Mendelian Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Disease Caused by a Novel Founder IL12B Mutation in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease (MSMD) is a rare primary immunodeficiency predisposing congenitally affected individuals to diseases caused by weakly virulent mycobacteria, such as Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine strains and environmental mycobacteria. IL-12p40 deficiency is a genetic etiology of MSMD resulting in impaired IL-12- and IL-23-dependent IFN-γ immunity. Most of the reported patients with IL-12p40 deficiency originate from Saudi Arabia (30 of 52) and carry the recurrent IL12B mutation c.

Encephalopathy and Axonal Neuropathy Associated With Infection: Response to Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy.

infection frequently presents as a self-limited process, however, severe cases and even fatalities have been reported. The authors present a case of infection associated with both encephalopathy and peripheral neuropathy that responded to intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of related to encephalitis and peripheral axonal neuropathy.

HIV-Care Outcome in Saudi Arabia; a Longitudinal Cohort.

Background: Clinical characteristics of HIV-1 infection in people inhabiting Western, Sub-Saharan African, and South-East Asian countries are well recognized. However, very little information is available with regard to HIV-1 infection and treatment outcome in MENA countries including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

Methods: Clinical, demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of 602 HIV-1 infected patients followed in the adult Infectious Diseases Clinic of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a tertiary referral center were longitudinally collected from 1989 to 2010.

Inherited IL-12p40 deficiency: genetic, immunologic, and clinical features of 49 patients from 30 kindreds.

Autosomal recessive interleukin (IL)-12 p40 (IL-12p40) deficiency is a rare genetic etiology of mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease (MSMD). We report the genetic, immunologic, and clinical features of 49 patients from 30 kindreds originating from 5 countries (India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia). There are only 9 different mutant alleles of the IL12B gene: 2 small insertions, 3 small deletions, 2 splice site mutations, and 1 large deletion, each causing a frameshift and leading to a premature stop codon, and 1 nonsense mutation.

Antiretroviral resistance in HIV-infected Saudi children failing first-line highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Background And Objectives: The use of a potent combination of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, so-called highly active ARV therapy (HAART), has dramatically improved the quality of life and overall survival of children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. However, these benefits can be compromised by the development of drug resistance. Our objectives were to analyze the prevalence and pattern of HIV-drug resistance among HIV-infected children failing first-line HAART.

Lethal Legionella infection in an immunocompromised child: first reported case in the Middle East.

Legionnaires disease continues to be underreported in the Middle East--a reflection of underdiagnosis, both clinically and by laboratory investigations. We draw the attention to this unusual cause of occasionally fatal, yet severe, pneumonia by reporting an immunocompromised infant who succumbed to Legionella pneumophila pneumonia. The urinary test for Legionella antigen was positive, and this was then confirmed by a bronchoalveolar fluid culture.

Revisiting human IL-12Rβ1 deficiency: a survey of 141 patients from 30 countries.

Interleukin-12 receptor β1 (IL-12Rβ1) deficiency is the most common form of Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease (MSMD). We undertook an international survey of 141 patients from 102 kindreds in 30 countries. Among 102 probands, the first infection occurred at a mean age of 2.

Human immunodeficiency virus infection in Saudi Arabian children: transmission, clinical manifestations and outcome.

Background: Vertical transmission from mother to infant is the most common mode of transmission of HIV infection in children. Data on pediatric HIV in the Middle East and Gulf region are scarce. We describe the spectrum, characteristics and outcome of HIV infection in Saudi children.

Typing of human cytomegalovirus clinical isolates from Saudi patients by PCR-RFLP.

Background: Information on strain types of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) isolates from Saudi Arabian patients is lacking.

Materials And Methods: 80 clinical isolates of HCMV from Saudi Arabian patients were analyzed by PCR amplification of three regions (DNA polymerase, glycoprotein B, and glycoprotein H) of the virus genome. The resultant amplicons (2.

Pyogenic bacterial infections in humans with IRAK-4 deficiency.

Members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) superfamily share an intracytoplasmic Toll-IL-1 receptor (TIR) domain, which mediates recruitment of the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK) complex via TIR-containing adapter molecules. We describe three unrelated children with inherited IRAK-4 deficiency. Their blood and fibroblast cells did not activate nuclear factor kappaB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and failed to induce downstream cytokines in response to any of the known ligands of TIR-bearing receptors.

Impaired response to interferon-alpha/beta and lethal viral disease in human STAT1 deficiency.

The receptors for interferon-alpha/beta (IFN-alpha/beta) and IFN-gamma activate components of the Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) signaling pathway, leading to the formation of at least two transcription factor complexes. STAT1 interacts with STAT2 and p48/IRF-9 to form the transcription factor IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3). STAT1 dimers form gamma-activated factor (GAF).

Inherited interleukin-12 deficiency: IL12B genotype and clinical phenotype of 13 patients from six kindreds.

Interleukin-12 (IL12) is a cytokine that is secreted by activated phagocytes and dendritic cells and that induces interferon-gamma production by natural-killer and T lymphocytes. It consists of two subunits, p35 and p40, which are encoded by IL12A and IL12B, respectively. The first reported patient with a genetic cytokine disorder was a Pakistani child, who was homozygous for a large loss-of-function deletion (g.

Current status and changing trends of antimicrobial resistance in Saudi Arabia.

Due to modern travel and ease of spread of infections, it is desirable to widen knowledge of susceptibility of common bacterial isolates from different parts of the world for optimal clinical management and control programs. Over the past decades, antimicrobial resistance has emerged in all kinds of micro-organisms worldwide including Saudi Arabia. This phenomenon is primarily due to increasing antibiotic use and misuse in humans, animals and agriculture.

Acrophialophora fusispora brain abscess in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: review of cases and taxonomy.

A 12-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia was referred to King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. The diagnosis without central nervous system (CNS) involvement was confirmed on admission, and chemotherapy was initiated according to the Children Cancer Group (CCG) 1882 protocol for high-risk-group leukemia. During neutropenia amphotericin B (AMB) (1 mg/kg of body weight/day) was initiated for presumed fungal infection when a computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest revealed multiple nodular densities.

Simplified high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of gentamicin sulfate in a microsample of plasma: comparison with fluorescence polarization immunoassay.

The authors describe a simplified high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of gentamicin sulfate (GEN) in microsamples of plasma using 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC) as a derivatizing agent and neomycin sulfate as the internal standard (IS). The drug and IS were separated on a 4 microm (particle size), 8 x 100 mm Nova-Pak C18 radial compression cartridge using a mixture of 84.5% acetonitrile and 15.

Influenza viruses in children attending major referral center in Saudi Arabia.

Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.