Procalcitonin in respiratory disease: use as a biomarker for diagnosis and guiding antibiotic therapy.

Unlabelled: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a peptide measurable in serum which becomes elevated in response to bacterial infection. Multiple trials have explored the safety and efficacy of using PCT as a biomarker to guide decisions about starting or stopping antibiotic therapy in a wide variety of situations, and PCT assays have recently been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US for use in both sepsis and respiratory tract infections. While there have been a number of promising results particularly in acute respiratory tract infections and intensive care unit settings, problems including adherence to protocol, cost of the assay and improved antimicrobial stewardship more generally, have limited more widespread adoption.

GENITAL TRACT SCREENING FINDS WIDESPREAD INFECTION WITH MUSTELID GAMMAHERPESVIRUS 1 IN THE EUROPEAN BADGER ( MELES MELES).

:  Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be important drivers of population dynamics because of their negative effects on reproduction. However, screening for STDs, especially in wildlife populations, is widely neglected. Using the promiscuous, polygynandrous European badger ( Meles meles) as a model, we investigated the presence and prevalence of herpesviruses (HVs) in a wild, high-density population and assessed potential differences in somatic fitness and female reproductive condition between infected and uninfected individuals.

Evaluation of methods for short-term marking of domestic dogs for rabies control.

Rabies transmitted by domestic dogs is a serious yet neglected public health threat in many underserved communities in Africa and Asia. Achieving 70% vaccination coverage in dog populations through annual mass vaccination campaigns is an effective means of controlling the disease in these communities. Evaluating the extent to which this target coverage is achieved requires either accurate pre-campaign estimates of the dog population size or accurate estimates of the coverage attained by conducting post-vaccination surveys.