International Journal of Infection
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Jan 2015

Children, especially those younger than six years old are very susceptible to tuberculosis (TB); therefore, there is need for preventive intervention to face active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Using chemoprophylaxis as an effective intermediation against latent TB was proven during the last decades..
Here, we presented three children of a mother, referred to our clinic due to smear positive PTB. Their mother was being treated with a four-drug regimen since one month before. All the close contacts were evaluated for TB and isoniazid was started for her daughters aged four and six, who had positive tuberculin test results and did not show any signs and symptoms of active TB. Later, these two children and her 19-year-old son were involved with active PTB..
Isoniazid chemoprophylaxis dose not completely prevent from TB development. Therefore, we should observe and evaluate all the cases that have a history of close contact with smear positive PTB using isoniazid prophylaxis..

Context: Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is amongst severe and fatal viral hemorrhagic fevers. In February 2014, a strain of the Ebola virus appeared in Guinea and then in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Mali. The aim of this study was to review the literature on EHF and discuss its routes of transmission and prevention..
Evidence Acquisition: We searched medical databases (PubMed, Scopus) from July 1970 to July 2014. The key words for the literature search were as follows; Ebola hemorrhagic fever, epidemiology, transmission routes, clinical manifestation, treatment and prophylaxis..
On the basis of the literature search, the researchers believe that bats are the most likely reservoir. Four of five subspecies of Ebola virus have caused disease in humans. Manifestation of Ebola begins abruptly with a sudden onset of an influenza-like syndrome characterized by general malaise, fever, sore throat, severe headache, joint pain, muscle pain and chest pain. There is no Ebola virus specific treatment. Treatment is usually supportive and includes minimizing invasive procedures, and balancing fluids and electrolytes. Adequate sterilization procedures isolate patients and this is a major step towards prevention of transmission of virus to other people..
Ebola viruses are highly contagious. Understanding the epidemiology, clinical presentation, prompt diagnosis, suitable treatment and isolation are the main factors for prevention of death and transmission of virus to other people..

Brucellosis is a systemic bacterial disease transmitted from animals to humans and involves many organs and tissues. Symptoms of brucellosis are protean and can be similar to many other infectious diseases. None of the symptoms are specific enough to support the clinical diagnosis. The musculoskeletal system is one of the most commonly affected organs. Disease can be present with bursitis, sacroiliitis, peripheral arthritis, osteomyelitis, spondylitis and paraspinal abscess, which among them vertebral osteomyelitis and paraspinal abscess are rare..
In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of vertebral osteomyelitis and paraspinal abscess in patients with brucellosis who were admitted to an infectious hospital in Zahedan, Southeastern Iran..
Patients and During 48 months, from December 2008 to October 2012 we evaluated all patients who were referred to infectious clinics (Zahedan, Southeastern Iran) because of fever, myalgia, arthralgia, chronic low back pain, bone pain and had a wright positive test. Blood samples were tested again for 2ME. A titer of more than 1/80 was positive. All patients with low back pain who had a MRI or spine CT-Scan, which showed a sign of osteomyelitis and/or cold abscess, were included in our study..
Among 73 patients with brucellosis (56 males, 17 females; age range 12-69 years), 14 patients (19%; 12 males) had a diagnosis of brucella osteomyelitis. Eleven patients had vertebral osteomyelitis and five showed an abscess next to the involved spine. Patients were treated with a triple regimen including: doxicycline, rifampin and streptomycin, and one patient needed surgery due to pressure effect on the spine..
Localized complications of brucellosis such as bone involvement were observed in patients with acute disease or chronic untreated infection. Based on our results, in endemic areas, every patient with low back pain and a positive test for brucella should be evaluated for spinal osteomyelitis..

Urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by resistant bacteria are becoming more prevalent. The spread of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria worldwide has become a serious public health issue among healthcare centers and in the community. Drugs and many secondary metabolites from medicinal plants have proved to be economical and effective against many pathogens..
The present study was designed to detectext ended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producers and their sensitivity pattern against Extracts of Withania somnifera..
Patients and Infected urine clinical samples were collected aseptically and processed immediately for the isolation of pathogens. Isolated pathogens were identified based on physiological characters and their ESBL pattern was determined by the stroke method. The sensitivity of ESBL strains against Withania somnifera was evaluated by the disc diffusion method..
Totally 26 isolates were isolated and 65.3% showed resistance to cefixime, chloramphenicol, clotrimazol, amoxicillin, ampicillin, amikacin and penicillin antibiotics. Of the 32 sample, 61% of the isolates were found to be ESBL producers and highest incidence was found in the age group of 30-45 years. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producers belonging to the following species, E. coli, Proteus sp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were also multidrug resistant. All three tested ESBL pathogens were highly sensitive to the root extracts of W. somnifera and moderately sensitive to leaf extracts. The maximum zone of inhibition of root extracts was 19 ± 0.2 mm against ESBL E. coli followed by 18 ± 0.2 mm against ESBL Pseudomonas aeruginosa and proteus sp..
The present study reveals the potential role of W. somnifera against UTI pathogens and it confirms the antibacterial activity of this species against drug resistant clinical pathogens..

Multi-drug resistant gram positive bacteria that are common causes of hospital acquired infections are rapidly enhancing throughout the world.
The present work aimed to examine pathogenic gram positive bacteria and their drug resistance profile..
A total of 50 clinical urine specimens were collected and the pathogens were isolated and identified. Antibiotic sensitivity was evaluated by the Kirby bauer method..
Four strains of Staphylococcus aureus and five strains of Enterococcus faecium were isolated. Among the gram positive isolates, Staphylococcus aureus were highly resistant to ampicillin, ampicillin sulbactam, amoxy/clav, cefixime, penicillin, methicillin, cefepime and ceftazidime. The Enterococcus faecium strains were highly resistant to ampicillin, ampicillin sulbactam, methicillin, penicillin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, cefpirome, cefuroxime, cefixime and trimethoprim and three strains of vancomycin. The multiple antibiotic indexes of these two strains were calculated as 0.428 for each strain..
All the Staphylococcus aureus strains and Enterococcus faecium strains were sensitive to members of the oxazolidinone class of linezolid drug. Development of multi drug resistance by gram positive bacteria constitutes a very serious challenge for medical practice. Despite these rising rates, it is impossible to distinguish where they have originated from and special attention has thus been directed towards specific hospital surveillance systems and strict infection control measures for these microorganisms..

The increasing prevalence of multidrug resistant strains of Vibrio cholerae in recent cholera epidemics across the world is a growing global public health challenge..
This study was undertaken to identify the patterns of antimicrobial resistance in isolates collected from laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera during an outbreak occurred between August and September 2013 in Sistan and Balouchestan province, southeast of Iran..
Patients and Forty eight V. cholerae isolates were obtained from clinical samples. All the strains were identified as Inaba serotype. Antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates for sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, tetracycline, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, ceftriaxone and erythromycin were determined. The method used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was standard disk diffusion technique (Kirby-Bauer method). According to the criteria published by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), the isolates were characterized as susceptible, intermediate, or resistant..
A ST revealed high levels of resistance to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (89.6%), tetracycline (60.4%), ampicillin (56.3%), nalidixic acid (43.7%) and erythromycin (22.9%). Intermediate susceptibility levels to erythromycin (68.8%), nalidixic acid (56.3%) and ampicillin (33.3%) were identified. All the samples were susceptible to ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. Resistant to erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim and ampicillin dominated in Afghan patient's samples, while a greater proportion of samples from Iranian patients showed resistance to tetracycline and nalidixic acid. All the differences were statistically significant..
Our findings suggested a worrying increase in resistance of V. cholerae strains to commonly used antibiotics. Differences in patterns of resistance between Afghan and Iranian patient's samples were observed, which further emphasize a need for constant observation..

Silver nanoparticles can be applied to control infections..
The current study aimed to detect antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles produced by Plantago ovata seed extract against antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus..
Patients and All the antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from the patients with urinary tract infection admitted to the hospitals in Zabol (South-eastern Iran) from January 2011 to January 2012 were studied. Then, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the isolates against the prepared extract was evaluated by the microdulition method..
The silver nanoparticles revealed Gaussian distributions with the average diameter of 13 nm with some deviations, and results showed that the highest and the lowest MIC of P. ovata seed extract were 100 and 12.5 mg/mL, respectively..
The current study results showed that silver nanoparticles produced by Plantago ovata seed extract had an antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus which was resistant against cefixime, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and penicillin..

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is defined as the presence of fever in a child for eight or more days that a careful history and physical examination and preliminary laboratory results failed to reveal the probable cause of the fever. The causes of FUO are different according to geographical regions and age..
The current study aimed to evaluate the common causes of childhood FUO in Zahedan, Iran..
Patients and A six-year retrospective study was conducted on all admitted children aged from three months to fifteen years from January 2006 to January 2012 and those with the final diagnosis of FUO were selected for the study..
Finally, 1100 patients were found eligible for the study. The FUO causes were infectious diseases (55.1%), collagen vascular (4.6%), neoplasm (6.7%), miscellaneous (23.3%) and undiagnosed (10.3%)..
Most fever of unknown origin results from atypical presentation of common diseases like Tuberculosis, Salmonellosis, Brucellosis, and Pneumonia..