Evaluation of liquid biphasic Granada medium and instant liquid biphasic Granada medium for group B streptococcus detection.

Introduction: Group B streptococci (GBS) are transmitted from the mother to the newborn. Prevention of neonatal infection is achieved by intrapartum prophylaxis given to mothers colonized with GBS at 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Materials And Methods: Liquid biphasic Granada medium (LB) and instant liquid biphasic Granada medium (ILB) were evaluated for GBS detection.

[Genital ulcers caused by sexually transmitted diseases: current therapies, diagnosis and their relevance in HIV pandemy].

The sexual transmitted pathogens associated with genital ulcers are Treponema pallidum, Haemophilus ducreyi, Calymmatobacterium granulomatis, Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes simplex virus type 1 or 2. Although geographic differences still exist, herpetic infections prevalence is growing worldwide as the most frequent ulcerative sexual transmitted disease. The failure of the many different used guidelines in achieving a sustained reduction in the number of new cases, in particular the WHO syndromic management, leads into an over treatment of bacterial agents and missing of viral agents.

Sexually transmitted infections in an African migrant population in Portugal: a base-line study.

Background: For geographical and recent historic reasons, Portugal is a gateway and home for immigration from sub-Saharan countries. Misconceptions related to these populations often lead to consider them as high-frequency clusters for dissemination of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Epidemiological evidence-based data is needed to elucidate these issues and baseline prevalence studies are the starting point for this.

Evaluation of the Treponema pallidum particle agglutination technique (TP.PA) in the diagnosis of neurosyphilis.

The Treponema pallidum particle agglutination technique (TP.PA) was evaluated, in comparison with the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test, microhemagglutination assay for Treponema pallidum antibodies (MHA-TP), and fluorescent treponemal antibody-ABS (FTA-Abs) test for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. We have studied 198 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with syphilis, including neurosyphilis, treated syphilis, and with other neurological manifestations than neurosyphilis.

[Mycoplasmas: what is the role in human infections?].

Mycoplasmas, the common denomination of the Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma genera, represent a unique and complex group of microorganisms that has been ignored by the majority of diagnostic laboratories, not only because of its fastidious growth, absence of commercial media and of procedures for a rapid diagnosis, but most of all due to a clinical perception established for many years that these microorganisms are of minor importance. Recently, this situation has changed, because there s a better understanding of mycoplasmas clinical importance, they have been recently associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), complications in pregnant women and their neonates and with rheumatological disorders, resulting in a need to cure infected persons. The development of laboratory techniques that allows their culture and identification has contributed for a clarification of the role of these microorganisms as etiological agents or as co-factor of specific diseases.

Prevalence and partial characterization of genotypes of the human TT virus infecting Portuguese individuals.

The prevalence and genotype distribution of human TT viruses (TTV) were analyzed in 312 Portuguese individuals. Detection of TTV DNA was carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) through the combined use of N22 and UTR-specific primers and revealed a prevalence of infection of 74%. Detection of TTV DNA was not statistically associated to the use of intravenous drugs, infection with HBV, HCV, HIV-1, HIV-1 viral load or CD4 cell count (in HIV-1 infected individuals).

Evaluation of an enzyme immunoassay technique for detection of antibodies against Treponema pallidum.

In the present study, the performance of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique (Eti-syphilis-G and Eti-syphilis-M; DiaSorin) for detection of Treponema pallidum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies for the laboratory diagnosis of syphilis was evaluated. Four hundred forty-one samples were studied. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA were 100 and 93%, respectively, compared with the results of a microhemagglutination assay for Treponema pallidum (MHA-TP) and 99.