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Viral Infections
Published in Ayşe Serap Karadağ, Lawrence Charles Parish, Jordan V. Wang, Roxburgh's Common Skin Diseases, 2022
Management: Treatment for herpes zoster infection includes restricting physical activities in elderly patients and local heat application. Antiviral therapy (e.g., acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir) should ideally be initiated within 72 hours of the eruption or onset of pain to accelerate healing time and decrease the severity of zoster-associated pain. Immunocompromised individuals should be treated due to increased risk of dissemination and potential complications. Recommended dosages are listed in Table 7.2. Two vaccines have been developed for a Herpes zoster infection: Zostavax® (the first-generation vaccine, live attenuated vaccine) and Shingrix® (newer recombinant zoster vaccine). Shingrix® is the preferred vaccine due to its increased and sustained efficacy and is recommended for adults 50 years and older, whether or not the patient has had zoster. The vaccines will decrease the incidence of zoster, and if zoster still develops, they can decrease the rate of postherpetic neuralgia and shorten the duration of disease.
Fenugreek in Management of Immunological, Infectious, and Malignant Disorders
Published in Dilip Ghosh, Prasad Thakurdesai, Fenugreek, 2022
Rohini Pujari, Prasad Thakurdesai
The immune system is a collective terminology comprising of chemicals, cells, and processes involved in the protection of the human body from foreign antigens, such as microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, and toxins as well as cancer cells. (Marshall et al. 2018). The immune system can be divided into two types, namely innate (antigen-independent non-specific) and acquired (antigen-specific and dependent) immunity (Bonilla and Oettgen 2010; Turvey and Broide 2010). The deficiencies in the immune system’s functioning result in the dysfunction of one’s immune system, which is called immunocompromised or immunosuppressed conditions. Primary immune delicacies such as genetic disorders or secondary immune deficiencies are the most common cause of immunosuppression. Most common causes of immunosuppression include medications (glucocorticoids, chemotherapy drugs), surgery (e.g., splenectomy, bone marrow transplantation), trauma/injury, radiation, low oxygen, metabolic disease (e.g., diabetes), infections, old age, and malnutrition.
General assessment of children and young people
Published in Miriam Orcutt, Clare Shortall, Sarah Walpole, Aula Abbara, Sylvia Garry, Rita Issa, Alimuddin Zumla, Ibrahim Abubakar, Handbook of Refugee Health, 2021
Sylvia Garry, Joia de Sa, Emma Sherwood, Sarah May Johnson, Amy Potter, Jess Atkinson
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) provides a tool5 to compare schedules between European countries, and the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a database of immunisations offered worldwide.6 If the immunisation history is uncertain, the safest and most practical approach is to provide vaccinations according to the immunisation schedule of the country if they intend to stay for more than a week.7 The catch-up immunisation schedule should aim to immunise children and young people through the minimum number of visits in the shortest time possible. Children, young people and their caregivers must be provided with documentation of vaccinations administered and a clear plan for ongoing immunisations. Priority should be given to protection against easily transmitted and/or serious infectious diseases, including measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenza type B. A history should include timing of live attenuated vaccines (measles, mumps and rubella [MMR], yellow fever and oral polio virus [OPV]), as these may have been given recently during transit and affect the timing of other vaccines and Mantoux tests. Children and young people who are severely immunocompromised generally should not receive live vaccines; however, specialist advice should be sought and national/international guidance checked for each case.8
Recent updates in the development of molecular assays for the rapid identification and susceptibility testing of MRSA
Published in Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 2023
Masako Mizusawa, Karen C Carroll
The availability of next generation sequencing technologies in the early part of the 21st century has allowed for the expansion of metagenomics for infectious diseases diagnosis for clinical purposes, not just in research applications (see references [166,167] for review). Sequencing using current NGS platforms is a multi-day, multi-step process consisting of nucleic acid extraction, enriching for DNA and/or RNA, polymerase chain reaction, massive parallel sequencing of all nucleic acid in a sample, followed by data analysis using various bioinformatics pipelines. Because of the cost and technical expertise required, most clinical microbiology laboratories have not yet implemented NGS diagnostics, although larger academic and reference laboratories are beginning to offer such testing. The current strength of this application lies in providing simultaneous broad-based diagnostic testing in immunocompromised patients where the differential diagnosis may include bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic organisms.
Orf virus infection of the hand in a Scottish sheep farmer. A case report to increase awareness to avoid misdiagnosis
Published in Case Reports in Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, 2022
Yasmeen Khan, Jordon Currie, Clare Miller, David Lawrie
Awareness of infections which are transmitted between animals and humans have been given prominence due to the devastation caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or more commonly known as the coronavirus. The Orf virus infection is a zoonotic parapox virus carried by sheep and goats [1]. The infected animal presents with scabs around the mouth, this has resulted in the infection commonly known as scabby mouth disease or sore mouth disease [2]. Agricultural workers, vets, sheep shearers, butchers and other humans who are in contact with infected sheep are susceptible to the infection. In humans, the hand is the most common site of manifestation resulting in skin lesions [3]. The virus is a parapoxvirus containing DNA and is transmitted directly thorough open wounds [4]. The incubation period varies up to two weeks post exposure. The patient can have local signs on the hand but also present with extra skeletal manifestation such as fever, malaise and lymphadenopathy. If the patient is immunocompromised the severity of infection can be significant causing long term morbidity [5]. The skin lesions have specific features which suggest an Orf virus infection. This is the case report of the orf virus infection in a Scottish sheep farmer from Aberdeenshire.
Echinocandins – structure, mechanism of action and use in antifungal therapy
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2022
Mateusz Szymański, Sandra Chmielewska, Urszula Czyżewska, Marta Malinowska, Adam Tylicki
Anidulafungin is a semi-synthetic derivative of echinocandin B9 (Figure 9). Anidulafungin, as well as other echinocandins, consists of a peptide nucleus of echinocandin B, composed of amino acid residues. Enzymatical deacylation of echinocandin B using Actinoplanes utahensis culture introduced hydrochloride salt in place of the linoleoyl side chain. Next, this HCl salt was reacted with the activated ester to form anidulafungin38 (Figure 10). The introduction of an alkoxytriphenyl side chain in place of the alkyl chain of echinocandin B reduces the haemolytic properties of the drug and has a key effect on the intercalation of anidulafungin with the fungal cell membrane, but reduces the solubility of the drug in water12,38. Poor solubility and low oral bioavailability of anidulafungin cause a necessity of administration by intravenous injection40,41. To increase the solubility, derivatives with a modified side chain have recently been prepared, and one of them is particularly promising42 (Figure 11). According to primary tests, it shows high activity against C. albicans and C. krusei with better water solubility and lower toxicity in vitro in murine macrophages (RAW264.7) than anidulafungin41. The observed effect may be particularly important considering the therapy of immunocompromised patients.