Hemorragia digestiva e insuficiencia hepática aguda por leptospirosis: una entidad que no debemos olvidar / Gastrointestinal bleeding and acute hepatic failure by leptospirosis: an entity that should not be forgotten

La leptospirosis es una enfermedad causada por la espiroqueta Leptospira. Se trata de una zoonosis de distribución mundial, con predominio en los trópicos. En España no es frecuente pero sí se observan casos en zonas más húmedas o con presencia de ríos, lagos o estanques, como son Cataluña, Andalucía o la Comunidad Valenciana, donde se relaciona con los arrozales. Los transmisores son múltiples animales como vacas o ratas, contagiándose el ser humano mediante contacto directo con estos animales o su orina, o bien de forma indirecta al consumir o estar en contacto con agua contaminada por la orina de éstos. Las manifestaciones clínicas son muy variables, siendo asintomática o poco sintomática en la mayoría de los pacientes. Aunque no ocurre siempre, la leptospirosis cursa con una primera fase con fiebre, mialgias, afectación renal o hemorragia de distintos órganos, seguida de una segunda fase con presencia de ictericia por afectación hepática. La enfermedad de Weil es una forma de leptospirosis grave caracterizada por afectación hepática con ictericia e insuficiencia renal aguda, asociada a una considerable mortalidad. El diagnóstico se basa en técnicas serológicas y detección de DNA mediante PCR. El tratamiento consta de medidas de soporte y antibioticoterapia. Presentamos un paciente con enfermedad de Weil y hemorragia digestiva por leptospirosis, con una evolución clínica fulminante, y hacemos hincapié en la necesidad de tener presente esta entidad, especialmente en ambientes epidemiológicos favorables como el de este paciente, con el fin de lograr un diagnóstico precoz.

Leptospirosis disease is caused by the spirochete Leptospira. It is a worldwide distribution zoonosis, with predominance in the tropics. In Spain, it is not frequent but some cases have been noticed especially in humid areas surrounded by rivers, lakes or ponds, such as Catalonia, Andalucia or the Valencian Community. It is transmitted by a variety of animals such as cows or rats, that are infected either by direct contact with these animals or their urine, or indirectly by consuming or being in contact with water contaminated by their urine. The clinical manifestations are very variable, being asymptomatic or not very symptomatic in most of the patients. Unusually, leptospirosis presents with a first phase with fever, myalgias, liver injury or different organs hemorrhage, followed by a second phase with the presence of jaundice due to hepatic failure. Weil's disease is a kind of severe leptospirosis characterized by hepatic failure with jaundice and acute renal failure, associated with high mortality rates. The diagnosis is based on serological techniques and DNA detection by PCR. The treatment consists of life support measures and antibiotic therapy. A patient with Weil's disease and leptospirosis digestive bleeding is presented, with a fulminant clinical course. In order to achieve an early diagnosis, the need to keep this entity in mind must be emphasized, especially in favorable epidemiological environments as the one of this patient.

Evaluation of Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test in Thai patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

OBJECTIVE: Stool antigen test was evaluated in comparison with other diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in Thai patients presented with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty-six patients were enrolled and fecal specimen was obtained from 34 patients. The presence of H. pylori was considered if the culture was positive or at lease two of the other diagnostic tests (urea breath test, serology, rapid urease test or histology) were positive. Stool antigen test was performed by using commercially available monoclonal enzyme immunoassay (Amplified IDEIA HpStAR, Dako, Denmark). RESULTS: Of the 56patients, 35 (62.5%0) were considered H. pylori infected, while in 34patients tested by stool antigen test, 22 (64.71%) were infected. The prevalence of H. pylori infection as determined by each test is considered low (47.06% from stool antigen test; 42.50%from UBT, 65.85%from serology; 51.78%0from RUT- and 46.34% from histology). The sensitivity/specificity/accuracy (%) of stool antigen test was 69.56/100/ 79.41 compared to 73.91/100/85 of UBT 79.17/52.94/68.29 of serology, 80/95.23/85.71 of RUT and 82.61/ 100/90.24 of histology, respectively. CONCLUSION: In summary, the results of this study reveal that the prevalence of H. pylori was relatively low in upper gastrointestinal bleeding patients. Yielding a low sensitivity and accuracy, the stool antigen test is therefore not reliable for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Epithelial cell signaling responses to enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, including the serotype O157:H7 that is most commonly identified with human disease, cause both sporadic cases and outbreaks of non-bloody diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis. In about 10 percent of infected subjects, the hemolytic uremic syndrome (hemolytic anemic, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure) develops, likely as a consequence of systemic spread of bacterial-derived toxins variously referred to as Shiga-like toxin, Shiga toxin, and Verotoxin. Increasing evidence points to a complex interplay between bacterial products - for example, adhesins and toxins - and host signal transduction pathways in mediating responses to infection. Identification of critical signaling pathways could result in the development of novel strategies for intervention to both prevent and treat this microbial infection in humans.

Antibody response in typhoid fever in endemic Indonesia and the relevance of serology and culture to diagnosis.

Culture and serology were performed on blood and serum samples collected at or shortly after admission from 473 patients presented with suspected clinical typhoid. Clinical symptoms at first presentation including confusion, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, abdominal pain, anemia, and gastrointestinal bleeding were non-specific as they were observed even more often in non-typhoid patients. Culture confirmed the diagnosis in 65.3% of the patients with typhoid fever as the final diagnosis. The sensitivity (58%) and specificity (98.1%) of a rapid dipstick assay for the detection of S. typhi-specific immunoglobulin M were somewhat lower than those of culture but higher than those of the Widal test. The dipstick assay thus may well be used in the serodiagnosis of typhoid in situation where culture facilities are not available. Combination of test results of dipstick and culture improved sensitivity to 82.5%. In laboratories that perform blood culture the dipstick assay may be used as a rapid screening tests to facilitate a rapid diagnosis. Sensitivity of the dipstick assay strongly increased with duration of illness and was higher for culture positive than for culture negative patients. Duration of illness, and different pathogen and host factors including dose of infection, pathogenicity and antigenicity, and prior antibiotic use are likely to influence the immune response, therefore the result of the dipstick assay. Duration of illness and presence of S. typhi in the blood are major factors that determine severity of disease.

Intestinal bleeding and occlusion associated with shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli 0127: H21

We report a case of a nine-year old boy with vomiting, abdominal pain and fever, who underwent surgery with a diagnosis of appendicitis in Mendonza and from whom a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) 0127:H21 strain was recovered. Forty-eight hours after surgery he presented bilious vomiting and two episodes of intestinal bleeding. Loboratory findings included: hematocrit, 35 per cent; blood urea nitrogen, 0.22 g/L. The urinary output was normal. The following day physical examination showed an alert mildy hydrated child, without fever but with distended and painful abdomen. The patient was again submitted to surgery with a diagnosis of intestinal occlusion. Bleeding and multiple adhesions in jejunum and ileum were found. The patient still had tense and painful abdomen and presented two bowel movements with blood; hematocrit fell to 29 per cent and blood urea nitrogen rose to 0.32 g/L. STEC 0127:H21 eae(-)/Stx2/Stx2vh-b(+)/E-Hly(+) was isolated from a stool sample. He was discharged after 10 days of hospitalization and no long-term complications such as HUS or TTP were observed. This is the first report, to our knoweledge, on the isolation of E.coli 0127:H21, carrying the virulence factors that characterize STEC strains, associated to an enterohemorrhagic colitis case. This serotype was previously characterized as a non-classic enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). STEC infections can mimic infectious or noninfectious pathologies. Therefore an important aspect of clinical managements is making the diagnosis using different criteria thereby avoiding misdiagnoses which have occasionally led to invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures or the inappropriate use of antibiotics.

Escherichia coli enterohemorrágica en el síndrome hemolítico urémico, en niños chilenos: evaluación de diferentes técnicas de diagnóstico de infección / Enterohemorrhagic escherichia coli in hemolytic uremic syndrome, in chilean children: evaluation of different technics of infection diagnosis

Enterohemorrhagic escherichia coli (EHEC), have been associated with pathogenesis of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) worldwide. Our aim was to determine the association of EHEC ing¿fection and HUS in chilean children. During may 1991 and october 1993, 34 children HUS and 33 age matched controls (children with diarrhea that did not develop HUS) were enrolled in a case/control study. For each child a stool and serum sample were obtained at admission. Stools were processed for common enteropathogen and for EHEC identification. EHEC were identified in stools by gene probes for different virulence factors (EHEC plasmid-associated fimbria, Shiga-like toxin I, Shiga-like toxin II and eae adherence factor) and by detection of free fecal toxin by neutralization assay in Vero cells. Sera were processed for anti-cytotoxin antibodies also by an assay in Vero cells. Enteropathogens were isolated in 20.6 percent and 15.5 percent of HUS and control children respectively (p=NS). 91 percent of the HUS children and 73 percent of the control children were EHEC positive by one or more of the techniques used (p=0.05). Of the 3 detection methods used for EHEC, only free fecal cytotoxin was significantly more common in HUS children than controls (45.5 percent vs 9 percent p=0.007). Genotype patterns of HUS and controls strains were similar except for a trend towards a higher frequency of non-toxigenic strains in the control group. Serogroup 0157 was more common in HUS children than in controls (9 percent vs 0 percent p=0.036). In Chile as in other countries, EHEC infection is common and significantly associated with occurrence of HUS. Infection with EHEC strains 0157 seems to be important risk factor for HUS