Seroprevalence of human cytomegalovirus antibodies among children with type I diabetes mellitus in the Aseer Region, Southwest KSA

Objectives: this study is aimed at determining the seroprevalence and possible infectivity factors of human cytomegalovirus [HCMV] in children affected by type 1 diabetes mellitus [T1DM] in the Aseer Region of KSA

Methods: a total of 205 children diagnosed with T1 DM who routinely attended the Diabetic Centre [DC] of Aseer Central Hospital [ACH] in Abha KSA were randomly selected. Another control group of 51 nondiabetic children were also selected. Sera of both groups were tested for HCMV-specific IgG and IgM using an indirect enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay [ELISA]

Results: the recorded HCMV-IgG seroprevalence rates were found to be higher in both groups of children than the IgM responses, which were consistently low. There were no obvious differences between the two groups in terms of HCMV responses. No significant variations were observed between girls and boys in terms of the seroprevalence rates. The highest positive IgG prevalence rates to HCMV were observed among 11- to 15-year-old children, and the least positive rates were noted in children younger than 5 years of age. Children from Abha city and its vicinity showed relatively higher HCMVspecific IgG and IgM responses rates than children from other localities

Conclusions: despite the presence of high HCMV-IgG response rates among the studied group of children, this study could not identify the associated clinical manifestations. There is no correlation between T1 DM and virus infectivity, as this research could not find differences in serological responses to the virus between the diabetic and non-diabetic children

Seroprevalence of coeliac disease in at-risk subjects at the main tertiary hospital, southwest of Saudi Arabia

Background and study aims: Coeliac disease [CD] is a gluten-induced autoimmune inflammation of small bowel villi, leading to atrophy and malabsorption. The current study aims to assess the prevalence of CD in high-risk subjects in the Aseer region, southwest of Saudi Arabia and to investigate the associated presentations

Patients and methods: This is a retrospective case-finding study of the laboratory records for a 3-year period [2009-2012] at the main tertiary hospital [Aseer Central Hospital]. Serum anti-tissue transglutaminase [atTG] and endomysial antibody [EmA] levels were determined along with small intestinal histopathological examination

Results: The proportion of cases that tested positive for at least one coeliac antibody marker was 18.4% [58/315]. Forty cases underwent endoscopic examination during the analysis, among which 22 were confirmed to have CD. The individual antibody positivity for atTG and EmA was 17.5% and 15.6%, respectively. The most common clinical condition [47%] associated with these markers was type 1 diabetes mellitus [T1DM]. Interestingly, gastrointestinal presentations constituted only 11.5%

Conclusions: The rate of CD among hospital requests, including non-gastrointestinal symptomatic patients, at the Aseer main tertiary hospital seems to be high. Determining the prevalence of CD and also investigating the high-risk group commonly affected by CD warrant more screening studies

Is there is an association between the presence of Staphylococcus species and occurrence of vernal keratoconjunctivitis?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the association of normal bacterial flora with vernal keratoconjunctivitis [VKC] occurrence in VKC and non-VKC groups

Methods: Conjunctival specimens were collected from 18 VKC patients and 22 healthy controls, cultured and identified following standard methods. The association between the presence of bacteria and occurrence of VKC was analyzed using Chi square statistic

Results: Comparable bacterial growth was observed in VKC [77.8%] as well as control group [77.2%] [p = 0.970]. Analysis of individual bacterial revealed that Staphylococcus aureus was detected more frequently in VKC [27.78% vs. 4.55% in control, p = 0.041] and Staphylococcus epidermidis was found much more commonly in the control eyes [45.45% in control vs. 5.56% in VKC, p = 0.005]

Conclusions: An aggravating role of S. aureus colonization in the occurrence of VKC, and a possible role of S. epidermidis against the occurrence of VKC were concluded

Candida and other yeasts of clinical importance in Aseer region, southern Saudi Arabia. Presentation of isolates from the routine laboratory setting

To isolate, identify, and determine the prevalence of Candida and other yeasts of clinical importance in Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. This is a cross-sectional study involving retrospective analysis of 6100 samples submitted to the Microbiology Laboratory, Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia between 2011 and 2012, and prospective isolation and identification of 84 isolates recovered from various clinical specimens presented to the Microbiology Laboratory between 2012 and 2013 using the classic morphological schemes and the Vitek 2 automated system. The results of the retrospective analysis [2011-2012] indicated that of the 6100 various clinical specimens submitted to the routine microbiology analysis, 143 [2.35%] revealed the presence of Candida spp. The distribution of the 143 Candida spp. according to specimens was as follows: urine 72%, sputum 10.5%, endotracheal tube 7%, blood 4.2%, catheter tip 2.1%, throat swab 2.1%, eye swab 0.7%, wound exudates 0.7%, and cerebrospinal fluid 0.7%. The results of the prospective study [2012-2013], which involved the identification of yeast recovered from 84 specimens indicated that Candida albicans 28.6% was the predominant species, followed by Candida parapsilosis 21.4%, Candida tropicalis 14.3%, and Candida lusitaniae 9.5%. Along with the commonly encountered Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis, and Candida lusitaniae were detected with significant rates. Many other Candida species and some other pathogenic yeasts have been detected for the first time in the region. Urinary tract samples were the main source of Candida species

Isolation of a rare nocardia wallacei from an HIV-positive patient with pulmonary infection in southern Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to clarify the taxonomic position of an actinomycete isolated from an HIV-positive male patient with pulmonary complications in Asir, southern region of Saudi Arabia. The strain was found to have phenotypic properties typical of nocardiae and 16S rRNA gene analysis clustered the isolate with Nocardia wallacei [accession KC677696] in the phylogenetic branch of the amikacin resistance Nocardia transvalensis complex. We consider that nocardiosis is usually missed or misdiagnosed clinically and recognition of these bacteria based on phenotypic tests is strenuous, but definitive identification is attainable by molecular methods