Search results for "chronic infection"
showing 10 items of 35 documents
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection: a systemic disease.
2007
Abstract Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem, being the second most common chronic viral infection in the world with a global prevalence of about 3% (about 180 million people). HCV is both an hepatotropic and a lymphotropic virus; and chronic infection could cause, on one hand, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and on the other hand several extrahepatic diseases including, first, mixed cryoglobulinemia and lymphoma. The association between hepatic (hepatocellular carcinoma) and extrahepatic (lymphoma, thyroid cancer) malignancies has justified the inclusion of HCV among human cancer viruses. The pathogenesis of HCV-related sequelae (hepatic o…
Immune suppression in advanced chronic fascioliasis: an experimental study in a rat model.
2006
Chronicity and Th2 immune responses are features of helminth infections in humans. The liver fluke promotes its own survival through several strategies to down-regulate the immune response of the host during the early phase of infection. However, there is no evidence that this modulation occurs much later. The immune response in advanced chronic fascioliasis was analyzed in an experimental rat model at 20 weeks after infection. Cytokine quantification in infected rat serum revealed basal levels. The predominant immunoglobulin (Ig) isotype was IgG1. Flow cytometry analysis of T cell (CD3 + , CD4 + , and CD8a + ), B cell (CD45R + ), and macrophage (CD11b + ) populations in spleens showed no s…
Forecasting Hepatitis C liver disease burden on real-life data. Does the hidden iceberg matter to reach the elimination goals?
2018
Abstract Background & Aims Advances in direct‐acting antiviral treatment of HCV have reinvigorated public health initiatives aimed at identifying affected individuals. We evaluated the possible impact of only diagnosed and linked‐to‐care individuals on overall HCV burden estimates and identified a possible strategy to achieve the WHO targets by 2030. Methods Using a modelling approach grounded in Italian real‐life data of diagnosed and treated patients, different linkage‐to‐care scenarios were built to evaluate potential strategies in achieving the HCV elimination goals. Results Under the 40% linked‐to‐care scenario, viraemic burden would decline (60%); however, eligible patients to treat w…
On the Age of Leprosy
2014
Leprosy is a chronic infection of the skin and nerves caused by Mycobacterium leprae and the newly discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Human leprosy has been documented for millennia in ancient cultures. Recent genomic studies of worldwide M. leprae strains have further traced it along global human dispersals during the past ∼ 100,000 years. Because leprosy bacilli are strictly intracellular, we wonder how long humans have been affected by this disease-causing parasite. Based on recently published data on M. leprae genomes, M. lepromatosis discovery, leprosy bacilli evolution, and human evolution, it is most likely that the leprosy bacilli started parasitic evolution in humans or early h…
Significance and relevance of serum preS1 antigen detection in wild-type and variant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections
1993
These studies assessed whether the serum expression of preS1 antigen could be a useful HBV marker for monitoring the progress of antiviral therapy in the treatment of chronic active hepatitis B (CAH-B) virus infections. Our findings indicate that: 1) the rearrangements we observed in the preS region of mutated HBV DNA molecules during chronic infection did not effect the preS1 sequence (21–47) critical for HBV infectivity; 2) the persistence or even the rebound of preS1 antigen expression during follow-up in responders to antiviral therapy may indicate virus persistence, suggesting the possibility of relapse through wild-type HBV or the emergence of HBV variants following the immunoeliminat…
An Outbreak of Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among Transfused Thalassemia Patients: Root Cause Analysis, Phylogenetic Epidemiology and Antiviral Therapy
2021
Background: Occurrence of HCV infection is reduced by effective risk management procedures, but patient-to-patient transmission continues to be reported in healthcare settings. We report an outbreak of 11 patients with HCV acute hepatitis (seven new infections and four re-infections) among 128 thalassemia patients followed at a Hospital in Sicily. Methods All patients with acute hepatitis and known chronic infection were tested for HCV-RNA, HCV genotyping, and NS3, NS5A and NS5B HCV-genomic regions sequencing. To identify transmission clusters we built phylogenetic trees for each gene employing Bayesian methods. Findings All patients with acute hepatitis were infected with HCV genotype 1b…
A tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) promoter polymorphism is associated with chronic hepatitis B infection.
1998
SUMMARY Cytokines such as TNF-α and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) are important for the elimination of infected hepatocytes during acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Two G versus A transitions in the TNF-α promoter region at positions −308 and −238 possibly influence TNF-α expression. We investigated these TNF-α polymorphisms in 71 patients with chronic HBV infection, in 32 subjects that had spontaneously recovered from acute HBV infection, and in 99 healthy controls. The −238 A promoter variant was present in 18 (25%) of 71 patients with chronic HBV infection compared with two (6%) of 32 subjects with acute infection (P < 0.04), and seven (7%) of 99 controls (P < 0.003). By …
Genetic similarity of hepatitis C virus and fibrosis progression in chronic and recurrent infection after liver transplantation
2006
SUMMARY. The effect of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genetic heterogeneity on clinical features of post-transplantation hepatitis C is controversial. Different regions of the HCV genome have been associated with apoptosis, fibrosis, and other pathways leading to liver damage in chronic HCV infection. Besides, differences in immunodominant regions, such as NS3, may influence HCV-specific immune responses and disease outcome. In the liver transplant setting, a recent study has reported a positive association between HCV-1b Core region genetic relatedness 5-year post-transplantation and histological severity of recurrent hepatitis C. We have compared nucleotide sequences of HCV Core, NS3 and NS5b re…
NS5A gene analysis by next generation sequencing in HCV nosocomial transmission clusters of HCV genotype 1b infected patients
2019
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the intra-host variability through next-generation-sequencing (NGS) of the NS5A-gene in nosocomial transmission-clusters observed in two Italian hospitals among hepatitis C virus (HCV)-genotype-1b infected patients. Methods: HCV-sequencing was performed by Sanger-sequencing (NS3 + NS5A + NS5B) and by NGS (NS5A, MiSeq-Illumina) in 15 HCV-1b infected patients [five acute with onco-hematologic-disease and 10 (4/6 acute/chronic) with &beta
Differential alterations in the small intestine epithelial cell turnover during acute and chronic infection with Echinostoma caproni (Trematoda)
2015
Background The intestinal epithelium plays a multifactorial role in mucosal defense. In this sense, augmented epithelial cell turnover appears as a potential effector mechanism for the rejection of intestinal-dwelling helminths. Methods A BrdU pulse-chase experiment was conducted to investigate the infection-induced alterations on epithelial cell kinetics in hosts of high (mouse) and low (rat) compatibility with the intestinal trematode Echinostoma caproni. Results High levels of crypt-cell proliferation and tissue hyperplasia were observed in the ileum of infected mice, coinciding with the establishment of chronic infections. In contrast, the cell migration rate was about two times higher …