from cases and control. The sperm samples were analysed using the WHO parameters of 2010. Sperm samples were stained using the Giemsa technique. Sperm were analysed for Chlamydia trachomatis using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The presence of other microorganisms likely to be incriminated with low sperm count was detected by culture unto nutrient agar plates, blood agar plates and Thayer Martins medium. Any sample containing any microorganism capable of causing low sperm count was eliminated from the study. The blood samples were analysed using the microimmunofluorescence assay for Chlamydia trachomatis IgM.
 
Results: Of the 666 cases only 417(62.6%) were positive while the control had only 225 (33.3) positive. There was significant difference between the cases and control and they both varied in the same direction statistically. The result from the IgM Chlamydia trachomatis antibody also gave a significant difference in both cases and control. The variation between ages was not significant except in older ages of both cases and control. The 582 semen samples positive for both Chlamydia trachomatis culture and IgM analysed for WHO sperm count parameters, 432 of the cases fell short of the normal sperm count along with 150 of the controls.
 
Conclusion: This study then confirms Chlamydia trachomatis as a major cause of low sperm count and recommends the screening for Chlamydia trachomatis in cases of low sperm counts.

Little is known about the prevalence of infection by T. gondii in pregnant women in subtropical Southern China. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection and associated risk factors were investigated in Guangdong province between April 2009 and August 2011. 5006 pregnant women participated in this study. Participants answered survey questions and blood samples were collected from these pregnant women. IgM and IgG antibodies were detected with Enzyme-Linked Immunoadsorbent Assay (ELISA). The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) between anti-IgM, IgG antibodies and relative risk factors were calculated using an association analysis based on unconditional logistic regression. Totally, 0.46% and 7.01% of the pregnant women were found to be positive for T. gondii IgM and IgG antibodies, respectively. Risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infection in women were: contact with cats [odds ratio (OR) 4.99], consumption of raw or under-cooked wild and domestic animals (rats, rabbits and cats) or pork products (OR 4.08) and two administrative regions of Shaoguan and Zhanjiang with habits of eating non-cooked meat (OR 3.93 and 2.58). No significant relations were observed between anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies and unwashed raw vegetables or fruits, educational level and different age group. This is the first report of seroprevalence and risk factors for T. gondii infection among pregnant women in subtropical southern China. This study provides a basis for the design of successful preventive measures against T.gondii infection in pregnant women.

Real-time PCR is a commonly used technique for the detection of pathogens both in research setting, as well as in diagnostic settings. The goal of this editorial is to introduce or familiarize the reader with the advantages of using the available methodologies in a targeted manner. Real-time PCR combines PCR chemistry with either a fluorescent probe or DNA detection dyes such as syber green, thus allowing visualization of product in "real-time". The available real-time PCR methodologies provide good sensitivity and specificity. The ease and speed of the design and setup process of qPCR makes it an attractive assay to use. PCR amplification is performed in a closed setting (one tube vs two tube) thus reducing the chances of contamination.

We report here an analysis of mutations in the 2009-2010 pandemic H1N1 influenza Ahemagglutinin gene (HA) based upon information entropy (H), Mutual Information (MI) and geography. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the processes that dominated the evolution of the pandemic virus were either non-random or random. The complete pandemic dataset was bisected into two subsets according to the nucleotide occupying the position of maximum H. The resulting subsets were almost disjoint with respect to overall H distribution, with correlation of H less than that of randomly formed subsets. It was further found that MI between the two nucleotide positions of greatest H was associated with an asymmetric, non-random distribution of mutant counts. The cumulative distributions of pandemic HA sequences from 23 geographic locations world-wide were represented by a system of equations that yielded sequence distributions that were in concordance with available epidemiological/clinical data. It is concluded that the non-random distributions and correlations observed for the HA gene in this research reflect non-random, deterministic biological forces that influenced the evolutionary trajectory of the 2009 – 2010 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus.

We successfully isolated bacteriophage active against clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii by enrichichment from activated sewage sludge using representatives of those strains. Purified bacteriophage suspensions obtained were tested on a range of clinical isolates that included representatives of multiple strains of each of the international clonal lineages, as well as minor and sporadic strains. Most representatives of the South East clone, a successful sublineage belonging to international clone II, and a representative of a further strain belonging to international clone II were susceptible to the phage, while further strains belonging to this lineage, as well as those from other lineages were not susceptible. Examination by transmission electron microscopy revealed bacteriophage of the Myoviridae family. Activated sewage sludge is a valuable source of bacteriophages active against some currently circulating strains of A. baumannii.