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Development and Composition of the Human Microbiome from Birth
Published in Nwadiuto (Diuto) Esiobu, James Chukwuma Ogbonna, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Olawole O. Obembe, Ifeoma Maureen Ezeonu, Abdulrazak B. Ibrahim, Benjamin Ewa Ubi, Microbiomes and Emerging Applications, 2022
Toochukwu E. Ogbulie, Nwadiuto (Diuto) Esiobu, Muinah Fowora
In the human body, oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange occurs in the lungs; hence, its functionality maintenance is critical to human health. Thus, damage to the lungs can result from a wide range of causes which can impair its function representing a major indicator of mortality. Although the upper and lower respiratory systems possess preventive mechanisms against microbes such as removal of microbes from the respiratory system by the use of the goblet cells’ mucous to trap microbes through continuous moving of the ciliated epithelial cells and bactericidal effect using lysozyme enzyme by nasal mucus, it still has its own set of microbiota. Reports have shown the presence of the normal flora of the respiratory tract to respectively belong to the following bacterial and fungal genera; Prevotella sp., Sphingomonas sp., Pseudomonas sp., Acinetobacter sp., Fusobacterium sp., Megasphaera sp., Veillonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Candida sp., Malassezia sp., Neosartorya sp., Saccharomyces sp., and Aspergillus sp., some of which can cause serious opportunistic infections especially in immuno-compromised individuals.
The Human Immune System Seen from a Biomedical Engineering Viewpoint
Published in Robert B. Northrop, Endogenous and Exogenous Regulation and Control of Physiological Systems, 2020
Significant in human HIV infection is the fact that HIV attacks, and is found within, both CD4+ helper T-cells and monocytes/macrophages and related cells in the CNS. In about 95% of the human population, HIV infection is characterized by a slow, progressive decline in the number of CD4+ T-cells (Th) over a period of 5 years or so. Eventually, the ability of the immune system to respond successfully to opportunistic infections is sufficiently impaired, so that the patient is killed by such an infection. Normal CD4+ Th density in the blood is about 800 per cubic millimeter. When the Th density has fallen to about 200 per cubic millimeter, the patient is considered to have AIDS. The cause of AIDS is certainly not as simple as a decreased count of Th cells, however. As will be discussed, there are many other factors that contribute to the loss of immune function due to HIV infection. Significantly, from 5 to 10% of the human population exposed to HIV maintains normal CD4+ Th cell counts and does not develop AIDS-related complex (ARC)/AIDS for over 10 years after infection, or the progression of the disease is very slow. The reason for this resistance has been recently discovered and, hopefully, may lead to effective immunization and treatment for HIV infection.
Emerging Diseases
Published in Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell, Living with the Earth, 2018
Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell
Although treatments continue to enter the war on AIDS including reverse transcriptase inhibitors (AZT), and protease inhibitors, these drugs are likely to produce severe side effects, while HIV may become resistant to many of them. A number of drugs are also available to treat many of the opportunistic infections that are likely to arise when the immune system is compromised. There are currently 86 medications used to treat or reduce the symptoms of HIV.132 Treatment with HIV medicines is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART is recommended for everyone with HIV. People on ART are usually treated with a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV regimen) every day. Treatment normally begins with an HIV regimen that includes three HIV medicines from at least two different drug classes. These are treatments are not a cure but can help people live longer and reduce the risk of transmitting the disease to another person.133 No vaccine has been successfully introduced to date, and the best recommendation is to avoid high risk behaviors that include unprotected sex or the sharing of needles.
Optimal control in a multi-pathways HIV-1 infection model: a comparison between mono-drug and multi-drug therapies
Published in International Journal of Control, 2021
Chittaranjan Mondal, Debadatta Adak, Nandadulal Bairagi
Human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) is a deadly pathogen that infects cells, one type of immune cells. The gradual depletion of cells in blood plasma is the signature of HIV-1 infection. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) develops when the cells count drops to 200 cells/ from its normal value of 1000 cells/ (Wodarz & Levy, 2007). In reduced level of cells, the immune system cannot act properly. As a result, an HIV infected individual becomes susceptible to different opportunistic infections.
Metabarcoding approach to identify bacterial community profiling related to nosocomial infection and bacterial trafficking-routes in hospital environments
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2023
Bárbara Gimenes de Castro, Bruno Mari Fredi, Rafael dos Santos Bezerra, Queren Apuque Alcantara, Carlos Eduardo Milani Neme, Daniele Enriquetto Mascarelli, Aline Seiko Carvalho Tahyra, Douglas dos-Santos, Camilla Rizzo Nappi, Fernanda Santos de Oliveira, Flavia Pereira Freire, Giulia Ballestero, Julia Beatriz Menuci Lima, Juliana de Andrade Bolsoni, Juliana Lourenço Gebenlian, Naira Lopes Bibo, Nathália Soares Silva, Nilton de Carvalho Santos, Victoria Simionatto Zucherato, Kamila Chagas Peronni, Daniel Guariz Pinheiro, Emmanuel Dias-Neto, Gilberto Gambero Gaspar, Valdes Roberto Bollela, Vanessa da Silva Silveira, Aparecida Maria Fontes, Nilce Maria Martinez-Rossi, Svetoslav Nanev Slavov, João Paulo Bianchi Ximenez, Fernando Barbosa, Wilson Araújo Silva
Although Gram-negative bacteria are the primary source of healthcare-associated infections (NIs) (Allegranzi et al. 2011), our study revealed a significant presence of Gram-positive bacteria, including Staphylococcus spp, Streptococcus spp, and Corynebacterium spp. Streptococcus spp, commonly found in the nasopharyngeal mucosa, respiratory tract, and skin (Nobbs, Lamont, and Jenkinson 2009; Ramsey et al. 2016), which were responsible for 9 cases of NIs detected by the HICCH (Table 1), with a uniform distribution throughout the hospital environment (Figure 2). Another significantly present Gram-positive bacterial genus was Staphylococcus. Staphylococcus aureus, which is one of the main representative species of this genus and one of the leading human pathogens present in hospital infections (Archer 1998; Weidenmaier et al. 2004), associated with infection in the respiratory tract, pneumonia, and cardiovascular diseases (Klein, Smith, and Laxminarayan 2007). Similarly, our results indicated a uniform distribution of Staphylococcus in external and internal hospital environments (Figure 2a), and HICC detected several cases of NI induced by species of this genus (Table 1). Previous observations showed Streptococcus is the second most abundant genus in adult and pediatric ICUs, following Cutibacterium (Supplementary Figure S1). Therefore, maintaining strict hygiene measures is crucial in preventing clinical complications produced by opportunistic infections in high-risk patients. Our results found that Corynebacterium is the fourth most frequent bacterial genus (Figures 2a; 3a), but not in any case of infection in the analyzed period (Table 1).