ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory infection plays an important role in hospitalization of children in developing countries; detection of viral causes in such infections is very important. The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common etiological agent of viral lower respiratory tract infection in children, and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is associated with both upper and lower respiratory tract infections among infants and children. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the frequency and seasonal prevalence of hMPV and RSV in hospitalized children under the age of five, who were admitted to Aliasghar children's hospital of Iran University of Medical Sciences from March 2010 until March 2013. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nasopharyngeal or throat swabs from 158 hospitalized children with fever and respiratory distress were evaluated for RSV and hMPV RNA by the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. RESULTS: Among the 158 children evaluated in this study, 49 individuals (31.1%) had RSV infection while nine individuals (5.7%) had hMPV infection. Five (55.5%) of the hMPV-infected children were male while four (44.5%) were female and 27 (55.2%) of the RSV-infected patients were females and 22 (44.8%) were males. The RSV infections were detected in mainly < one year old children and hMPV infections were detected mainly in > one year old children. Both RSV and hMPV infections had occurred mainly during winter and spring seasons. CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory syncytial virus was the major cause of acute respiratory infection in children under one-year of age while human metapneumovirus had a low prevalence in this group. The seasonal occurrence of both viruses was the same.
ABSTRACT
Following the occurrence of suspected cases of Vibrio cholerae in Karaj in 2008, this study was conducted in order to determine whether or not the cases were infected with cholera and, if so, to describe the prevalence of serotypes, route of transmission and the antimicrobial resistance profile. In this cross-sectional study, 6505 rectal swabs were collected from patients with acute gastroenteritis. Serotypes and biotypes of the isolates were determined by standard procedures. The antimicrobial susceptibility of 45 Inaba and 30 non-agglutinating (NAG) strains was determined. From 6505 specimens, 110 (1.69%) were defined as V. cholerae, including 70 (63.3%) V. cholerae O1 serotype Inaba biotype El Tor and 40 (36.4%) NAG Vibrios. The case fatality rate was 0.9%. Inaba strains were 100% resistant to nalidixic acid and amoxicillin, 95.7% resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 91.3% resistant to furazolidone while the highest frequency of resistance in NAG Vibrios was 77.4% to erythromycin. The lowest resistance rate belonged to ciprofloxacin to which just one NAG strain was resistant. Results suggests an increase in resistance of V. cholerae to several antibiotics. Ciprofloxacin can still be used as first-line treatment of cholera in this region.
