Interaction of High- and Low-Risk human papillomavirus genotypes is associated with a reduced risk of developing cervical cancer (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is among the most common type of cancers in women and is associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. OBJECTIVE The link between cervical cancer and high-risk HPV infection has been well documented, although the effect of simultaneous infection with high- and low-risk HPV or low-risk HPV alone on the risk of developing cervical malignancy is remained to be unanswered in guideline METHODS We have investigated the association of high and low-risk HPVs (HR or LR) genotype with cervical carcinoma risk, as well as pathological and cytological information in cases recruited from a population-based cohort study of 790 patients. RESULTS The percentage of HR+LR and HR-HPV16/18 were 9.30% and 11.20% in class II, 7.15% and 7.10% in class IV and 7.15% and 5.80% in As-CUS smears. Interestingly concurrent infection with HR-HPV and LR-HPV types led to a notable decline in the risk of developing malignancy in comparison with the high-risk group (OR=0.3 (0.098-0.925), p-value=0.04). The percentage of individuals with cervical malignancy was 10.2% and 28.2% within the co-infected and the HR-HPV participants. CONCLUSIONS Our finding demonstrated that simultaneous infection with high- and low-risk HPV reduces the risk of cervical malignancy.

Regarding Coinfection With Denge Viruses and Agents of Hemocontact Infections in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

According to the WHO, there is an increase in the number of cases of dengue fever worldwide. In many countries, where dengue fever is an endemic disease, blood-borne infections associated with hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV are widespread. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an endemic region for these pathogens. The unique epidemiological situation in the country provides an excellent opportunity to study the interaction between Arboviruses, agents of parenteral viral hepatitis B and C, and HIV infection in the body of sick people.The aim of this review was to analyze the literature data on the detection of cases of simultaneous infection with Dengue viruses of 1–4 types and agents of blood-borne infections in sick people in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Despite the fact that the simultaneous circulation of these pathogens in the patient's body can affect the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease development, there were very few works devoted to co-infection with Dengue viruses and HIV, hepatitis C or B viruses, including in the regions adjacent to Vietnam. Therefore, research in this direction is promising for both fundamental science and practical medicine.

Simultaneous Infection of Elaphostrongylus Nematode Species and Parasite Sharing between Sympatrically Occurring Cervids: Moose, Roe Deer, and Red Deer in Poland

It is important to assess the distribution of parasite species across wildlife populations, to design strategies for game management and effective disease control in nature. In this project we quantified the prevalence of Elaphostrongylus species in eight moose populations. We used molecular methods for identification of parasite species and host individual genotypes from fecal samples. We also demonstrated sharing of parasite species between three cervid hosts sympatrically occurring in the Biebrza River valley, North-Eastern Poland, which is occupied by the largest autochthonous, non-harvested moose population in Central Europe. Nematode species from the genus Elaphostrongylus are ubiquitous in the studied moose populations. The presence of a single parasite species (e.g., E. alces) in moose individuals was more common than simultaneous infection with E. alces and E. cervi. The prevalence of both E. alces and E. cervi was higher in males than females. The distribution of E. alces and E. cervi prevalence in moose, roe deer, and red deer were in accordance with the membership of a host to a subfamily. Simultaneous occurrences of both Elaphostrongylus species were significantly more frequently noted in red deer fecal samples than those collected from moose or roe deer. Thus, we consider red deer to play a dominant role in sharing of those nematodes to other cervids. Our findings promote applications of molecular methods of identifying parasite species and the assessment of the exchange of parasite community between wild ruminant species in management and health monitoring of game animal populations.

Unusual SARS-CoV-2 intra-host diversity reveals lineages superinfection

The SARS-CoV-2 has infected almost 200 million people worldwide by July 2021 and the pandemic has been characterized by infection waves of viral lineages showing distinct fitness profiles. The simultaneous infection of a single individual by two distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages provides a window of opportunity for viral recombination and the emergence of new lineages with differential phenotype. Several hundred SARS-CoV-2 lineages are currently well characterized but two main factors have precluded major coinfection/codetection analysis thus far: i) the low diversity of SARS-CoV-2 lineages during the first year of the pandemic which limited the identification of lineage defining mutations necessary to distinguish coinfecting viral lineages; and the ii) limited availability of raw sequencing data where abundance and distribution of intrasample/intrahost variability can be accessed. Here, we have put together a large sequencing dataset from Brazilian samples covering a period of 18 May 2020 to 30 April 2021 and probed it for unexpected patterns of high intrasample/intrahost variability. It enabled us to detect nine cases of SARS-CoV-2 coinfection with well characterized lineage-defining mutations. In addition, we matched these SARS-CoV-2 coinfections with spatio-temporal epidemiological data confirming their plausibility with the co-circulating lineages at the timeframe investigated. These coinfections represent around 0.61% of all samples investigated. Although our data suggests that coinfection with distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages is a rare phenomenon, it is likely an underestimation and coinfection rates warrants further investigation.

Data-Driven Mathematical Modeling and Dynamical Analysis for SARS-CoV-2 Coinfection with Bacteria

The ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has serious influences on human health and economy. The available clinical data suggest that patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 have the possibility of simultaneous infection of bacteria. In this study, we present a data-driven mathematical model for coinfection of SARS-CoV-2 and bacteria to investigate the dynamics of COVID-19 progress. Specifically, based on the statistical analysis of different clinical data from China and some other countries, a system model with ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in four variables, i.e. SARS-CoV-2, bacteria, neutrophils and lymphocytes, is established. We further validate our model through theoretical analysis and fitting of different clinical data. Moreover, through numerical simulations and bifurcation analysis, we find that bacterial infection and immune-related parameters in certain ranges lead to the system transitions among three steady states, i.e. mild, severe and death. We also analyzed the influence of the time it takes for patients to switch from a high-risk area to a low-risk area on the recovery time. These results reveal that the coinfection of viruses and bacteria can explain the changes in neutrophils and lymphocytes, and that initial bacterial infection and immune-related parameters have great influences on the severity degree and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Together, our model and quantitative analysis suggest that preventing bacterial infection and enhancing immune ability during the early phase of infections could be a potential treatment option for high-risk COVID-19 patients.

When a rare simultaneous infection simulates a local extension of a rectal cancer: a case report

Background Actinomycosis is a rare chronic infection caused by Actinomyces. The abdominopelvic localization of this pathology makes preoperative diagnosis extremely exceptional. The following report is the case of a patient treated for adenocarcinoma of the middle rectum associated with mesorectal actinomycosis. The diagnosis of actinomycosis was made postoperatively. Case presentation A 69-year-old Caucasian male patient was admitted for rectal bleeding. Clinical and paraclinical assessment revealed a middle rectum adenocarcinoma with local extension in the mesorectum. The patient underwent an anterior resection of the rectum by laparotomy after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Postoperative follow-up was simple. Pathological study of the specimen noted complete sterilization of the rectal adenocarcinoma and the presence of large foci of suppurative necrosis containing actinomycotic grains in the mesorectum. Conclusion Abdominopelvic actinomycosis is a rare pathology and has therefore rarely been dealt with. This issue can lead to unnecessary and mutilating surgery. We report an exceptional coincidence of rectal adenocarcinoma and mesorectal actinomycosis mistaken for mesorectal extension of the cancer.

Mutation induced infection waves in diseases like COVID-19

After almost 4 million deaths worldwide, the ongoing vaccination to conquer the COVID-19 disease is now competing with the emergence of increasingly contagious mutations, repeatedly supplanting earlier strains. Following the near-absence of historical examples of the long-time evolution of infectious diseases under similar circumstances, models are crucial to exemplify possible scenarios. Accordingly, in the present work we systematically generalize the popular susceptible-infected-recovered model to account for mutations leading to repeatedly occurring new strains, which we coarse grain based on tools from statistical mechanics to derive a model predicting the most likely outcomes. The model predicts that mutations can induce a super-exponential growth of infection numbers at early times, which can self-amplify to giant infection waves which are caused by a positive feedback loop between infection numbers and mutations and lead to a simultaneous infection of the majority of the population. At later stages - if vaccination progresses too slowly - mutations can interrupt an ongoing decrease of infection numbers and can cause infection revivals which can occur as single waves or even as whole wave trains featuring alternative periods of decreasing and increasing infection numbers. Our results might be useful for discussions regarding the importance of a release of vaccine-patents to reduce the risk of mutation-induced infection revivals but also to coordinate the release of measures following a downwards trend of infection numbers.

Genomic Diversity of CRESS DNA Viruses in the Eukaryotic Virome of Swine Feces

Replication-associated protein (Rep)-encoding single-stranded DNA (CRESS DNA) viruses are a diverse group of viruses, and their persistence in the environment has been studied for over a decade. However, the persistence of CRESS DNA viruses in herds of domestic animals has, in some cases, serious economic consequence. In this study, we describe the diversity of CRESS DNA viruses identified during the metagenomics analysis of fecal samples collected from a single swine herd with apparently healthy animals. A total of nine genome sequences were assembled and classified into two different groups (CRESSV1 and CRESSV2) of the Cirlivirales order (Cressdnaviricota phylum). The novel CRESS DNA viral sequences shared 85.8–96.8% and 38.1–94.3% amino acid sequence identities for the Rep and putative capsid protein sequences compared to their respective counterparts with extant GenBank record. Data presented here show evidence for simultaneous infection of swine herds with multiple novel CRESS DNA viruses, including po-circo-like viruses and fur seal feces-associated circular DNA viruses. Given that viral genomes with similar sequence and structure have been detected in swine fecal viromes from independent studies, investigation of the association between presence of CRESS DNA viruses and swine health conditions seems to be justified.

Transmission Effectivity of Rice Yellow Stunt Disease by Imidacloprid-Resistant and Susceptible Brown Plant Hopper

The brown plant hopper (BPH) is a major pest of rice and as a vector of Rice ragged stunt virus (RRSV) and Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV). Curently, numerous rice yellow stunt disease symptoms are found in the field that caused by the single and simultaneous infection of these two viruses. Brown plant hopper population correlate with the incidence and severity of the disease. Misuse of insecticides, would cause of BPH resistances to imidacloprid. This study aimed to investigate the ability of BPH imidacloprid-resistant and susceptible to transmit of rice yellow stunt disease on rice plants. The variables tested were the acquisition period, inoculation period, number of infesting BPH, and lifespans of the viruliferous BPH that used in this research. Experiments were set as separated Completely Randomized Design with 10 replications for each treatment within an experiment. The results showed that both resistant and susceptible BPH to imidacloprid was able to transmit the virus to healthy plants. The acquisition and inoculation period test showed the BPH could transmit the virus with the shortest acquisition time for 30 minutes followed 24 hours of inoculation, as well as the acquisition time of 10 days with the shortest inoculation time for 30 minutes. Based on the incubation time, symptoms variation, and disease severity, susceptible BPH were more effective in transmitting rice yellow stunt disease than imidacloprid-resistant BPH. Single imidacloprid-resistant or susceptible BPH was proven able to transmit rice yellow stunt disease to healthy plants during its lifespan. Lifespans BPH viruliferous of imidacloprid-resistant were shorter than susceptible, which was 16 days for resistant BPH and 21 days for susceptible BPH.