No abstract available.
Antigens, Surface* ; Humans ; Urinalysis*

No abstract available.
Antigens, Surface* ; Humans ; Urinalysis*

No abstract available.
Antigens, Surface* ; Humans ; Urinalysis*

Vibrio damsela is a halophilic bacterium that has been reported to cause skin ulcers and death in damselfish (Chromis punctipinnis) as well as wound and soft-tissue infections in human. Most of the previously reported cases in humans haute involved wound infections associated with exposure to seawater or handling fish. We experienced a case of primary septicemia due to V. damsela after eating raw fists in a healthy 66-year-old woman who had neither wounds nor history of exposure to sea- water. She presented fever and diarrhea followed by rapidly pregressive bullae and painful edema on left band and forearm. The patient was Improved by intensive surgical debrldement of necrotic tissue and antibiotic therapy.
Aged ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Edema ; Female ; Fever ; Forearm ; Humans ; Seawater ; Sepsis* ; Skin Ulcer ; Vibrio* ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

BACKGROUND: It is difficult to control an outbreak of Shigella infection, because of the ease of transmission and the resistance to multiple antibiotics. Recently, there were outbreaks of Shigella infection in Chinju area. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology of the outbreaks using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE). METHOD: Thirteen S. flexneri strains, 25 S. sonnei strains from Chinju and 15 S. sonnei strains from Pusan were studied. All strains were isolated from stool cultures of diarrheal patients. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test those were tested by Vitek GNI and GNS-LH. Chromosomal DNA restricted with Xbal was resolved by PFGE. RESULT: All the S. flexneri strains and 23(92%)S. sonnei strains from Chinju were resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. All the clinical isolates of S. flexneri showed the same PFGE pattern which was different from type strains(KTCC 2517). PFGE patterns of 25 (100%) S. sonnei strains from Chinju and 12 (80%) S. sonnei strains from Pusan were identical to those of type strain (KTCC 2009). Three S. sonnei strains from Pusan showed distinct PFGE patterns, respectively. CONCLUSION: PFGF demonstrated identical restriction pattern among most of Shigella isolates from Chinju and Pusan, indicating that an outbreak with genetically related strains had occurred. PFGE was useful in molecular epidemiology of Shigella outbreaks
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Busan ; Disease Outbreaks ; DNA* ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Shigella

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular organism, which can cause respiratory tract infections, exacerbation of asthma, and possibly atherosclerosis. Detection of C. pneumoniae in the atherosclerotic tissue was made using electron microscopy to elucidate the correlation between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis. METHODS: Ten cases of paraffin-embedded atherectomy tissue, which were positive in the immunohistochemistry (IHC) were prepared to demonstrate C. pneumoniae on the electron microscope. Two cases of atherosclerotic tissue, which were negative in IHC were processed identically at the same time as negative controls. The tissues were embedded in resin, ultrathin-sectioned, and stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and then observed on electron microscopy. RESULTS: Nine of 10 (90%) atherosclerotic tissue samples were positive for C. pneumoniae on electron microscopy. Negative controls did not show elementary bodies. Elementary bodies of C. pneumoniae were rarely observed in a scattered pattern in the positive specimens. CONCLUSION: Elementary bodies of C. pneumoniae could be demonstrated on electron microscopy in 9 out of 10 atherosclerotic tissue samples with positive IHC for C. pneumoniae. This finding suggests that C. pneumoniae may play an important role in atherogenesis.
Asthma ; Atherectomy ; Atherosclerosis ; Chlamydia* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae* ; Citric Acid ; Immunohistochemistry ; Microscopy, Electron* ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory Tract Infections

BACKGROUND: Hyperhomocysteinemia can be treated and is more preventable compared to the classical risk factors such as age, sex, smoking, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. METHODS: Serum homocysteine levels were analyzed with fluorescence polarized immunoassay (IMx, Abbott Diagnostics) for 63 patients with acute myocadiac infarction (AMI) and 43 controls who did not have coronary arterial disease from 1997 to 1998. Medical records were reviewed to compare the classical risk factors between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean homocysteine level of AMI was 9.3 +/-5.3 micronmol/L, which is slightly lower than 9.8+/-5.8 micronmol/L in the control group (P>0.05). Other risk factors were not significantly different between the two groups with the exception of serum cholesterol level. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that hypercholesterolemia is an important risk factor for AMI, while serum homocysteine level is not, as far as this study goes. Well planned follow up studies are needed to establish the degree to which homocysteine is a risk factor for AMI.
Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fluorescence ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hyperhomocysteinemia ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Immunoassay ; Infarction* ; Medical Records ; Obesity ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia pneumoniae can cause chronic inflammation in the arterial wall. C. pneumoniae infection has been investigated as a new risk factor for acute myocardiac infarction (AMI), afatal outcome of coronary artery occlusion. METHODS: IgG and IgM for C. pneumoniae using micro-immunofluorescence were evaluated in 80 AMI patients and 46 controls without coronary arterial disease. RESULTS: Chronic infection, defined by equal or higher than 1: 32 titers of IgG of C. pneumoniae, was observed in 51.3% (41/80) in AMI and 17.4% (8/46) in controls (P<0.05). None of the subjects showed acute infection, defined by equal or higher than either 1: 16 of IgM or 1: 512 of IgG of C. pneumoniae. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic C. pneumoniae infection was significantly more common in AMI patients compared to the controls.
Chlamydia* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Infarction* ; Inflammation ; Pneumonia ; Risk Factors

A 63-year-old man was placed on hemodialysis for the end-stage of renal disease secondary to renal artery stenosis. He was also regularly given epoetin, subcutaneously, for anemia associated with his renal disease. Rapidly progressing erythropoietin (EPO) resistant anemia and reticulocytopenia developed after 1 year of hemodialysis. The patient required frequent red blood cell transfusions. The bone marrow examination demonstrated selective erythroid hypoplasia. A detailed search for the cause of the erythroblastopenia revealed nothing, with the exception of anti-EPO antibodies (Ab). Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) was suspected due to the anti-EPO Ab. With the immunosuppressive agent and change to the epoetin-therapy, the patient recovered his hemoglobin and reticulocyte counts. Particular attention should be paid for the possibility of PRCA due to anti-EPO Ab in patients undergoing rHuEPO therapy, with an unexplained recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) resistant anemia, especially via the subcutaneous route.
Anemia ; Antibodies* ; Bone Marrow Examination ; Erythrocyte Transfusion ; Erythropoietin ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure* ; Renal Artery Obstruction ; Renal Dialysis* ; Reticulocyte Count

BACKGROUND: The Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen test (SPUAT) (Binax Now, USA) was developed for detecting polysaccharide C in urine samples for rapid diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia, the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). To validate positive results of these tests, we retrospectively investigated all positive results obtained from the emergency room of a Korean university hospital among patients with suspected CAP. METHODS: One hundred twenty-three positive SPUAT results were abstracted and analyzed from the authors' laboratory information system among the SPUAT results performed from 1,143 pneumonic patients admitted from the emergency room of a university hospital between 2007 and 2008. Medical records, including conventional microbiologic analysis results, were reviewed in detail for all positive test results. RESULTS: Among 123 patients with the positive SPUAT results, 24 patients were excluded due to hospitalization history during the preceding month. Nine of 99 patients (9.1%) with suspected CAP had confirmed pneumococcal pneumonia upon conventional sputum or blood culture. Thirty-five positive results (35.4%) showed other microorganisms upon conventional methods, which might be due to possible cross-reactivity. Among those, 23 positive results were considered bacterial pneumonic agents, and 12 positive results were regarded as urinary tract infection strains or contaminating agents. Fifty-five positive SPUAT results (55.6%) showed negative conventional microbiologic growth, and some positive SPUAT results might be caused by true pneumococcal infection although without cultural evidence. CONCLUSION: Our retrospective study demonstrated that a positive SPUAT result typically does not agree well with conventional culture methods, suggesting that the value of a positive SPUAT result in etiology determination may be limited under practical conditions in a university hospital.
Antigens, Bacterial ; Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Emergencies ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Pneumococcal Infections ; Pneumonia ; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal ; Retrospective Studies ; Sputum ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Urinary Tract Infections