ABSTRACT
Surveillance for Vibrio vulnificus infections was performed by Korea National Institute of Health to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of recent occurence and to provide basic information for V. vulificus infection control. In 1998, a total of 44 cases of V. vulnificus infections were confirmed bacteriologically. The age groups of the patients ranged from thirties to seventies and 13 (29.5%) patients were in their fifties. Thirty-six (81.8%) patients had chronic liver diseases. Twenty-five (56.8%) had drinking habits. Eating uncooked seafood (fish, shrimp, and small octopus) produced in tideland was the main suspected source of infections and 32 (72.8%) cases were associated with raw seafood consumption. Two cases were associated with contaminated chopping board and 5 were infected through the wound. The incubation period ranged from less than 1 day to 7 days (median 2 days). The case fatality rate was 48%. In conclusion, V. vulnificus infection, a highly fatal disease, is not rare in Korea. Therefore, attention should be given to prevent V. vulnificus infections.
Subject(s)
Humans , Drinking , Eating , Infection Control , Korea , Liver Diseases , Mortality , Seafood , Vibrio vulnificus , Vibrio , Wounds and InjuriesABSTRACT
Recently interleukin-4 (IL-4) has been suggested to be a promising therapeutic agent for the malignant tumors of both murine and human origin. The effect of IL-4 is mediated by IL-4 receptor (IL-4R), which has been shown to be expressed in many normal and tumor cell lines. We herein tested two cell lines of human renal cell carcinoma (RCC), Caki-1 and CURC-II, for the expression of IL-1R gene. On the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction study, both cell lines expressed IL-4R mRNA. The present study suggests that it would be worthwhile to investigate the anti-tumor effect of IL-4 on Caki-l and CIJRC-II, which may help to develop new therapeutic strategies for RCC using IL-4.