mehdi asmar

The rapid emergence and spread of carbapenem resistant Acanthobacter baumannii has been reported worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of antibiotic resistance and the frequency of carbapenemase-producing genes in Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from patients admitted to Tehran Teaching Hospital.

In the present study, 99 clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii collected from a teaching hospital in Tehran were confirmed by biochemical tests and PCR. The pattern of antibiotic susceptibility was determined by disk diffusion and E-test. The frequency of carbapenemase producing genes was determined by PCR.

The highest and lowest resistance were observed to ciprofloxacin (100%) and minocycline (21.2%) respectively. Also 97 strains (97.97%) showed MDR resistance pattern. In determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates for imipenem antibiotic by E-test, 93.9% of the isolates were resistant and the MIC of imipenem for them was more than 8 μg / ml. In the study of the frequency of carbapenemase producing genes using PCR; The blaVIM gene had the highest frequency (94.9%) and blaOXA-58, blaOXA-143, blaKPC and bla IMP were not found in any of the isolates.

The results of the present study show that most isolates have been resistant to clinically important beta-lactam antibiotics used in the treatment of Acinetobacter baumannii infections. Further studies on the rational administration of the drug in the treatment of Acinetobacter baumannii  infections are suggested.

Nearly 300 million people worldwide are carriers of the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). Thalassemia and dialysis patients are of the most important individuals at risk for the virus. Despite vaccination, antibody is reduced and there is a possibility of infection to HBV. This study, examines hepatitis B serologic markers among thalassemia and dialysis patients of Mazandaran province, Iran. 94 patients were enrolled to our study. For all patients in the study, a questionnaire including demographic information, history of the vaccination for Hepatitis B, blood products transfusion and surgical history were completed. 5 ml of venous blood was taken from each student and serum was separated and stored in -20oC. For all samples, ELISA test was operated for Anti-HBs and Anti-HBc and HBsAg. Among 94 patients, 55 people (58.5%) were males and 39 people (41.5%) were females., 57 (60.6%) were dialysis patients and 37 (39.4%) were thalassemia patients, in which 4 people (7%) of dialysis patients and 8 (21.6%) of thalassemia patients were infected by HBV. 12 people (22.8%) were positive by the presence of HBsAg, 54 people (57.4%) were positive by the presence of Anti-HBs and 13 people (13.8%) were positive by the presence of Anti-HBc. About 12.8% of patients were HBV positive and also 42.6% of them were sensitive to HBV. Therefore, their screening for HBV antibody is recommended before any blood products usage. Also, in order to provide adequate protection for the patients, the serologic studies is necessary.

Antibiotics are known as the most useful and effective drugs in the treatment of infectious diseases in humans and animals. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics directly or indirectly, for instance through raw animal products such as milk, can cause health problems in human societies. The specific aim of this study was to determine the level of antibiotic residue in raw and pasteurized milk in Gilan province.
In this study 30 pasteurized milk samples of randomly selected brands and 570 raw cow milk samples from milk collection centers in 15 cities of Gilan province were collected. The samples were analyzed by coupon test.
Results and Antibiotic residue was observed in 179 (31.4%) and 18 (60%) samples out of the 570 raw and pasteurized cow milk samples, respectively.. According to dairy per capita consumption in Gilan province, this rate of contamination affects a considerable part of the population. It can therefore be concluded that the contamination of dairy products to residual antibiotic can be considered an important factor threatening human health and should be considered in the quality control of milk and dairy products.

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most important pathogen in hospitals. Healthcare personnel are the main source of nosocomial infections and identification and control of MRSA carriers can reduce incidence of infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of MRSA and their antibiotic susceptibility profile among healthcare workers in Gorgan.

333 healthcare workers were participated in this cross-sectional study in 2009. Samples were taken with sterile cotton swabs from both anterior nares and hands. Swabs were plated immediately on to the mannitol salt agar. Suspected colonies were confirmed as S. aureus by Gram staining, catalase, coagulase and DNase tests. Minimum inhibition concentration by micro dilution broth method was used to determine methicillin resistant strains. Antimicrobial susceptibility to other antibiotics was performed according to NCCLS guidelines by disc diffusion method.

Frequency of S.aureus and MRSA carriers among healthcare workers was 24% and 3% respectively. The highest rate of S. aureus and MRSA carriers were observed in operating room staff. Resistance to penicillin was seen in 97.5% of isolates and all strains were sensitive to vancomycin.

Frequency of S. aureus and MRSA in healthcare workers was median and rather low respectively. Continual monitoring and control of carriers can reduce distribution of this organism and their infections.

The endemicity and transmission intensity levels of malaria are related to genetic diversity of the parasites. Merozoite surface protein 3β (MSP3β) is an important marker for assessing the polymorphic nature of Plasmodium vivax while it is also a vaccine candidate against the parasite. Patients and In this study we investigated the genetic structure of P. vivax population by sequence analysis of a polymorphic region of the P. vivax MSP3β gene in isolates from Iran. Blood samples were collected from 100 patients with clinical symptoms. DNA was extracted and the target gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The sequences of 17 samples were used for sequence analysis using nucleotide Blast search and ClustalW multiple alignment. Phylogenetic tree was derived to describe the geographical branching and relationships. A large number of nucleotide insertions and deletions were observed in the sequences of polymorphic region of PvMSP3β gene that were not specific in each biotype. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was found extensively in the sequences. The phylogenetic analysis did not show any significant geographical branching. The lack of any geographical branching and extensive polymorphism in MSP3β gene of P. vivax isolates suggests that more investigations are needed to find a more suitable gene in order to develop a vaccine.

Infection with Helicobacter pylori might be related to chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric Adenocarcinoma. Given the high prevalence of Helicobacter infection in our region, this study was designed to determine the age trend of Helicobacter pylori contamination in Golestan province in 2008.Materials and This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 1028 residents of Golestan province, which were randomly selected by cluster sampling in 2008. Data were gathered by questionnaires and trial examinations. Blood sampling and titration of anti-H pylori IgG by ELISAwere done. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis of the results and was considered significant (P‹0.05). Prevalence of H. pylori infection was 66.4% in Golestan. The lowest frequent seropositive group was under 5 year old children (30.6%) and subjects living in Bandar Gaz and Kordkuy cities (44.6% and 31.6%, respectively) and in west of province. The highest frequent seropositive group was 55-64 year old subjects living in east of province, Azadshahr and Kalaleh (77.6% and 76.6%, respectively). There were no significant relations between prevalence of infection, occupation, gender, residency in either urban or rural area and BMI. The prevalence of H. pylori in Golestan was equal to that in other provinces in Iran. The rate of infection was increased by increasing the age up to 25 years of age. It is suggested to set up a research project, to determine the prevalence of pathogenic factors especially VacA, CagA or their anti-bodies in society to disclose the risk associated with H. pylori.

Malaria is one of the most important parasitic diseases in the world and a major health problem in some areas of Iran. In addition to endemic areas in the south and south-eastern part of Iran a new threat of Plasmodium vivax malaria importation emerged from the Parsabad district which is located in Ardabil province in the north western part of the country. Malaria in this area may have originated from Azerbaijan Armenia or southern part of Iran. This study has been carried out to clarify seroparasitological results from Indirect Fluorescence Assay (IFA) stability of antiplasmodial antibodies and its comparison with those of confirmed direct microscopy in Parsabad district during 2003-2005. This seroparasitological study has been carried out on 250 samples from malaria infected patients which was previously confirmed by microscopy and treated with routine antimalarial agents and 250 samples of healthy control with no history of malaria in Parsabad during two years (2003-2005). Sera of collected blood samples were assessed for the presence of anti-plasmodial antibodies using IFA assay. Statistical analysis was applied by using ANOVA and Student’s t-tests with Graph Pad Prism. The results of this study indicated that all blood smears of test group were detected as positive by observation of P. vivax by direct microscopy and no positive smears were found among control group. Moreover no mixed-infection was observed among collected samples. In addition serological results revealed that 47 cases (19%) from test group and 4 cases (1.6%) from control group had antibodies against P. vivax malaria (P

Background– The main area of Iran affected by relapsing fever (RF) is Ardabil Province, for which Borrelia persica is the most common cause in this country. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease, and the frequency of infection among ticks in this region.Method– This clinical epidemiology and entomology study was performed on a total of 391 patients diagnosed with tickborne relapsing fever between 1998 to 2001. The presence of Borrelia with any species as well as the clinical characteristics were observed. Borrelia was identified in blood smears of 1,421 ticks collected from 130 indoor and 14 outdoor sites. The ticks were crushed and the suspension obtained was injected into the peritoneum of two mice and two guinea pigs to determine the frequency of infection among the ticks living in this region. Data including the tick species determination were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using Chi-square and ANOVA tests. Results– The most prevalent clinical manifestations were fever, chills and headache. Other findings included nausea, vomiting, sweating, abdominal pain, arthralgia, cough, photophobia, eosinophilia, hematuria, jaundice, petechiae and scleral congestion. Laboratory tests performed on 60 patients showed leukocytosis, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and anemia. Of the 1,421 ticks collected, 45.9%, 40.3% and 13.8% were of the Ornithodoros lahorensisi, Ornithodoros tholozani and Argas persicus species, respectively. The prevalence of ticks was highest in Khandabil village. The ticks collected from three villages were found to be infected with Borrelia.Conclusion– This study is the first large-sized published report of tick-born RF until that time. The clinical manifestations were similar to those reported in other studies. Petechiae occurred less frequently in our study compared to louse-borne RF. The high frequency of anemia, which was not stated in most other reference articles, requires further investigation.

Evidences from many studies suggested a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a valuable method for diagnosing infectious disease in the transplant recipients. We used this method for detection of Toxoplasma, gondii and human cytomegalovirus in blood specimens from patients after bone marrow or kidney transplantation. DNA of both infectious agents were detected using two separate sets of nested primers in the PCR. The conditions for a multiplex nested PCR providing simultaneous iden‌tification of both pathogens in one tube were optimized. This assay provides an application in clinical research for diagnosis of infections in post-transplant recipients.