scholarly journals Molecular Detection and Epidemiological Features of Selected Bacterial, Viral, and Parasitic Enteropathogens in Stool Specimens from Children with Acute Diarrhea in Thi-Qar Governorate, Iraq

Author(s):  
Ali Harb ◽  
Sam Abraham ◽  
Bertha Rusdi ◽  
Tanya Laird ◽  
Mark O’Dea ◽  
...  

Knowledge of etiology causes of diarrheal illness is essential for development and implementation of public health measures to prevent and control this disease syndrome. There are few published studies examining diarrhea in children aged <5 years in Iraq. This study aims to investigate the occurrences and epidemiology of selected bacterial (Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp.), viral (adenovirus, norovirus GI and GII, and astrovirus), and parasitic (Entamoeba spp. and Giardia spp.) agents in stool samples from 155 child diarrheal cases enrolled between March and August 2017, in a hospital-based cross-sectional study in Thi-Qar, southeastern Iraq. Using molecular techniques and sequence-based characterization, adenovirus was the most frequently detected enteropathogen (53/155 (34.2%)), followed by Salmonella spp. (23/155 (14.8%)), Entamoeba spp. (21/155 (13.5%)), and Campylobacter spp. (17/155 (10.9%)). Mixed infection with Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. was evident, and the same was revealed between various enteric viruses, particularly adenovirus and norovirus. The most frequent co-infection pattern was between adenovirus and Campylobacter spp., in seven cases (7/155 (4.5%)). Whole-genome sequencing-derived typing data for Salmonella isolates (n = 23) revealed that sequence type 49 was the most prevalent in this sample set (15/23 (65.2%)). To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first report on detection and identification of floR, blaCARB-2, and mphA antimicrobial resistance genes in Salmonella isolated from children in the Middle East region. Logistic regression analysis pointed to few enteropathogen-specific correlations between child age, household water source, and breastfeeding patterns in relation to the outcome of detection of individual enteropathogens. This study presents the first published molecular investigation of multiple enteropathogens among children <5 years of age in Iraq. Our data provide supporting evidence for planning of childhood diarrhea management programs. It is important to build on this study and develop future longitudinal case-control research in order to elaborate the epidemiology of enteropathogens in childhood diarrhea in Iraq.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Mencía‐Ares ◽  
Héctor Argüello ◽  
Héctor Puente ◽  
Manuel Gómez‐García ◽  
Avelino Álvarez‐Ordóñez ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 850
Author(s):  
José Esteban Muñoz-Medina ◽  
Concepción Grajales-Muñiz ◽  
Angel Gustavo Salas-Lais ◽  
Larissa Fernandes-Matano ◽  
Constantino López-Macías ◽  
...  

Until recently, the incidence of COVID-19 was primarily estimated using molecular diagnostic methods. However, the number of cases is vastly underreported using these methods. Seroprevalence studies estimate cumulative infection incidences and allow monitoring of transmission dynamics, and the presence of neutralizing antibodies in the population. In February 2020, the Mexican Social Security Institute began conducting anonymous unrelated sampling of residual sera from specimens across the country, excluding patients with fever within the previous two weeks and/or patients with an acute respiratory infection. Sampling was carried out weekly and began 17 days before Mexico’s first officially confirmed case. The 24,273 sera obtained were analyzed by chemiluminescent-linked immunosorbent assay (CLIA) IgG S1/S2 and, later, positive cases using this technique were also analyzed to determine the rate of neutralization using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We identified 40 CLIA IgG positive cases before the first official report of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Mexico. The national seroprevalence was 3.5% in February and 33.5% in December. Neutralizing activity among IgG positives patients during overall study period was 86.1%. The extent of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in Mexico is 21 times higher than that reported by molecular techniques. Although the general population is still far from achieving herd immunity, epidemiological indicators should be re-estimated based on serological studies of this type.


Challenges ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayuk Tambe ◽  
Leonie Nzefa ◽  
Nchang Nicoline

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Naiim Fuseini ◽  
Francis Enu-Kwesi ◽  
Kwabena Barima Antwi

The emergence of social cash transfers, including Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) scheme, in Ghana was due to the need to mitigate poverty. However, prior assessment studies focused on the entirety of the programmes, and not solely on assessing the utilisation of grants from such programmes. Consequently, this study examined the utilisation of the LEAP grant, by employing a cross-sectional study design. A sample of 302 LEAP beneficiaries was selected by means of stratified random sampling. Data from beneficiaries were gathered via a questionnaire, while an interview guide was used to collect supporting evidence from key informants. Analysis of data involved descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, chi-square test of independence and thematic analysis. The study found that beneficiaries spent their LEAP grant on both consumption and investments, with consumption appearing dominant. Overall, beneficiaries utilised the grant in meeting their basic needs. It is, therefore, recommended that in order to develop self-sufficiency, beneficiaries must be advised by the programme officials to invest part of their grant in income generating activities to earn extra income to supplement the LEAP grant, and eventually wean them of the programme.


F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Vong Pisey ◽  
Pannee Banchonhattakit

Background: Diarrhea is still the leading cause of childhood death worldwide, as well as a major cause for concern in developing countries. This study was conducted to investigate the factors related to childhood diarrhea in Cambodia. Methods: A cross-sectional study of the secondary data from the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2014 was conducted using the combination of household data and children’s data. A generalized linear mixed model was used to analyze the determinant factors of childhood diarrhea. Results: The surveys included 2,828 children, aged 12 to 35 months. The prevalence of diarrhea in the last 2 weeks was 16.44% (95% CI: 14.72%-18.31%). Factors with statistically significant associations with childhood diarrhea in Cambodia were: maternal  unemployment, compared with being in employment (AOR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.14-1.78); the child being male (AOR = 1.25; 95%CI: 1.02-1.53); the presence of unimproved toilet facilities (AOR = 1.17; 95%CI: 1.05-1.31) compared with improved toilet facilities; and unhygienic disposal of children’s stools (AOR = 1.32; 95%CI: 1.06-1.64) compared with hygienic disposal of children’s stools when controlling for other covariates. Both maternal age (one year older; AOR = 0.85; 95%CI: 0.78– 0.93) and child age (one month older; AOR = 0.86; 95%CI: 0.78-0.94) had significant negative associations with the occurrence of childhood diarrhea. Conclusion: Childhood diarrhea remains a public health concern in Cambodia. The probability of diarrhea occurring is shown to be increased by maternal unemployment, the sex of the child being male, lack of provision of improved toilet facilities, and the unhygienic disposal of children’s stools; whereas increasing maternal age and child’s age were associated with a reduced chance of diarrhea occurring. On the basis of these results, we recommend provision of programs focusing on reducing diarrhea through the construction of improved toilet facilities and the promotion of behavior to improve hygiene, specifically targeting younger mothers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (8) ◽  
pp. 616-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne Tamarelle ◽  
Bertille de Barbeyrac ◽  
Isabelle Le Hen ◽  
Anne Thiébaut ◽  
Cécile Bébéar ◽  
...  

ObjectivesNew molecular techniques have allowed describing groups of bacterial communities in the vagina (community state types (CST)) that could play an important role in Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection. Our aim was to describe the distribution of CST in a population of young women in France.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out in June 2015 among anonymous young women attending a STI clinic in Bordeaux, France. Participants provided a vaginal sample for CT screening and sociodemographic data. CT was diagnosed using the Aptima-combo 2 transcription-mediated-amplification assay. Vaginal microbiota composition was characterised using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.ResultsMicrobiota composition and CT status were available for 132 women. CST dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus (CST-I), L. iners (CST-III) and a diversity of anaerobes (CST-IV) represented 37.1%, 38.6% and 22.0% of the sample, respectively. Twenty-one out of 132 women were CT positive. Proportions of CT-positive women were higher for samples belonging to CST-III (21.6%) and CST-IV (17.2%) than to CST-I (8.2%).ConclusionsFive CST were found in 132 young women from a STI clinic in France. These CSTs were not significantly associated with CT but higher proportions of CT-positive women were found in CST-III and CST-IV, consistent with a previous study in the Netherlands. Though our study lacked statistical power and was cross-sectional, it is a necessary first step to understand the structure of the vaginal microbiota in French women with or without infection before performing in-depth longitudinal studies.


2010 ◽  
Vol 184 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.N. Parsons ◽  
C.J. Porter ◽  
R. Ryvar ◽  
J. Stavisky ◽  
N.J. Williams ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afsana Begum ◽  
Md Shafiqul Bari ◽  
Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury ◽  
Naser Ahmed ◽  
KAR Sayeed

Background: Drug resistant Salmonella spp. continues to remain a health problem as last two decades have witnessed the emergence and spread of multidrug resistance against conventional anti-typhoid drugs. Multidrug resistant (MDR) typhoid is now a serious problem in many developing countries including Bangladesh.Objectives: To find out antimicrobial sensitivity and resistance patterns of different types of Salmonella spp. in patients with enteric fever and to find out the epidemiological strains (e.g. resistant strain, epidemic strain, MDR strain) in patients with enteric fever.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done during October 2009–November 2010 and January–December 2012 at United Hospital Limited, Dhaka. Laboratory reports of blood culture were collected from those patients who were investigated as suspected cases of enteric fever. Both the indoor and outdoor patients were enrolled in the study. Salmonella species resistant to one or more of the first line drugs were divided into resistant strain, epidemic strain and multi-drug resistant strain.Results: During the period October 2009–November 2010, total 210 subjects were enrolled. Among the participants, 122 were male and 88 were female. S. typhi were found in 133 samples whereas 76 were S. paratyphi A and only 1 S. paratyphi B. Sensitivity was found 77% for ampicillin, 91.4% for cotrimoxazole, 78.6% for chloramphenicol, 87.6% for ciprofloxacin, 96.6% for cefixime, 98% for ceftriaxone and only 22.1% for azithromycin (77.9% resistant). Total 91 (43.3%) cases were found having resistant strain, 6 (2.8%) epidemic strain and 8 (3.8%) MDR strain Salmonella spp. The sensitivity of azithromycin was analyzed among different categories of strains and revealed that 52.7% showed resistance in resistant strain, 100% in epidemic strain and 87.5% in MDR strain. During the period between January–December 2012, total 139 subjects were enrolled. Among the participants 68 were male and 71 were female with a ratio of 1:1.04. S. typhi were found in 84 cases whereas 55 were S. paratyphi A and no S. paratyphi B. Sensitivity was found 62.7% for ampicillin, 82% for cotrimoxazole, 83% for chloramphenicol, 45.2% for azithromycin, 95% for ciprofloxacin, 99.3% for cefixime and 100% for ceftriaxone. Total 55 (39.6%) cases were found having resistant strain, 3 (2.1%) epidemic strain and 17 (12.2%) MDR strain Salmonella spp. Against azithromycin 67.3% showed resistance in resistant strain, 33.3% in epidemic strain and 29.4% in MDR strain.Conclusion: The policy of empirical treatment of enteric fever needs to be rationalized and newer generation antibiotics should be restricted only for multi-resistant cases of enteric fever.J Enam Med Col 2015; 5(2): 88-92


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e47810313421
Author(s):  
Brunna Muniz Rodrigues Falcão ◽  
Camila de Sousa Bezerra ◽  
Joyce Galvão de Souza ◽  
Denise Batista Nogueira ◽  
Artur da Nóbrega Carreiro ◽  
...  

The collared peccary (Pecari tajacu Linnaeus, 1758) is considered an animal of economic viability for trading and potentially productive for meat, being important the knowledge about the health of this species. Thus, the objective of the research was to carry out a cross-sectional study of leptospirosis in captive collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) from the states of Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Piauí, northeast region of Brazil, using serological and molecular techniques. Serum samples from 48 animals were tested using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) technique. In the samples of vaginal and preputial fluid, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed. Four animals (8.3%) were seroreactive for Leptospira sp. with reaction to serogroup Icterohaemorraghiae and negative in PCR. There was association between the occurrence of leptospirosis and the intensive breeding system (odds ratio=63.00; 95%CI=4.3-910.6; P=0.002). The seroreactivity for leptospirosis suggests that, at some point, these animals were infected by sources of infection within the farm itself. It was also possible to observe the importance of knowing the serogroups prevalent in this species in the studied region, which allows the establishment of adequate strategies for its control, thus prioritizing the balance in the human-animal-environment relationship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Essam S. Soliman ◽  
Mona S. Abdallah

Background and Aim: Biosecurity practices are a must in broiler farms to reduce the risk of infectious agents. This study aimed to evaluate biosecurity measures in nine broiler farms in the Suez Canal area – Egypt with measuring the seasonal prevalence of salmonellosis. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected nine broiler farms of different housing systems based on the ventilation methods from March 2018 to April 2019. A total of 12,600 samples (6480 environmental, 4320 non-environmental, 1080 sera, and 720 live birds) were collected during four successive seasons. Results: Highly significant increases (p<0.01) were recorded in body weight gains in opened and closed-houses during summer; in food conversion ratios in opened-houses during winter and in closed-houses during winter and fall; in performance indices in opened-houses during summer and closed-houses during winter; and in live body weights, carcasses weights, liver, spleen, and bursa's weights in opened-houses during spring and in closed-houses during fall. Highly significant increases (p<0.01) were recorded in total bacterial, Enterobacteriaceae, and Salmonella counts in opened-houses during spring and in closed-houses during summer, in Salmonella Typhi O and H, and Salmonella Paratyphi A and B sera titer in opened-houses during summer and closed-houses during fall. Biosecurity measures scored 34 out of 43 with an average salmonellosis prevalence of 6.0% in closed-house and 24 out of 43 with an average salmonellosis prevalence of 24.67% in opened-house broiler farms. Conclusion: Weak biosecurity measures in broiler houses (opened and closed) were not sufficient to prevent the entrance and multiplication of Salmonella spp. Disciplines, commitment, and regulations of biosecurity need to be enforced in broiler houses to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document