Mpox virus detection in the wastewater and the number of hospitalized patients in the Poznan metropolitan area, Poland.

Objectives: Wastewater-based epidemiology can determine the scale of a mpox epidemic and thus is a promising additional tool that can complete data gathered by the clinical monitoring approach and predict more accurately the development and progress of the current mpox outbreak.

Methods: We collected daily average samples from two wastewater treatment plants (WTPs): Central and Left-Bank, in Poznan, Poland from July to December 2022. The mpox DNA was detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction and compared with the number of hospitalizations.

Self-reactive IgE and anti-IgE therapy in autoimmune diseases.

Growing evidence indicates the pathogenic role of autoreactive IgE in autoimmune diseases. Incidence of autoimmune and allergic diseases in the industrialized countries is consistently icreasing, thus leading to concerted efforts to comprehend the regulation of IgE-mediated mechanisms. The first reports of a presence of IgE autoantibodies in patients with autoimmune diseases have been published a long time ago, and it is now recognized that self-reactive IgE can mediate inflammatory response in bullous pemhigoid, systemic lupus erythematosus, chronic urticaria, and atopic dermatitis.

Gender as a factor affecting NK cell activity in patients successfully treated for chronic hepatitis C with direct-acting antivirals.

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) affects the activity of natural killer (NK) cells, but successful interferon- free treatment partially restores it. The goal of this study was to assess whether gender influences NK functionality. We examined 21 post-menopausal women and 24 men with CHC who were treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) and 33 healthy volunteers.

Changes in Inflammatory Markers after Administration of Tocilizumab in COVID-19: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic requires the development of effective methods for the treatment of severe cases. We aimed to describe clinical outcomes and changes in inflammatory markers in Polish patients treated with tocilizumab. The medical charts of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients treated in the Department of Infectious Diseases between 4 March and 2 September 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.

Treg cells in the course of chronic hepatitis C virus infection partially normalize in longitudinal observation after successful DAA treatment regardless of hepatic fibrosis stage.

Aim Of The Study: Elevated circulating CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) play an unspecified role in liver fibrosis development. This study aimed to determine whether Treg cells diminish after successful treatment with directacting antivirals (DAA) in patients at different liver fibrosis stages.

Material And Methods: We examined 44 patients with CHC (including 29 with liver cirrhosis) seven days before DAA treatment (T0), six months later (T1) and then 22 of them were examined one year (T2) after the first dose.

Pattern Recognition Receptors: Significance of Expression in the Liver.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are a pivotal part of the immune system. They are distributed in almost every site of higher organisms, able to recognize foreign pathogens or unwanted remnants of metabolism and mount innate immune response. Moreover, PRRs create bridging signaling to initiate adaptive immunity.

Impact of chronic HCV treatment on quality of life of patients with metabolic disorders in context of immunological disturbances.

Chronic viral hepatitis C (CHC) and its complications have a negative effect on patient's quality of life. We evaluated the impact of a successful interferon-free treatment on the quality of life of patients with obesity and metabolic disorders in the context of immunological disturbances. Twenty overweight or obese (BMI > 25) patients with CHC were tested before the therapy and after a successful treatment regimen.

Correction to: Significance and Role of Pattern Recognition Receptors in Malignancy.

The authors would like to correct the following error.

Significance and Role of Pattern Recognition Receptors in Malignancy.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are members of innate immunity, playing pivotal role in several immunological reactions. They are known to act as a bridge between innate and adaptive immunity. They are expressed on several normal cell types but have been shown with increasing frequency on/in tumor cells.

Viral Hepatitis A in 108 Adult Patients During an Eight-Year Observation at a Single Center in Poland.

Background: Hepatitis A is related to significant morbidity and occasional mortality. Based on data from the Polish National Institute of Hygiene, from 2000 to 2013 a mean of 213 hepatitis A cases were reported yearly.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess selected data in adults hospitalized for symptomatic hepatitis A during an eight-year period in a single center in the Wielkopolska Region of Poland.

The prevalence of mixed genotype infections in Polish patients with hepatitis C.

Objectives: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype has been described as an independent predictor of the response to therapy. A mixed infection with two types of HCV is probably an uncommon event. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of mixed infection with two different HCV genotypes in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C eligible for treatment.

Genetic (KIR, HLA-C) and Some Clinical Parameters Influencing the Level of Liver Enzymes and Early Virologic Response in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C.

Natural killer cells play an important role as effectors of innate immunity and regulators of adaptive immunity. They are important elements of the innate response to viral infections, which they detect using human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-binding receptors. Most polymorphic of these are killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) which exist as two basic isotypes, activating or inhibitory receptors and are encoded by genes distributed differently in unrelated individuals.

Pneumocystis pneumonia in children - the relevance of chemoprophylaxis in different groups of immunocompromised and immunocompetent paediatric patients.

Introduction: Pneumocystis jirovecii is an opportunistic pathogen causing pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), a life-threatening infection, in immunocompromised patients. In this study, retrospective analysis of the presence of P. jirovecii DNA in different samples collected from children with suspected PCP was carried out.

Seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG in 182 Polish patients.

Introduction: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is an emergent disease in developed countries. HEV seroprevalence in such areas significantly exceeds values expected when one considers infection with this virus only as a problem restricted to classical endemic regions. To date, no related data are available in Poland.

Contribution of genes for killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) to the susceptibility to chronic hepatitis C virus infection and to viremia.

Background: Natural killer (NK) cells are an important element of innate immunity against viruses, although their numbers decrease in the liver during chronic HCV infection. NK cells express a large panel of inhibitory and activating receptors. The most polymorphic of these are killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) which are encoded by multiple genes that may be present or absent in given individuals depending on their genotype.

Detection and significance of cytotoxic cell subsets in biopsies of HCV-infected human livers.

Chronic viral hepatitis C still remains the clinical challenge. Attempts of the immune system to cope with this infection are unsatisfactory. There is a conviction that the main site of interaction between virus (Hepatitis C virus, HCV) and immune system is in situ, i.

Hepatitis C virus load and expression of a unique subset of cellular genes in circulating lymphoid cells differentiate non-responders from responders to pegylated interferon alpha-ribavirin treatment.

Based on investigations of liver biopsy material, certain cellular genes have been implicated as correlates of success or failure to interferon alpha-ribavirin (IFN/RBV) therapy against hepatitis C. The current study aimed at determining whether expression of host genes thought to be relevant to HCV replication in the liver would be correlated with HCV infection status in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and also with patient responsiveness to IFN/RBV treatment. Therefore, PBMCs from patients with chronic hepatitis C responding (n = 35) or not (n = 49) to IFN/RBV and from healthy controls (n = 15) were evaluated for HCV RNA load and cellular gene expression.

RNA-HCV viral load in serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and liver in children with chronic hepatitis C.

The liver is the major site of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and replication. However, HCV may infect and replicate in extrahepatic sites as well. Several investigators have demonstrated that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are the major extrahepatic milieu of infection and viral replication.

Results of antiviral treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C: experience of Poznan centre.

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Poland affects approximately 750 thousand persons. The prevention of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, of which approximately 20% of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus are at risk, aims at eradication of the virus by applying antiviral treatment with pegylated interferon alpha with ribavirin.

Material/methods: In this paper the results of the standard treatment of chronic hepatitis C in a population of 169 adult patients in whom it was started in the period of 01.

Evolution of hepatitis C virus hypervariable region 1 in chronically infected children.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) quasispecies diversification plays an essential role in the establishment of chronic infections. Our earlier analysis of HCV population structure in children subjected to interferon-ribavirin treatment demonstrated that viral quasispecies is homogenous in patients who failed to respond to the therapy and heterogeneous in sustained responders. We also showed that certain variants of HCV hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) are conserved in non-responders.

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in children with pegylated interferon α2a and ribavirin--a multi-center study.

Pegylated interferon α and ribavirin in treatment of chronic hepatitis C in children is used rarely. The aim of the study was to find prognostic factors for sustained virological response and to analyze the safety of pegylated interferon α2a and ribavirin in children with chronic hepatitis C. The study covered a group of 44 children, mean age 14 years, with diagnosed chronic hepatitis C.

Expression of pattern recognition receptors in liver biopsy specimens of children chronically infected with HBV and HCV.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) constitute a pivotal arm of innate immunity. Their distribution is widespread and not limited to cells of the immune system. Following our previous findings concerning the expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2, 3 and 4 in chronic viral hepatitis C of children, we wished to search for other PRRs, including other TLRs, NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and RIG-1-like helicase receptors (RLR) in infected hepatocytes.

NK cells prevalence, subsets and function in viral hepatitis C.

Innate immunity appears to play an important role in the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis C. Among various cell subsets of this immunity natural killer (NK) cells raised particular interest. These cells are abundant in liver, possess significant cytotoxic potential and show links with adaptive immunity.

Human cytomegalovirus infection and clinical status of infants born to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infected mothers.

Objective: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of the most common congenital infections worldwide and a frequent opportunistic infection that aggravates the condition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency and factors influencing HCMV infection among infants of HIV-positive women.

Methods: The study included 35 infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers examined for congenital infections.

The incidence and significance of pattern-recognition receptors in chronic viral hepatitis types B and C in man.

Chronic viral hepatitis B and C are among the most common and devastating liver diseases worldwide. Immune response plays a crucial role in the course of both diseases. In spite of the importance of the adaptive arm of the immune response, there is a growing role of innate immunity, the earliest confronted with viral attack.