acute infections
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Thorax ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. thoraxjnl-2021-217576
Author(s):  
Mette Kolpen ◽  
Kasper Nørskov Kragh ◽  
Juan Barraza Enciso ◽  
Daniel Faurholt-Jepsen ◽  
Birgitte Lindegaard ◽  
...  

BackgroundA basic paradigm of human infection is that acute bacterial disease is caused by fast growing planktonic bacteria while chronic infections are caused by slow-growing, aggregated bacteria, a phenomenon known as a biofilm. For lung infections, this paradigm has been thought to be supported by observations of how bacteria proliferate in well-established growth media in the laboratory—the gold standard of microbiology.ObjectiveTo investigate the bacterial architecture in sputum from patients with acute and chronic lung infections.MethodsAdvanced imaging technology was used for quantification and direct comparison of infection types on fresh sputum samples, thereby directly testing the acute versus chronic paradigm.ResultsIn this study, we compared the bacterial lifestyle (planktonic or biofilm), growth rate and inflammatory response of bacteria in freshly collected sputum (n=43) from patient groups presenting with acute or chronic lung infections. We found that both acute and chronic lung infections are dominated by biofilms (aggregates of bacteria within an extracellular matrix), although planktonic cells were observed in both sample types. Bacteria grew faster in sputum from acute infections, but these fast-growing bacteria were enriched in biofilms similar to the architecture thought to be reserved for chronic infections. Cellular inflammation in the lungs was also similar across patient groups, but systemic inflammatory markers were only elevated in acute infections.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that the current paradigm of equating planktonic with acute and biofilm with chronic infection needs to be revisited as the difference lies primarily in metabolic rates, not bacterial architecture.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiying Wang ◽  
Yuan Zhao ◽  
Bi-Fen Yuan

Abstract BackgroundEosinophils are now being recognized for more varied functions such as antiviral and bactericidal effects. This study aimed to explore the association between increased blood eosinophils and frequent pathogens due to the infections in children. Methods A total of 2353 children with acute infections admitted to Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center from February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 were enrolled in the study. 277 children without infections were comprised the control group. Children’s age, peripheral blood parameters including white blood cells, eosinophils, C-reactive protein (CRP) were recorded. In addition, infection stage and departments the patients admitted to were investigated. The study protocol was approved by the institutional ethics committee of the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center (NO.2020110819342581).Results Blood eosinophil numbers negatively correlated with the age of children, whereas had no relation to disease stage. The means of eosinophil for neonates (<0.1 year),infancy (<1year) and children >1year with acute infections were 0.67±0.40, 0.40±0.68, 0.15±0.25 *109/L compared with control group matched for age(0.44±0.20, 0.45±0.27, 0.24±0.19*109/L, P <0.001, <0.001, 0.497, respectively). Among them, the mean of eosinophil in the neonates afflicted with acute infections was significantly higher than the others compared to age-matched controls (0.63±0.60 vs 0.44±0.20, P= 0.012). Areas under the curves (AUC) were 0.81 (95% CI 0.75–0.86) for eosinophil combined with CRP and 0.68 (95% CI 0.61–0.75) for CRP alone for acute infections in neonates (P=0.02). Patients admitted in ICU had higher eosinophils than outpatients (0.46±0.60 vs 0.16±0.24, P <0.001) but had no significant difference compared with control group (0.45±0.20, P >0.99). Conclusion Increased peripheral blood eosinophils may indicate acute infections among neonates. Eosinophil combined with CRP can contribute to evaluating this population.


Author(s):  
N. Y. Kravets ◽  

Millions of people have died from acute infections in the past century, but they have been effectively fought through the development of modern vaccines, antibiotics and infection control measures. Chronic infections are slower than acute infections, and the symptoms are often vague, difficult, and sometimes impossible to cure with antibiotics. Important signs of chronic biofilm infections are extreme resistance to antibiotics and many other common antimicrobials, as well as the extraordinary ability to avoid the host’s defenses. One such disease is chronic inflammatory lesions of the tonsils, the main infectious agents of which are gram-positive cocci, strains Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. The purpose of the study of the ability of strains of Staphylococcus aureus to form a biofilm isolated from the surface of the epithelium of the upper respiratory tract of children. Clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria obtained from the oropharynx of 32 children with tonsils affected by the inflammatory process at the age of 4-12 years (median – 7) were studied. The results of microbiological examination of biomaterial obtained from children with chronic inflammatory lesions of the tonsils showed that in 32 samples 25 strains of S. aureus were identified, 12 of them (48%) are capable of forming a biofilm, and 13 strains (52%) (not adhesive) are not had this ability. The study of the dynamics of biofilm formation by selected strains of S. aureus showed an increase in optical density (OS) during three days of cultivation, ranging from 0.143


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bernstein ◽  
Dan Coster ◽  
Shlomo Berliner ◽  
Itzhak Shapira ◽  
David Zeltser ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To assess the utility of C-reactive protein (CRP) velocity to discriminate between patients with acute viral and bacterial infections who presented with relatively low CRP concentrations and were suspected of having a bacterial infection. Methods We analyzed a retrospective cohort of patients with acute infections who presented to the emergency department (ED) with a relatively low first CRP measurement (CRP1) ≤ 31.9 mg/L and received antibiotics shortly after. We then calculated C-reactive protein velocity (CRPv), milligram per liter per hour, for each patient based on CRP1 and the second CRP value (CRP2) measured within the first 24 h since admission. Finally, we compared CRPv between patients with bacterial and viral infections. Results We have presently analyzed 74 patients with acute bacterial infections and 62 patients with acute viral infections at the mean age of 80 and 66 years respectively, 68 male and 68 female. CRP1 did not differ between both groups of patients (16.2 ± 8.6 and 14.8 ± 8.5 for patients with viral and bacterial infections respectively, p value = 0.336). However, the CRP2 was significantly different between the groups (30.2 ± 21.9 and 75.6 ± 51.3 for patients with viral and bacterial infections respectively, p-value < 0.001) and especially the CRPv was much higher in patients with acute bacterial infections compared to patients with acute viral infections (0.9 ± 1.2 and 4.4 ± 2.7 respectively, p-value < 0.001). Conclusion CRPv and CRP2 are useful biomarkers that can discriminate significantly between patients who present with acute bacterial and viral infections, and relatively low CRP concentration upon admission who were suspected of having a bacterial infection.


Author(s):  
Yuan Jia ◽  
Hao Sun ◽  
Jinpeng Tian ◽  
Qiuming Song ◽  
Wenwei Zhang

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant global social and economic disruption. The highly transmissive nature of the disease makes rapid and reliable detection critically important. Point-of-care (POC) tests involve performing diagnostic tests outside of a laboratory that produce a rapid and reliable result. It therefore allows the diagnostics of diseases at or near the patient site. Paper-based POC tests have been gaining interest in recent years as they allow rapid, low-cost detection without the need for external instruments. In this review, we focus on the development of paper-based POC devices for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. The review first introduces the principles of detection methods that are available to paper-based devices. It then summarizes the state-of-the-art paper devices and their analytical performances. The advantages and drawbacks among methods are also discussed. Finally, limitations of the existing devices are discussed, and prospects are given with the hope to identify research opportunities and directions in the field. We hope this review will be helpful for researchers to develop a clinically useful and economically efficient paper-based platform that can be used for rapid, accurate on-site diagnosis to aid in identifying acute infections and eventually contain the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Mancy ◽  
Malavika Rajeev ◽  
Ahmed Lugelo ◽  
Kirstyn Brunker ◽  
Sarah Cleaveland ◽  
...  

Fundamental questions remain about the regulation of acute pathogens in the absence of acquired immunity. This is especially true for canine rabies, a universally fatal zoonosis. From tracing rabies transmission in a population of 50,000 dogs in Tanzania between 2002-2016 we unravel the processes through which rabies is regulated and persists, fitting individual-based models to spatially-resolved data to investigate the mechanisms modulating transmission and the scale over which they operate. We find that while prevalence never exceeds 0.15%, we detect significant susceptible depletion at local scales commensurate with rabid dog movement, reducing transmission through clustering of rabies deaths and individuals incubating infection. Individual variation in rabid dog behaviour facilitates virus dispersal and co-circulation of lineages, enabling metapopulation persistence. These mechanisms likely operate in many pathogens circulating in spatially structured populations, with important implications for prediction and control, yet are unobservable unless the scale of host interactions is identified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen J. E. Baddeley ◽  
Mark Isalan

As CRISPR/Cas systems have been refined over time, there has been an effort to apply them to real world problems, such as developing sequence-targeted antiviral therapies. Viruses pose a major threat to humans and new tools are urgently needed to combat these rapidly mutating pathogens. Importantly, a variety of CRISPR systems have the potential to directly cleave DNA and RNA viral genomes, in a targeted and easily-adaptable manner, thus preventing or treating infections. This perspective article highlights recent studies using different Cas effectors against various RNA viruses causing acute infections in humans; a latent virus (HIV-1); a chronic virus (hepatitis B); and viruses infecting livestock and animal species of industrial importance. The outlook and remaining challenges are discussed, particularly in the context of tacking newly emerging viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2.


Author(s):  
Jürgen Rassow

Introduction: The quantitative information on the risk of infection in the COVID-19 pandemic is calculated currently exclusively on the base of new infections per day, which only contribute 6.60%±1.34% to the 100% contagious acute infections and are, therefore, not proportional to the risk of infection. All methods and results presented here are shown for data in Germany, but can be transferred to any other region worldwide. Methods: More precise parameters as are used at present, are based on acute infections: stress index with information about the distance to the stress limit of the health system, the density of the sources of infection and the change in acute infections during the last 5 days are suggested here. Results: The comparison of the results of the current and the new assessment parameters shows that large daily fluctuations in new infections of up to ±22% lead to unnecessary uncertainties. The new assessment parameters are correspondingly more precise. The 7-days incidence warning thresholds introduced by German law in November 2020 and April 2021 are defined on the base of new infections. As a result, the real infection risks can be incorrectly assessed due to the large fluctuations of the 7-days incidence values up to ±23%, so that legal conflicts can arise if legally prescribed protective measures are objectively unjustified or introduced too late. Conclusion: By moving from new infections to acute infections as a base for calculation, infection risks can be described more precisely and even unjustified, expensive protective measures can be avoided.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_E) ◽  
pp. E184-E188
Author(s):  
Francesco Violi ◽  
Vittoria Cammisotto ◽  
Daniele Pastori ◽  
Pasquale Pignatelli

Abstract Acute infections may be complicated by thrombosis occurring in the venous and arterial circulation. This may be observed in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and also in patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), that is a pandemic characterized by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) needing mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit treatment. However, the type and rate of thrombosis can vary according to the cause of pneumonia as is more frequently complicated by arterial thrombosis in CAP, while an equal incidence of venous and arterial thrombosis occurs in SARS-CoV-2. The mechanisms of disease are overall platelet-related in CAP while activation of both platelets and clotting system is implicated in the pathogenesis of thrombosis in SARS-CoV-2; this finding could imply a different therapeutic approach of the two settings. Thrombosis may also occur in subjects vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 even if its incidence is not so high (1/100 000); this rare effect occurs more prevalently in young women, is independent from known risk factors of thrombosis, is caused by antibodies against platelet PF4 and is counteracted by treatment with immunoglobulin and glucocorticoids.


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