Evaluation of human seroreactivity to Bartonella species in Sweden.
(9/1625)
Among the species that compose the expanding genus Bartonella, thus far only B. henselae and B. quintana have reportedly been isolated from humans in Europe. To evaluate the prevalence of Bartonella infection in Sweden, we conducted a retrospective serological examination of 126 human serum samples. These samples were analyzed for antibodies to B. henselae, B. quintana, and B. elizabethae. Serum samples from 100 blood donors, who spanned the ages of 20 to 60 and had no apparent clinical signs of illness, were also studied as a control group. An immunoglobulin G indirect fluorescence antibody assay revealed 4 and 8.3% Bartonella positivity rates for the blood donor and patient group, respectively, when a cutoff titer of >/=64 was chosen. Among the blood donors, four were seropositive to B. elizabethae; one of these also had concordant positive titer to B. henselae. In the patient group, 14 serum samples were positive against Bartonella spp. These serum specimens represented nine patients. In three of these seropositive patients, paired serum samples displayed a fourfold increase in antibody titer to at least one of the three antigens. These three patients are discussed. In this report we also present a case study of a 60-year-old Swedish male with fatal myocarditis. Postmortem serological analysis revealed a high titer against B. elizabethae. PCR and nucleotide sequencing of the myocardial tissue from this patient, and of liver tissue from one of the other three patients, showed sequences similar to B. quintana. The age, geographical origin, animal contacts, and serological response pattern to the different Bartonella antigens differed among the four patients. This study substantiates the presence of Bartonella spp. in Sweden, documents the seroreactivity to three Bartonella antigens in Swedish patients, and reports the first two cases of B. quintana-like infections in Sweden. (+info)
High prevalence of GB virus C in Brazil and molecular evidence for intrafamilial transmission.
(10/1625)
The prevalence of GB virus C (GBV-C) in candidate Brazilian blood donors with normal and elevated alanine aminotransferase levels was found to be 5.2% (5 of 95) and 6.5% (5 of 76), respectively. Among Brazilian patients, GBV-C was found in 9.5% (13 of 137) of cases of hepatitis not caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV), HBV, HCV, HDV, or HEV (non-A-E hepatitis) and in 18.2% (8 of 44) of individuals infected with HCV. Molecular characterization of GBV-C by partial sequencing of the NS3 region showed clustering between members of a single family, implying intrafamilial transmission. In conclusion, these results together suggest that contagion mechanisms which facilitate intrafamilial transmission of GBV-C may partially explain the high prevalence of viremic carriers worldwide. (+info)
Survival of donor leukocyte subpopulations in immunocompetent transfusion recipients: frequent long-term microchimerism in severe trauma patients.
(11/1625)
We recently reported detection of a transient increase in circulating donor leukocytes (WBCs) in immunocompetent recipients 3 to 5 days posttransfusion (tx) (Blood 85:1207, 1995). We have now characterized survival kinetics of specific donor WBC subsets in additional tx populations. Eight female elective surgery patients (pts) were sampled pre-tx and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 post-tx. Ten female trauma pts transfused with a total of 4 to 18 U of relatively fresh red blood cells were sampled up to 1.5 years post-tx. WBC subsets from frozen whole blood were isolated using CD4, CD8 (T cell), CD15 (myeloid), and CD19 (B cell) antibody-coated magnetic beads. Donor WBCs were counted by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of male-specific sex determining region (SRY) sequences. PCR HLA typing and mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR) between recipient and donor WBCs were performed on two of the trauma tx recipients who had long-term chimerism of donor cells post-tx. In 6 of 8 female surgery pts, circulating CD4(+) male donor cells peaked at day 3 or 5 (0.01 to 1 cell/microL), followed by clearance by day 14. In 7 of 10 female trauma pts, we observed multilineage persistence of male donor WBCs (CD4, CD8, CD15, CD19) for 6 months to 1.5 years post-tx at concentrations of 10 to 100 cells/microL. In 2 trauma recipients studied, MLR showed no, or very low, response to WBC of the single donor implicated as the source of microchimerism by HLA typing. Establishment of long-term multilineage chimerism in trauma recipients is probably caused by engraftment of donor stem cells and mutual tolerance between recipient and donor leukocytes. A better understanding of factors determining clearance versus chimerism of transfused leukocytes is critical to prevention of alloimmunization and transfusion-induced graft-versus-host disease, and, potentially, to induction of tolerance for transplantation. (+info)
Autoaggression syndrome resembling acute graft-versus-host disease grade IV after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for breast cancer.
(12/1625)
Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after autologous progenitor cell transplantation has been associated with blood transfusion or cyclosporine. Mild aGVHD grades I-II, identified as autoaggression or engraftment syndrome, has recently been described in autologous progenitor transplantation. Here, we report the first case of pathologically documented grade IV aGVHD after autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation in a patient with breast cancer. The allogeneic origin was excluded by molecular techniques, and no cyclosporine or cytokines were administered. (+info)
Detection of human serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha in healthy donors, using a highly sensitive immuno-PCR assay.
(13/1625)
BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) is an important mediator of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Analysis of its pathophysiologic roles has been difficult because low concentrations of TNFalpha, including those in healthy controls, cannot be measured by existing methods. METHODS: We developed a sensitive immuno-PCR assay for the detection of TNFalpha in human serum. The DNA label was generated by PCR amplification using biotinylated primer and was bound with streptavidin to the biotinylated third antibody. TNFalpha sandwiched by antibodies was detected by amplification of the DNA label using PCR. RESULTS: The limit of detection of the assay was 0. 001 ng/L, an approximately 5 x 10(4)-fold improvement compared with a conventional ELISA. The mean serum TNFalpha concentration (+/- SD) in healthy donors was 0.021 +/- 0.044 ng/L in men (n = 29) and 0.033 +/- 0.065 ng/L in women (n = 25). CONCLUSION: This method may be useful for analyzing the significance of TNFalpha concentration in various diseases. (+info)
Impaired interleukin-8-induced degranulation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils from human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected individuals.
(14/1625)
Degranulation of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) was monitored in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals with or without pulmonary tuberculosis (HIV/TB and HIV groups, respectively) by measuring the release of beta-glucuronidase induced by interleukin-8 (IL-8). This was increased in a dose-dependent manner in the control groups consisting of healthy blood donors and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. In contrast, PMNLs from the HIV and HIV/TB groups responded reciprocally in the same assay; that is, higher IL-8 input concentrations resulted in the release of less enzyme than lower IL-8 input concentrations. The degranulation response of PMNLs from HIV-1-infected individuals was similarly altered for another agonist, N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, suggesting that impairment of the nonoxidative armature of PMNL was a more generalized phenomenon. However, impaired IL-8-induced degranulation was found to be associated with the reduced expression of both IL-8 receptors, A and B, on whole-blood PMNLs from HIV-1-infected patients compared with that on whole-blood PMNLs from healthy persons. The density of IL-8RA, in particular, was most reduced on the surfaces of PMNLs from those patients with the poorest degranulation in response to IL-8. Inefficient agonist-induced degranulation may contribute to the increased susceptibility of HIV-1-infected persons to secondary microbial infections, this being further exacerbated in HIV/TB patients who, in addition, display defects in phagocytosis and oxidative burst. (+info)
Occurrence of Leishmania infantum parasitemia in asymptomatic blood donors living in an area of endemicity in southern France.
(15/1625)
Visceral leishmaniosis (VL) due to Leishmania infantum (L. chagasi) is a lethal disease if untreated, but asymptomatic L. infantum infections have been reported previously. A better understanding of parasite transmission, dissemination, and survival in the human host is needed. The purpose of this study was to assess whether L. infantum circulated in peripheral blood of subjects with no history of VL. Sera from 565 blood donors were screened by Western blotting to detect Leishmania-specific antibodies and identify individuals with probable past exposure to Leishmania. Seropositivity was found in 76 donors whose buffy coats were examined by PCR and direct culture. The parasite minicircle kinetoplast DNA was amplified from blood samples of nine donors. Promastigotes were detected by culture in blood samples from nine donors. Only two donors were PCR and culture positive. These results indicate that L. infantum circulates intermittently and at low density in the blood of healthy seropositive individuals, who thus appear to be asymptomatic carriers. Implications for the safety of blood transfusion are discussed. (+info)
Antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) by particle agglutination (PA) test in Korean blood donors.
(16/1625)
HTLV-I infection is a recently recognized disease entity that is common in some tropical and subtropical areas, including the southwestern district of Japan. Despite the geographical proximity and frequent cultural exchanges between Korea and Japan, it is understood that Korea is not an endemic area and HTLV-I-associated illnesses are very rare in Korea. This study was designed to evaluate the positive rate of anti-HTLV-I antibodies in Korean blood donors and its regional distribution. Sera were obtained from blood donors from various districts around Korea. Anti-HTLV-I antibodies were detected by using the microtiter particle agglutination test employing an indirect agglutination technique. A total of 9,281 donors were tested and 12 donors (0.13%) were positive for anti-HTLV-I antibodies, 10 (0.11%) out of 8,845 males and 2 (0.46%) out of 436 females, with relative female predominance. A relatively high incidence of anti-HTLV-I positive donors was observed in Cheju Island (0.80%), Kyungnam (0.31%), and Chonnam (0.15%). In conclusion, the positive rate of anti-HTLV-I antibodies seemed to be very low in Korea, but the highest positive rate of anti-HTLV-I antibodies was noticed on Cheju Island, warranting further research for confirmation. (+info)