Serial IGRA testing of trainees in the healthcare sector in a country with low incidence for tuberculosis - a prospective cohort study.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCW) are a risk group for tuberculosis (TB). That is why interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) serial testing is performed on HCWs repeatedly exposed to infectious patients or materials. However, the variability of IGRA in serial testing is not yet well understood.

Specificity of a whole blood IGRA in German nursing students.

Background: Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are used for tuberculosis (TB) screening in healthcare workers (HCWs). However, data on specificity of IGRA in serial testing of HCWs is sparse. Therefore the specificity and the negative predictive value of the IGRA - QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) - in German nursing students was investigated.

Seasonal influenza risk in hospital healthcare workers is more strongly associated with household than occupational exposures: results from a prospective cohort study in Berlin, Germany, 2006/07.

Background: Influenza immunisation for healthcare workers is encouraged to protect their often vulnerable patients but also due to a perceived higher risk for influenza. We aimed to compare the risk of influenza infection in healthcare workers in acute hospital care with that in non-healthcare workers over the same season.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, multicentre cohort study during the 2006/07 influenza season in Berlin, Germany.

Delayed diagnosis of traumatic diaphragmatic hernia may cause colonic perforation: a case report.

Early diagnosis of diaphragmatic rupture after traumas may be difficult, and delayed diagnosis may result in increased morbidity and mortality. This paper describes the case of a 32-year-old man who experienced a traffic accident and had diagnosis of traumatic diaphragmatic hernia nearly four months later. The patient was referred to our emergency room suffering from ileus symptoms.

[Late-onset traumatic rupture of the diaphragm: two case reports].

Ruptured diaphragm as a result of blunt thorax or abdominal trauma can present acutely or late in the disease. Symptoms may be nonspecific and diagnosis can easily be missed. Patients may present with dyspnea, chest pain or cough.

A giant serous cystadenoma developing in an accessory ovary.

Background: Accessory ovaries are rare anomalies and cysts arising from accessory ovaries are extremely rare. Their reported incidence is 1/29,000-1/700,000. Establishing the diagnosis preoperatively is difficult.