Sentinel surveillance for patients with acute hepatitis in Egypt, 2001-04

Viral hepatitis is a major problem in Egypt. To define the epidemiology of the disease, sentinel surveillance was established in 5 hospitals in diverse areas of the country in 2001. Data were completed for patients meeting the case definition for viral hepatitis. Of a total of 5909 patients evaluated, 4189 [70.9%] showed positive antibody markers for hepatitis. Out of those, 40.2% had evidence of hepatitis A virus [HAV] infection, 30.0% hepatitis B virus [HBV] and 29.8% hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection. This surveillance system was useful in identifying the variable endemicity of acute HAV infection in different regions and for better understanding the epidemiology of HBV and HCV infection

Experimental infection of mice by naegleria fowleri or acanthamoeba culbertsoni isolated from water sites in Egypt

Naegleria fowleri and A. culbertsoni, which are known to cause primary amoebic meningoencephalitis [PAM] were isolated from water sites in Egypt. Each species was tested for pathogenicity in young mice, which were inoculated intracerebrally with amoebae. Mice developed illness and showed signs of menigo encephalitis followed by coma and death within 5 days. The histopathological finding in the brain sections of these animals revealed the same observations as in acute PAM of previous studies. These results proved that N. fowleri and A. culbertsoni isolated from Egypt are pathogenic strains

Total protein analysis of acanthamoeba culbertsoni from water sites in Egypt as compared with those of other acanthamoeba species and strains from other geographical areas

Total protein analysis of Acanthamoeba culbertsoni from Egypt, .new York [U.S.A] and India by using polyacrylamide gel dectrophoresis [PAGE] resulted in almost identical protein patterns with minor variations among the three A. culbertsoni strains. The protein patterns of A. culbertsoni strains revealed differences from that of A. castellanii from London. The percentage similarity of A. culbertsoni strains was clearly distinguished from each other and the Egyptian strain was more related to the Indian strain [P.S. = 53] than to the New York strain [P.S. = 30]

Free-living amoebae in Egypt: 1-naegleria gruberi and naegleria fowleri

Two Naegleria species were isolated and identified from various water sources in Lower and Upper Egypt. Identification was based on the morphology, nuclear division and the excitation and flagellation tests. The trophic, cystic and flagellate forms of N. gruberi are larger than those of N. fowleri and the cyst of the former species has one or more pores, while that of the latter species has no pores and has an outer gelatinous layer. The size and the morphological characteristics of these two free-living amoebae from Egypt were in complete agreement with those previously described for amoebae of the same genus and species endemic to other geographical areas

Evaluation of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [elisa], indirect hemagglutination [IHA], counterimmunoelectrophoresis [CIEP], and immunodiffusion [ID] in the serodiagnosis of amebiasis

ELISA, IHA, CIEP and ID techniques were used in the detection of Entamoeba histolytica antibodies in sera of 119 patients with different clinical symptoms [41 with amebic liver abscess, 32 with amebic intestinal infection, 46 with liver diseases other than amebiasis]. Sera from 37 healthy people with no history of amebiasis and negative microscopical examination of their stools for parasitic infections were used as negative control. These four tests proved to be specific for the diagnosis of amebiasis. The first three tests diagnosed all the cases with amebic liver abscess while ID failed to diagnose one of them. When taking into consideration time and cost involved in performing these various tests, CIEP proved to be the test of choice. None of the tests were satisfactory when testing sera from patients with E. histolytica in their stools. ELISA diagnosed a relatively higher number of them than IHA [37.5% and 25%, respectively], while the other 2 tests failed to diagnose any of them. Therefore, microscopical examination of stool remains the test of choice for the diagnosis of intestinal amoebiasis