Hepatitis G virus infection in patients with hepatitis C

Hepatitis G virus [HGV] infection is a worldwide health problem causing acute and chronic non A- E hepatitis. Because HGV and hepatitis C virus [HCV] share same modes of transmission, co-infection with the two viruses is not uncommon especially among people at high risk of parenteral infection. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HGV among HCV virus cases, and to determine the degree of concurrent association between HGV and other prevalent infections in Egypt as Schistosoma, and hepatitis B virus [HBV] infections. This study included 100 blood donors attending Alexandria University Blood Bank in EL Shatby, proved to be positive for HCV antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbant assay [ELISA] technique. Blood samples ,vyere collected and tested for the detection of HBV surface antigen [HBsAg] and Schistosoma antibodies by ELISA technique and HGV RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction [PCR] technique.' Out of 100 anti-HCV positive blood donors, 39[39%] had HGV RNA in their serum, of them 10 [25.6%] were positive for HBsAg, on the other hand 34[87.2%] were positive for Schistosoma antibodies. From this study it could, be concluded that HGV is a common co-infection in HCV cases, however there was no significant statistical relation between the presence of HGV RNA and the presence of HBsAg and /or Schistosoma antibodies. Screening for HGV among blood donors in addition to the routinely screened HBV and HCV may have a beneficial effect in reducing its transmission among the population

utility of lactoferrin in differentiating parasitic from bacterial infections

Lactoferrin is an iron binding glycoprotein found in the 2 ry granules of PMN. In order to determine the usefulness of such marker for neutrophilic activity in differentiating cases suffering from amoebic and bacillary dysentery, Schistosoma and bacterial UTI infections, we examined stool and urine specimens using anti-lactoferrin antibodies [lactoferrin latex agglutination test: LFLA], compared with different standard gold techniques. Our results demonstrated that cases with either shigllosis or UTI revealed a high lactoferrin titer which was positively correlated with the number of PMN. In addition cases with Entamoeba histolytica or S. haematobium were characterized by relatively lower inflammatory process as expressed by mild lactoferrin titer which was also correlated with the PMN count. In addition, the findings of the present work indicated that LFLA was sensitive and specific when used alone and its sensitivity was augmented after coupling with other simple indirect methods of diagnosis. In conclusion, results described the reliability of using LFLA as a simple, rapid, sensitive method in differentiating, certain parasitic from bacterial diseases

Detection of toxoplasmosis and salmonellosis in meat juice: experimental and surveillance studies

Public health and economic impact of toxoplasmosis and salmonellosis in meat is considerable in terms of morbidity and even mortality in humans. Up to date, there is no suitable method for diagnosis of both diseases in meat of slaughtered animals. The present study evaluated the meat juice as a sample from experimentally infected mice with Toxoplasma gondii [T.gondii] or Salmonella typhimurium [S.typhimurium] for detection of anti-toxoplosma or anti-salmonella antibodies by an indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] technique. The results of the current study revealed that there were no statistically significant differences when comparing results of muscle juice ELISA to those obtained from serum samples of mice with strong correlation between the two samples. This indicated that, meat juice is as efficient as blood in diagnosis of toxoplasmosis and salmonellosis. Moreover, the superiority of meat juice lies in its ability for diagnosis when blood is not obtainable. The use of this sample was applied in surveillance study which was done on randomly collected beef and chicken meat. The antibodies against T.gondii and S. typhimurium were detected in 31%, 22% and 14%, 7% respectively. This justifies the importance of meat juice to be used in the future large scale meat screening programs

Use of lactoferrin assay in the diagnosis of different vaginal pathogens

Local cell mediated immunity is more important than systemic immunity for protection against different vaginal pathogens. The predominant inflammatory cells in vaginal pool are almost exclusively polymorphonuclear neutrophils [PMN] which were varied according to the type of vaginal pathogens, lactoferrin is an iron binding glycoprotein found in the secondary granules of PMN. In order to determine the usefulness of such marker for neutrophilic activity in different vaginal infections, we examined the vaginal discharge using antilactoferrin antibodies [lactoferrin latex agglutination test: LFLA].Against different gold standard techniques. Our results demonstrated that Trichomonas vaginalis [T.V] revealed a high lactoferrin titer which was positively correlated with the number of PMN. In addition, cases with vaginal candidiasis [V.C] was characterized by mild inflammatory process as expressed by mild lactoferrin level which was also correlated with the PMN count. However, a paradoxic finding was observed in discharge recovered from cases with bacterial vaginosis [B.V] where lactoferrin titer was not correlated with PMN count. In addition, the findings of the present work indicated that LFLA was sensitive and specific when used alone and its sensitivity was increased after coupling with other simple methods as pH determination or amin test. In conclusion, our results described the feasibility of using LFLA as a simple, extremely sensitive, reliable method in distinguishing different types of vaginal pathogens, so it could be used as a promising method for a widespread community screening to diagnose population of females at risk