scholarly journals Seroprevalence and Clinical Presentation of Chikungunya Virus Infection among Febrile Outpatients Seeking Health Care in Mzuzu City, Malawi

Author(s):  
Flywell Kawonga ◽  
Gerald Misinzo ◽  
Dylo Pemba ◽  
Leonard Mboera ◽  
Isaac Thom Shawa

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by Chikungunya virus (CHIKV. We conducted this study determine the seroprevalence and clinical presentation of Chikungunya infection among outpatients seeking healthcare in Mzuzu City, Malawi. Blood samples were collected from malaria negative and non-septic febrile outpatients with fevers ≥38 °C, for not more than 5 days. The enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was used to detect anti-CHIKV IgM antibodies and its results were used to determine seroprevalence of Chikungunya. A total of 119 serum samples were tested, of these, 73 (61.3%) tested positive for anti-CHIKV IgM antibodies by ELISA. Laboratory requisition forms were used to capture demographic information such as age, sex, clinical signs and symptoms presented by the enrolled patients. Age groups of 1-9, 10- 19, 20- 29, 30- 39, 40- 49, and ≥50 years had 17.8% (n= 13), 12.3 %,( n=9), 15.1%) (n=11), 19.2%; (n=14), 17.8% (n=13) and 17.8% (n=13) proportion of seroprevalence respectively. Most of the CHIKV infected individuals presented with fever (52.05%), joint pain (45.21%) and abdominal pain (42.67%). The presence of anti- CHIKV IgM antibodies suggest the presence of recent CHIKV infection and therefore accurate laboratory assays are highly recommended for CHIKV diagnosis and appropriate management of febrile patients.

2016 ◽  
Vol 235 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yalu Liu ◽  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Xunda Ji ◽  
Yu Xu ◽  
...  

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of pediatric patients with ocular toxocariasis. Methods: Ocular toxocariasis was diagnosed and treated in 46 children from Shanghai and surrounding provinces. The diagnosis of ocular toxocariasis was confirmed immunologically by performing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on serum and/or intraocular fluid. All pediatric patients and their guardians completed a questionnaire concerning their cases and living habits. Results: The mean age of onset was 6 ± 3 years. Most children (85%) resided in rural areas, and 91% of the children had contact with adult dogs or puppies. At the first visit, visual acuity (VA) was <20/200 in 36 cases, and we detected peripheral granuloma in 36 patients. In our study, the most common signs were vitritis, vitreous strands, and tractional retinal detachment. The Optomap 200Tx device detected granuloma with an 85% sensitivity, which is much higher than that of other techniques. We treated 40 cases (87%) with topical corticosteroids, while 28 patients (61%) were treated with systemic corticosteroids. Only 18 children (39%) required surgical intervention. All patients were examined and treated by the same ophthalmologists. Conclusions: Preschool children in China are more often affected by toxocariasis compared with other age groups. The most common signs included unilateral granuloma and ocular inflammation. In our study, clinical manifestations were severe and complicated. At the first visit, VA was <20/200 in most patients. Ocular toxocariasis was diagnosed on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms; the diagnosis was confirmed by immunological testing. Techniques using the Optomap 200Tx device can facilitate the early detection and lead to better visual prognosis.


Author(s):  
Vinod Kumar C. S. ◽  
Satish Patil ◽  
B. S. Prasad ◽  
N. K. Kalappanavar ◽  
S. G. Jayaraj ◽  
...  

Background: Fever of unknown Origin (FUO) has many multiple causes such as enteric fever, malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, brucellosis. But scrub typhus is less known cause in Indian scenario. The present study reports the prevalence of scrub typhus at central Karnataka and compares the sensitivity and specificity of Weil-Felix test and the IgM ELISA in the detection of infection.Methods: 368 serum samples of FUO cases were collected. Weil-Felix test was performed and also analyzed for IgM antibodies to Orienta tsutsugamushi by IgM ELISA test along with haematological and biochemical investigations.Results: Out of 368 patients of fever of unknown origin, 94 cases were positive by OXK antigens by Weil Felix test and 61 were positive by ELISA test for ST IgM antibodies. Fever was the most common clinical presentation occurring in ST IgM ELISA positive cases, followed by myalgia in 90.1% cases, headache in 77%, hepatomegaly in 65.5%, splenomegaly in 62.2% and rashes were seen in 29.5% patients. Eschar was seen in 13.1% patients, pneumonia in 3.2% and meningo-encephalitis in 1.6%. Sensitivity and specificity of WFT in relation to IgM ELISA at a titre of 160 was 81.97% and 85.67% respectively.Conclusions: With the growing number of cases detected in India, scrub typhus is fast emerging as a public health threat and also due to limited diagnostics leading to underreporting, Weil Felix test could be used in adjunct with Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and blood parameters in the diagnosis of rickettsial diseases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Yogendra Shah ◽  
Govind Prasad Gupta ◽  
Kishor Pandey ◽  
Sher Bahadur Pun ◽  
Krishna Prasad Pant ◽  
...  

Introduction: Dengue is an emerging mosquito-borne viral disease in the world and is the serious public health problem of Nepal. Methods: This study was designed to determine sero-epidemiology of dengue virus infection during the period (June-Nov) of 2010 among suspected patients with fever visiting Koshi Zonal Hospital (KZH), Biratnagar, Narayani sub-regional Hospital (NSH), Birgunj, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH), Kathmandu and Dhading District Hospital (DDH), Dhadingbeshi. The sero-prevalence of anti-dengue IgM antibody was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Among 271 serum samples tested, the anti-dengue IgM positivity was 14.4%. Sero-positivity in male was 10.7% of total and that in female was 3.7%.  Among different age groups, the highest positive cases 11.8% were from age group 15-50 years and found least among the age group above 50 years 0.4%. Out of 4 different hospitals, the highest positive positive cases from STIDH with 9.2% and the least positive cases were from DDH (0.4%). RT-PCR showed 4.7% positivity of 21 samples tested. Conclusions: Enzyme immunoassay and RT-PCR serological marker can be used to diagnose the acute patients of dengue during outbreaks.Medical Journal of Shree Birendra Hospital; July-December 2012/vol.11/Issue2/24-27 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/mjsbh.v11i2.7905 


2019 ◽  
pp. 1667-1672
Author(s):  
Raghad Hasan Nafal ◽  
Harith Saeed Al-Warid ◽  
Hayder Jamal Al-Sultan

The influence of Toxoplasma gondii in the pathogenesis of hepatic disease has lately  had considerable attention. The objective of this study is to assess the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in patients with chronic liver disease from Baghdad-Iraq. All patients have attended Gastroenterology and Hepatology  Teaching Hospital, Medical city in Baghdad, Iraq An analytical case–control study was achieved from September to November 2018. Seventy male patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and 70 control males  (free of chronic liver diseases) participated in this study, their ages were between (18-80) years old. Serum samples were taken from all subjects and were analysed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of anti-T.gondii IgG and IgM antibodies. The prevalence of anti-T.gondii IgG was significantly higher 62.85% in CLD patients compared with 27.28% in the control subjects. Anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies were also showed to be significantly higher in CLD patients compared with control subjects. A significant relation between age and the prevalence of T.gondii was reported in this study. Toxoplasmosis was largely reported among those aged (˃40) years old for both CLD patients and control subjects, while the other age groups showed less seroprevalence rates.      Sera samples for both CLD patients and control subjects were tested for different liver enzyme: aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). ALT was greater in CLD-Toxoplasma positive patients comparing to CLD-Toxoplasma negative patients. In addition to AST was higher in control-Toxoplasma positive subjects comparing to control-Toxoplasma negative subjects.      These findings show that Toxoplasmosis is high expected to be diagnosed with chronic liver disease patients. Consequently, attention would be focused on health education of peoples at high risk of toxoplasmosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atiporn Boonyai ◽  
Anchalee Thongput ◽  
Thidarat Sisaeng ◽  
Parisut Phumchan ◽  
Navin Horthongkham ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Prevalence and incidence of hepatitis caused by HEV infection are usually higher in developing countries. This study demonstrated the HEV seroprevalence and incidence of HEV infection in patients with clinical hepatitis in a tertiary hospital in Thailand. Methods A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted using 1106 serum samples from patients suspected of HEV infection sent to the Serology laboratory, Siriraj Hospital, for detecting HEV antibodies during 2015–2018. Prevalence of anti-HEV IgG and IgM antibodies in general patients, including organ transplant recipients and pregnant women in a hospital setting, were determined using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Comparison of laboratory data between groups with different HEV serological statuses was performed. Results HEV IgG antibodies were detected in 40.82% of 904 serum samples, while HEV IgM antibodies were detected in 11.75% of 1081 serum samples. Similar IgG and IgM antibody detection rates were found in pregnant women. Interestingly, anti-HEV IgM antibodies were detected in 38.5% of patients who underwent organ transplantation. Patients who tested positive for anti-HEV IgM antibodies had higher alanine aminotransferase levels than those who had not. In contrast, patients who tested positive for anti-HEV IgG had more elevated levels of total bilirubin than those who tested negative. Conclusions HEV seroprevalence and incidence in patients with clinical hepatitis were relatively high in the Thai population, including the pregnancy and organ transplant subgroups. The results potentially benefit the clinicians in decision-making to investigate HEV antibodies and facilitating proper management for patients.


Author(s):  
Eide Dias Camargo ◽  
Paulo Mutuko Nakamura ◽  
Adelaide José Vaz ◽  
Marcos Vinícius da Silva ◽  
Pedro Paulo Chieffi ◽  
...  

The dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) was standardized using somatic (S) and excretory-secretory (ES) antigens of Toxocara-canis for the detection of specific antibodies in 22 serum samples from children aged 1 to 15 years, with clinical signs of toxocariasis. Fourteen serum samples from apparently normal individuals and 28 sera from patients with other pathologies were used as controls. All samples were used before and after absorption with Ascaris suum extract. When the results were evaluated in comparison with ELISA, the two tests were found to have similar sensitivity, but dot-ELISA was found to be more specific in the presence of the two antigens studied. Dot-ELISA proved to be effective for the diagnosis of human toxocariasis, presenting advantages in terms of yield, stability, time and ease of execution and low cost.


1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 946-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhay Srinivasan ◽  
Yawei Ni ◽  
Ian Tizard

ABSTRACT Immune responses to the carbohydrate components of microorganisms, mediated both by antibodies and by lectins, are an important part of host defense. In the present experiments, the specificity and presence of natural bovine antibodies against mannan, a common fungal antigen, were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), usingSaccharomyces cerevisiae mannan as an antigen. The results showed that all serum samples from animals of three age groups (newborn, calf, and adult) tested contained antimannan antibodies, and the titer of these antibodies increased significantly in adults. However, titers among individual adult cattle differed widely. Inhibition assays showed that yeast mannan was the strongest inhibitor.d-Mannose exhibited only a minor inhibitory effect at high concentrations. This suggests that most of these antibodies recognize an oligosaccharide-based epitope(s) different from those recognized by lectins. Cattle possess three serum C-type lectins (collectins) capable of recognizing mannan in a calcium-dependent manner. Addition of EDTA to the reaction did not reduce antibody binding, suggesting that the binding of these antibodies to mannan was not affected by the presence of collectin. The antibodies purified from either calf or adult serum by mannan-Sepharose affinity chromatography consisted of mainly immunoglobulin G (IgG) and a smaller amount of IgM. IgG1 was shown to be the dominant antimannan IgG isotype by isotype-specific ELISA. Together, these results demonstrate the production of natural antimannan antibodies in cattle in an age-dependent manner. These antibodies might be involved in defending the host against mannan-containing pathogens as a specific line of defense in conjunction with the innate response by lectins.


Author(s):  
Mubin I. Patel ◽  
Abhishek Patel ◽  
Avani Patel ◽  
Sharmistha Patel ◽  
Suresh Padsala

Background: Dengue Fever (DF) is a self-limiting disease caused by arbovirus and transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus). It is one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases by WHO. Diagnosis of dengue depends mainly on the detection of IgM and IgG antibody, and NS1 antigen.Methods: The study was carried out in Department of Pathology, affiliated with a government hospital. It includes 82 dengue patients, admitted from August 2015 to August 2016. Haematological, biochemical profile, clinical signs and symptoms were recorded. The Tourniquet test was performed in all the patients on admission. Grading of dengue: DF/DHFI/DHFII/DHFIII/DHFIV. Grade III and IV were collectively called as Dengue Shock Syndrome.Results: Total 82 Dengue positive cases were studied, 52 (63%) were males and 30 (37%) were females. 24 (29%) patients were recorded in September 22 (27%) in October 19 (23%) in August. 12 (14.60%) had positive tourniquet test. Thrombocytopenia was present in 86.5 % patients. Majority cases were of classical dengue fever 51 (62.20%), 14 (17.07%) were of DHF I, 12 (14.63%) were of DHF II, 3 (3.66%) were of DHF III and 2 (2.44%) were of DHF IV.Conclusions: It is very important to correlate clinical examination with haematological and biochemical profile in dengue patients. Hematocrit value, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, raised liver enzymes is very important to monitor dengue cases in their initial stages and thus facilitate early treatment. This would minimize morbidity and mortality arising out of serious complications of dengue fever.


ESC CardioMed ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 2495-2497
Author(s):  
Marion Delcroix

No clinical feature is pathognomonic for pulmonary hypertension. Signs and symptoms are quite unspecific and can be observed in other lung or heart diseases. This explains why the diagnosis is usually late. Dyspnoea, fatigue, syncope, and angina are the most frequent symptoms. Late in the disease course, signs of right heart failure may also appear, such as hepatomegaly, peripheral oedema, and jugular distension. The clinical presentation is also influenced by the associated conditions, with signs suggestive for systemic sclerosis, portal hypertension, or congenital heart disease. Evaluation of the clinical signs is an important part of patient risk stratification at diagnosis and in the follow-up of patients with pulmonary hypertension.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 612-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdus Salam ◽  
Md Atiqul Haque ◽  
Md Mostafizer Rahman ◽  
Mir Rowshan Akter ◽  
Farzana Afroz

The present study was conducted on layer birds of different age groups to determine specific antibody titer level against avian reovirus (ARV) by indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) at Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. This study showed that ARV specific antibody positive cases were 84 out of 90 blood serum samples and the highest antibody titer was 26120 and lowest antibody titer was 288. The total 93.33% sera samples were showed positive result. The study showed that 100% sera sample were positive against ARV at 6 weeks of aged group and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 13917, 4895 and 10269 respectively. On the other hand 88.88% sera sample were positive against ARV at 10 weeks of aged group and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 9779, 288 and 5689.89 respectively. The sera sample collected from 14 weeks of aged group showed 88.88% positive and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 11727, 871 and 5250 respectively. The sera sample collected from 18 weeks of aged group showed 88.88% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 24440, 1234 and 12648.89 respectively. The sera sample collected from 22 weeks of aged group were 100% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 26120, 1752 and 11373.89 respectively. The sera sample collected from 26 weeks of aged group showed 100% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 8566, 1630 and 4327.44 respectively. The sera sample collected from 30 weeks of aged group showed 100% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 13431, 1989 and 5890.56 respectively. The sera sample collected from 40 weeks of aged group showed 77.77% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 14618, 433 and 5103.22 respectively. The sera sample collected from 48 weeks of aged group showed 88.88% positive against ARV and the highest, lowest and mean antibody titer were 14553, 957 and 7436.5 respectively. In conclusion it is evident that avian reovirus-specific antibody was successfully detected through commercially available avian reovirus antibody test kit (ELISA kit) and the virus induced a significant antibody titer indicating the affecting virus was absolutely ARV.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. December 2015, 1(3): 612-621


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