ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To investigate the seroprevalence of toxocariasis in patients diagnosed as schizophrenia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-eight schizophrenic patients hospitalized at The Elazig Psychiatric Hospital were included in the study. Anti-Toxocara IgG and/or IgM antibodies were determined by using commercial Toxocara canis IgG and/or IgM ELISA kit. RESULTS: Seropositivity for T. canis was detected in 45 (45.9%) of 98 patients and 2 (2.0%) of 100 control subjects the difference was statistically significant (p 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the schizophrenic state seems to present a high risk for Toxocara infection in Turkey.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Antibodies, Helminth/blood , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Immunoglobulin G/blood , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Schizophrenia/blood , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Toxocara/growth & development , Toxocariasis/blood , Turkey/epidemiologyABSTRACT
To study the prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis G virus [HGV] in hemodialysis patients in East Anatolia, Turkey. Subjects and Materials: Eighty-nine hemodialysis patients and 30 healthy individuals were analyzed by using reverse-transcriptase nested polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for 5' untranslated region. HGV genotyping was performed by PCR and three randomly selected HGV-positive samples were sequenced. Of the 89 hemodialysis patients, HGV RNA was detected in 9 [10.2%]. All of our isolates were assigned to genotype 2. Our results showed that hemodialysis patients carry the risk for HGV infection in East Anatolia, Turkey