Serum Interleukin 6 Level and Nutrition Status as Potential Predictors of Clinical Leprosy Development Among Household Contacts in Endemic Areas.

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that can lead to severe lifelong disabilities. Close contacts of patients with leprosy have a higher risk of acquiring the disease. Nevertheless, there is a lack of reliable markers to predict infection.

Characterization of antibody response in patients with acute and chronic chikungunya virus disease.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging arbovirus capable of causing chronic arthralgia, which can last for months to years. Although neutralizing antibodies have been shown to be important for viral clearance, is it not clear whether the quantitative and qualitative nature of antibodies play a role in progression to chronic disease.

Objectives: To characterize and compare the antibody responses in acute and chronic patients in a prospective observational CHIKV study in Curaçao during the 2014-2015 outbreak.

Zika Virus Infection Induces Elevation of Tissue Factor Production and Apoptosis on Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is typically characterized by a mild disease presenting with fever, maculopapular rash, headache, fatigue, myalgia, and arthralgia. A recent animal study found that ZIKV-infected pregnant mice developed vascular damage in the placenta and reduced amount of fetal capillaries. Moreover, ZIKV infection causes segmental thrombosis in the umbilical cord of pregnant rhesus macaques.

Phenotypic Differences between Asian and African Lineage Zika Viruses in Human Neural Progenitor Cells.

Recent Zika virus (ZIKV) infections have been associated with a range of neurological complications, in particular congenital microcephaly. Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of microcephaly, and experimental ZIKV infection of hNPCs has been shown to induce cell death. However, the infection efficiency and rate of cell death have varied between studies, which might be related to intrinsic differences between African and Asian lineage ZIKV strains.

Hyperferritinemia is a potential marker of chronic chikungunya: A retrospective study on the Island of Curaçao during the 2014-2015 outbreak.

Background: Recently Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreaks have been reported in the Carribean. There is no data regarding the outbreak in Curaçao. In addition, to date there is no biomarker that could be used to predict chronic infection.

Emerging Viruses in the Republic of Suriname: Retrospective and Prospective Study into Chikungunya Circulation and Suspicion of Human Hantavirus Infections, 2008-2012 and 2014.

Introduction: Suriname is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is unique in the sense that different ethnic cultures live together within the country, resulting in high levels of transport of both humans and products between the Asian, African, and European continents as well as the Caribbean. Travel is only one of the many factors present in Suriname contributing to the risk for the emergence or introduction of any infectious disease.

Effect of Puumala hantavirus infection on human umbilical vein endothelial cell hemostatic function: platelet interactions, increased tissue factor expression and fibrinolysis regulator release.

Puumala virus (PUUV) infection causes over 5000 cases of hemorrhagic fever in Europe annually and can influence the hemostatic balance extensively. Infection might lead to hemorrhage, while a recent study showed an increased risk of myocardial infarction during or shortly after PUUV infection. The mechanism by which this hantavirus influences the coagulation system remains unknown.

Time since onset of disease and individual clinical markers associate with transcriptional changes in uncomplicated dengue.

Background: Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes viral haemorrhagic fever that is characterized by extensive activation of the immune system. The aim of this study is to investigate the kinetics of the transcriptome signature changes during the course of disease and the association of genes in these signatures with clinical parameters.

Methodology/principle Findings: Sequential whole blood samples from DENV infected patients in Jakarta were profiled using affymetrix microarrays, which were analysed using principal component analysis, limma, gene set analysis, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis.