The effect of long-term ethanol feeding on efficacy of doxycycline plus rifampicin in the treatment of experimental brucellosis caused by Brucella melitensis in rats.

A model of Brucella melitensis infection was used in the setting of long-term ethanol administration to study the effects of ethanol on antibiotic therapy of B. melitensis infection. Wistar rats received a liquid diet containing maximally 42.2% of total calories as ethanol. Controls were pair-fed a liquid diet without ethanol. Diets began 15 days pre- and continued post-infection. Rats were infected intraperitoneally with B. melitensis. Doxycycline (10 mg/kg/day) plus rifampicin (6 mg/kg/day) were administered intragastrically starting days 7 to 14 following B. melitensis inoculation. The cure rate was 64.71% in ethanol-fed and 100% in control groups. Although the number of B. melitensis in spleens and livers was reduced, cure was unsuccessful in 6 ethanol-fed rats and this was not explained by the appearance of resistance, since none of the strains isolated following a 7-day course of therapy showed an increase in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotics. This study suggests that long-term ethanol ingestion diminishes the efficacy of doxycycline plus rifampicin combination therapy of rat brucellosis in an experimental design.

The effect of long-term ethanol feeding on Brucella melitensis infection of rats.

The adverse effects of ethanol on Brucella melitensis have not been studied previously. In this study, a new model of B. melitensis infection was used in the setting of chronic ethanol administration in rats. It was found that the chronically ethanol-receiving rats exposed to B. melitensis infection had significantly greater numbers of B. melitensis in their spleen and liver than the rats in the control group.

Transient increase in diarrheal diseases after the devastating earthquake in Kocaeli, Turkey: results of an infectious disease surveillance study.

Immediately after the devastating earthquake in Turkey in August 1999, an infectious disease surveillance system was established in Kocaeli Province (the biggest area affected). This surveillance study was mainly focused on diarrheal diseases. During a 33-day period, 1,468 stool cultures were processed. Diarrheal diseases increased step-by-step and later decreased to the initial level by the end of this period. Cases were scattered throughout the entire region, and the identified causes were various, indicating a multifocal increase. Of the identified causes, Shigella species were the most common. Nevertheless, Shigella isolates also belonged to distinct serotypes and clones. This study indicated a multifocal, multiclonal increase in diarrheal diseases after this massive disaster, thus indicating the necessity to set up infectious disease surveillance systems after such events.

The molecular epidemiology of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole- resistance of Shigella flexneri in the Trakya region of Turkey.

Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (SXT) resistance increased among Shigella flexneri isolates in 1995 relative to previous years, in the Trakya region, the European part of Turkey. Since this region is the entrance to Turkey from northern countries, a heavy traffic of travellers passing through should have been importing or exporting the resistant isolates. We studied the genetic basis and epidemiology of this resistance and monitored the clonal changes which have taken place in the meanwhile. During the study period, a total of 70 Shigella spp. were isolated. Of these 58 were S. flexneri, 10 were S. sonnei and two were S. boydii. S. dysenteriae was not isolated. Of S. flexneri isolates 32 were SXT, ampicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline resistant (pattern I), while two isolates were found to be resistant only to SXT (Pattern II). Transconjugation experiments revealed that an approximately 80 Kbp self-transmissible plasmid carried the SXT resistance genes in both groups. However, EcoRI and HindIII restriction patterns of the plasmids from resistance pattern I and resistance pattern II were different. Ribotypes of three randomly selected isolates from pattern I were identical and were distinguishable from the ribotype of the isolate from pattern II. We concluded that at least two different clones with different plasmids and resistance patterns were spreading in our territory.

[Diagnostic value of ELISA for determining the occurrence of antibodies to antigen A60 in active pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Aktif akciger tüberkülozunda antijen 60'a karsi olusan antikorlarin ELISA ile saptanmasinin tani degeri.

IgG antibodies against the purified antigen 60 have been detected in the sera of 48 active, 12 inactive pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 46 tuberculosis free controls with ELISA. Diagnostic value of this test has been evaluated in the conditions of our country. The detection of IgG antibodies against antigen 60 has 67% sensitivity, 90% specificity and 81% positive predictive values. It has been decided that these values have no superiority compared to the sputum examination. It was also found out that sensitivity of antigen 60 ELISA IgG test is very low (22%) in the condition of primary pulmonary tuberculosis cases where direct sputum microscopy sensitivity is also very low.