Archives of Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume:9 Issue: 4, Oct 2014

Brucellosis has various clinical presentations. Cardiac complications are uncommon and the endocarditis is the most common form of cardiac involvement. Pericarditis or myocarditis without concurrent endocarditis, especially their combination (i.e. myopericarditis without endocardial involvement) is rare.. This is the case of a 22-year-old male with Brucella myopericarditis without endocarditis that excellently responded to medical treatment.. Although Brucella myopericarditis is uncommon in endemic areas, it should be considered in the cases with myocarditis and/or pericarditis, especially if no certain explanation exists..

Clinical and epidemiological data indicate that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are acquired during childhood and remains for the life time of the host. Patients with physical and mental disabilities may be particularly exposed to this microorganism, because of different dietary, abilities, living, and sanitary condition.. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori infection among institutionalized patients with Down syndrome and mental retardation..Patients and Seventy five institutionalized patients with Down syndrome and mental retardation, with the age range of < 10 to 50 years were selected from welfare Center, an institute for caring mental retardation and Down syndrome patients. Seventy five out patients were also included as controls too. The control population was from the same geographical area as the study group, and had comparable socioeconomic features. Sanitary condition and personal hygiene of both the intervention and control groups were considered. Serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) produced in response to H. pylori infection was measured, with the Helori-test IgG with 92% sensitivity and 95% specificity; urea breath test (UBT) was also done for all.. The differences between the groups were compared by t-test and X2 test. Seropositivity for H. pylori was significantly higher in patients with Down syndrome and mental retardation than in those of the control group (P < 0.001) as the socioeconomic features did not differ between the two groups, this can be a strong consideration of the validity of this comparison (the current study showed that out of 75 specimens, 41 cases were positive by Elisa test; accordingly, UBT test results were positive too).. The current study indicated that H. pylori infection occurs at a higher rate in patients with Down syndrome and mental retardation. This may provide more reasons to control the transmission of H. pylori among them..

Hand hygiene is closely associated with infection control practices. Improvement of hand hygiene, aimed to minimize nosocomial infection, is a high priority of the World Health Organization (WHO).. The current study aimed to explore Hand-Washing Compliance (HWC) rates and influencing factors.. Participants of the study were nurses, physicians, secretaries, and hospital care staff of Najmieh Subspecialty Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The Subjects understudy included 127 (90.7%) females and 13 (9.3%) males. Simple random sampling was used to select the participants. Both descriptive (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test) functions of SPSS version 18 were used to analyze the data.. The overall rate of HWC was 36%. The minimum and maximum HWC rates were when entering and leaving the wards (17.2%) and (82.1%), respectively. According to the results of the study, there was a significant relationship between education, working shift, and HWC rate. No significant relationship was observed between gender, age, experience, and HWC.. According to the findings of the current study, training programs are recommended to be planned with the focus on improving HWC..

In hospitals, it has been clarified that Periplaneta americana can operate as possible vectors of nosocomial infections, chiefly for the transmission of drug-resistant bacteria. Also, these domestic insects have a role in transmitting food-borne diseases. The bacterial loads of these insects have been reported as seven million in each excretion dropping and up to 14 million on their cuticle. Their presence decreases human health and sanitary standards.. This descriptive study was carried out to confirm that Periplaneta americana L. (Dictyoptera; Blattidae) carry pathogenic bacteria in residential areas, by bacteriological analysis of the cuticles of this insect.. In this research we caught 25 American cockroaches from human dwelling localities of Ahvaz province during 2008 and 2009. Cockroaches were collected using sticky traps, vacuum cleaners and direct collection. The collected cockroaches were brought to the laboratory and were identified as P. americana. They were examined for the presence of bacteria on their external surfaces using specific standard methods for bacterial infection.. One hundred percent of cockroaches had bacterial infections. Culturing of the external parts wash homogenates resulted in the isolation of Escherichia coli, Proteus, Serratia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcusaureus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Citrobacter, Micrococcus.. The results showed that P. americana is a possible reservoir and potential vector of some pathogenic agents..

Animal bites, especially dog bites, are common health problems which are rarely addressed. It is estimated that 15 million people are bitten by animals worldwide annually. Diseases caused by animal bites are problematic matters in the world as well as in Iran. The main disease caused by animal bites is rabies. Rabies is a fatal acute viral disease causing inclusive symptoms in the central nervous system in domestic and wild carnivores. Humans and other warm-blooded mammals are often randomly involved with an infected animal bite.. Due to the increasing number of cases of animal bites in the County of Shush (southwestern Iran) because of its geographical status as a farming-animal husbandry region as well as the residents that are more exposed to animal bites, this study was designed to investigate the epidemiology and prevalence rate of animal bites in this county during 2000-2004.. In this descriptive cross-sectional research, a particular questionnaire was filled out for all the cases. The questionnaire included questions about demographic and epidemiologic characters such as, occupation, sex, age, biting animal type, treatment type, bite site, etc. Data analysis through SPSS and Excel software was performed and the percentages and mean of statistical figures were determined. Finally, descriptive statistics was used in the forms of tables and graphs to summarize the data.. Findings of this study indicated that the average prevalence of animal bites during the above five years was 1.3 per 1000 population and there was an increased trend in the prevalence rate of animal bite in this county. During these five years, a total number of 1300 cases of animal bites were recorded: males 971 (74.7%) and females 329 (25.3%). The numbers of animal bites in rural and urban areas were 1061 (81.6%) and 239 (18.4%), respectively. Therefore, a 4.4-time rate of animal bites was recorded for rural areas. Moreover, the majority of animal bites (31.9%) were determined in the age group of 10-20. In terms of employment, students with 390 cases (30%) comprised the highest work-related group. From the viewpoint of bite site, the most prevalent biting site was feet with 907 cases (69.7%), followed by hands with 236 (18.2%) cases, while only one bite was recorded on the neck area. Totally, 95.8% of bites were confirmed to be applied by dogs; however, cats were responsible for only 3.3% of bites. During the five years of the study, 155 stray dogs in rural areas and 84 in urban areas were hunted.. Due to the demographic status of Shush County, its high rural population engaged in agriculture and livestock farming, keeping dogs at home for job demands and a great percentage of animal bites among students, educational programs for students in schools and for farmers should be prioritized regarding first aid for prevention of animal biting..

Basic infection control measures in any nursing setup can reduce the rates of healthcare-associated infections. Reducing the risk of infection and using the prevention principles are in the realm of nursing.. The current study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and practices on infection control among the nursing staff..Patients and In this cross-sectional study 224 nurses were selected by random sampling from three teaching hospitals. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire included three parts: demographic characteristic, level of knowledge, and practices among the nursing staff. Data were analyzed by SPSS software.. The result of the research showed that the majority of participants were female (53.6%), married (80.4%), had BS degree (89.3%) and had the working experience between 11 and 20 years (51.8%); 41.1% and 33.03% of the participants respectively had intermediate and high level of knowledge about infection control. Also the result showed that (75.8%) had intermediate level of performance in this field. There was a significant correlation between sex and performance of the participants (P = 0.014).. According to the obtained results, the majority of nurses participating in the study had an intermediate level of knowledge and practice of infection control. There is a need to develop a system of continuous education for all the categories of nursing staff..

Genital tract infection is one of the major causes of morbidity and complications in both women and men.. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness about risk factors and other predictors of sexually transmitted and other infections of the genital tract.. Patients and This analytic cross-sectional study was carried on 584 women aged 15-49, who had referred to health care centers of Tabriz, Iran during 2013. Multi-stage cluster sampling was performed and the data-collecting tool was a questionnaire, for which validity and reliability were determined. Descriptive and inferential statistics (independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and univariate and multivariate analysis) were used to analyze the data using the SPSS 17 software.. The mean ± SD score of awareness about non-sexual infections was 9. 69 ± 3. 2 with a range of 0 to 15. The mean ± SD score of awareness on sexually transmitted infections was 17. 08 ± 7. 42 with a range of 0 to 37. Multivariate analysis adjusting for potential confounding factors showed a statistically significant relationship between awareness score of non-sexual infections and variables of «sex only with husband», «anal, oral, anal-oral sex» and «marriage more than once». There was also a significant relationship between awareness of sexually transmitted infections with «anal, oral, anal-oral sex», «marriage more than once» and «history of blood transfusion in husband». Thus, the awareness score of the following women was higher than others (P < 0. 05), those whose sex was not limited to their husband, had sex in unusual ways, reported a history of husband’s blood transfusion, married only once.. The results of this study revealed that knowledge and understanding of subjects about sexual diseases is undesirable. So to increase awareness, women and girls must be sensitized to the importance of this issue..