ABSTRACT
Administration of human normal immunoglobulin (HNIG) post-exposure has been routinely used in Slovakia for outbreak control of hepatitis A, but requires deep intramuscular injection, provides only short-lived protection and is a human blood product. The protective effect of post-exposure administration of an inactivated hepatitis A vaccine was evaluated during 10 outbreaks in Slovakia. Direct contacts of confirmed hepatitis A cases received either: a single dose of hepatitis A vaccine (n = 2171) or immunoglobulin (HNIG, n = 3837). In the HNIG group the number of hepatitis A confirmed cases dropped within the first 7 weeks, however the decrease was not as rapid or as marked as that observed in the vaccinated group where the number of hepatitis A cases dropped within the first 4 weeks after vaccination. Among contacts, 67 cases of hepatitis A were detected during the maximum incubation period of 45 days: 16 cases (0.7%) in the vaccine group and 51 cases (1.3%) in the HNIG group (p < 0.05). After two and three years respectively, 50 and 39 volunteers who had previously received one dose of hepatitis A vaccine received a booster dose and anti-HAV antibodies were measured. Differences in anti-HAV antibody GMCs before and after the booster were statistically significant. The longer time interval (3 years instead of 2) between primary vaccination and booster administration did not seem to impact the magnitude of the booster response. The results of this study show that active post-exposure immunisation with only one dose of inactivated vaccine confers high and long-term protection and effectively controls viral hepatitis A outbreaks.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Hepatitis A Vaccines , Hepatitis A/epidemiology , Hepatitis A/prevention & control , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulins/administration & dosage , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Slovakia/epidemiology , Vaccines, InactivatedABSTRACT
The authors of the paper describe the diagnostic method of deletion in the dystrophin gene by means of an improved variant of the polymerase chain reaction--so called multiplex PCR. The authors analyzed a group of 66 patients with developed clinical symptoms of the disease. The deletion screening included 22 exones of the dystrophine gene and it was performed in 5 multiplex PCR reactions. 20 patients yielded a verified deletion which was pre-assessed by Southern's hybridization. The relative simplicity of multiplex PCR which does not require the use of radioisotopes, its low time and financial needs, make this method to represents an appropriate alternative of Southern's hybridization in the assessment of deletion of the dystrophine gene. (Fig. 1, Ref. 19.)
Subject(s)
Dystrophin/genetics , Muscular Dystrophies/diagnosis , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Exons/genetics , Gene Deletion , Genetic Markers , Humans , Muscular Dystrophies/genetics , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methodsABSTRACT
The risk of the origin of neoplasms in patients with gonadal dysgenesis and the presence of Y chromosome mosaicism has been known for a long period. The majority of hidden mosaicism is however not detectable by means of cytogenetic methods. The authors of this study deal with the detection of Y specific chromosomal sequences in 86 patients with Turner syndrome by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compare the results of this method with cytogenetic findings. The presence of Y specific sequences was proven in 8 patients (9.3%) which correlates with the results of several recent studies. In two cases, the Y chromosome fragment was verified also cytogenetically, in five patients, the diagnose was made more accurate at an originally non-specified marker, and in two cases, the cytogenetic examination has assessed the finding of X chromosome only. PCR is a more sensitive and a more precise method of the assessment of Y chromosome mosaicism in patients with Turner syndrome enabling more effectively to single out persons under the risk of rudimentary gonads gonadoblastoma development. (Fig. 5, Ref. 32.)
