Carriage of Haemophilus influenzae in the oropharynx of young children and molecular epidemiology of the isolates after fifteen years of H. influenzae type b vaccination in Italy.

Background: Haemophilus influenzae is an important pathogen able to cause a wide spectrum of diseases in children. Colonization of the upper respiratory tract is a risk factor for developing disease. This study aimed to investigate the oropharyngeal carriage rate of H.

Carriage of Haemophilus influenzae is associated with pneumococcal vaccination in Italian children.

Background: The pneumococcal population changes observed after the implementation of children immunization with pneumococcal conjugative vaccines (PCV) might have affected the composition of the microbial flora inhabiting the same ecological niche of Streptococcus pneumoniae. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of PCV immunization, (PCV7 or PCV13), on S. pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae colonization in young children in Italy.

Genital carriage of the genus Haemophilus in pregnancy: species distribution and antibiotic susceptibility.

Recent reports have hypothesized that colonization of the maternal genital tract with non-capsulated Haemophilus influenzae could result in neonatal invasive disease. In this study, genital carriage of the genus Haemophilus was investigated in 510 pregnant women attending an Italian hospital for routine controls. Overall, vaginal carriage of the genus Haemophilus was 9.

A longitudinal study of streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in healthy children in the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine era.

Few epidemiological data are available after the introduction of the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13) in 2010. We performed repeat nasopharyngeal swabs and evaluated the serotype distribution of Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) and its association with PCV13 vaccine status in healthy Italian children aged 3-59 months. SP serotypes were assessed by the Quellung reaction.

Interferon-ribavirin therapy induces serum antibodies determining 'rods and rings' pattern in hepatitis C patients.

A cytoplasmic antigen associated to inosine-5'-monophosphatedehydrogenase 2 eliciting specific antibodies (antirods and rings, RR) has been identified in patients with chronic hepatitis C who were exposed to pegylated interferon (PI) and ribavirin (RBV). The significance of anti-RR in these patients merits to be investigated. Sera from 88 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients undergoing PI-RBV therapy were analysed for the presence of RR pattern by indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 substrate (Inova Diagnostics, San Diego, CA, USA).

Serotype distribution and antimicrobial susceptibilities of nasopharyngeal isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae from healthy children in the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine era.

Few epidemiological data are available since the introduction of 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13) in 2010. We conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) nasopharyngeal carriage in healthy Italian infants and young children and to evaluate the impact of PCV13 on pneumococcal colonization. In the trimester September-December 2011 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from healthy children aged 3-59 months presenting for routine well careat 16 primary care pediatricians in Milan.

Pneumococcal carriage in young children one year after introduction of the 13-valent conjugate vaccine in Italy.

Background: In mid 2010, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was replaced by the 13-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV13) for childhood immunization in Italy. Our objective in this study was to obtain a snapshot of pneumococcal carriage frequency, colonizing serotypes, and antibiotic resistance in healthy children in two Italian cities one year after PCV13 was introduced.

Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from 571 children aged 0-5 years from November 2011-April 2012.

The status of invasive pneumococcal disease among children younger than 5 years of age in north-west Lombardy, Italy.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of invasive infection in young children causing morbidity and mortality. Active surveillance systems of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) are recommended worldwide. The aim of this study was to estimate the current incidence of IPD and to describe the serotype distribution and the antimocrobial susceptibility of S.

Eradication of Chlamydia trachomatis parallels symptom regression in chronic bacterial prostatitis patients treated with a fluoroquinolone-macrolide combination.

To investigate the association between eradication of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and symptom regression in chronic prostatitis, 55 symptomatic patients were subjected to segmented tests to localise CT in first voided urine (VB1), prostatic secretions (EPS), post-massage voided (VB3) or semen specimens. Patients were divided in three treatment groups: the 'urethral involvement' group ('U': VB1 positive, EPS/VB3/Semen negative) was treated with 500 mg day(-1) azithromycin for 3 days. The 'prostatitis' group ('P': VB1 negative, EPS/VB3/semen positive) with 4-week levofloxacin-azithromycin combination.

Prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Materials And Methods: A group of 399 patients with symptoms suggesting prostatitis without urethral discharge attending an outpatient Prostatitis Clinic was considered. All were evaluated by the same urologist according to a protocol comprising medical history, physical and transrectal ultrasound examination.

Efficacy of repeated cycles of combination therapy for the eradication of infecting organisms in chronic bacterial prostatitis.

A total of 137 patients with a diagnosis of chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP) were subjected to combination pharmacological therapy with antibacterial agents (ciprofloxacin/azithromycin), alpha-blockers (alfuzosin) and Serenoa repens extracts. Of those, 88 patients (64.2%) showed microbiological eradication at the completion of a 6-week cycle of therapy.

Microscopic and microbiological findings for evaluation of chronic prostatitis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the significance of different diagnostic methods for detecting prostatic inflammation/infection.

Materials And Methods: A group of 233 with symptoms suggesting prostatitis without urethral discharge attending an outpatient Prostatitis Clinic was considered. All were evaluated by the same urologist according to a protocol comprising medical history, physical and transrectal ultrasound examination.

Cytokine levels in sputum of cystic fibrosis patients before and after antibiotic therapy.

It is not known whether cytokine levels in sputum may be used as outcome measures after parenteral antibiotic therapy in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Here, we assessed the effects of antibiotic therapy on cytokine levels in sputum and serum obtained from young CF patients. Thirty-two CF patients (14 females; mean age, 18.

Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test: a method to confirm eradication in children.

We evaluated an antigen-based stool assay as an indicator of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) status during treatment aimed at eradicating Hp in 22 Hp-positive patients and 63 negative control patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay was 100% and 70%, respectively, when the manufacturer's cutoff was used. When we used the cutoff calculated from a receiver operating characteristic curve, the specificity of this test increased.

Burkholderia cepacia complex in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis patients: identification of a cluster of epidemic lineages.

This study was performed in order to compare Burkholderia cepacia complex strains from cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF patients at the genomovar, genetic and epidemiological levels. A total of 92 B. cepacia respiratory tract isolates were obtained from patients attending the following CF centres: Catania and Palermo, Sicily; Gualdo Tadino, Central Italy, and Milan, Northern Italy.

Characterization of non-type B Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated from patients with invasive disease. The HI Study Group.

Forty-one non-type b Haemophilus influenzae isolates from cases of invasive disease were characterized. By PCR capsular genotyping, 33 nonencapsulated strains, 4 type f isolates, and 4 b(-) strains were identified. By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, the nonencapsulated isolates exhibited great genetic heterogenicity, whereas the type f and the b(-) strains seemed to have a clonal spread.

Escherichia coli: effect of fosfomycin trometamol on some urovirulence factors.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the interference of fosfomycin trometanol (F.T.), at subinhibitory concentrations (1/4 and 1/8 MICs), on some urovirulence factors of Escherichia coli (12 strains).

Antimicrobial resistance among clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae in northern Italy. Collaborative Study on Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Only scanty data are available on the susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae in Italy. The in vitro activity of ampicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, chloramphenicol, erythromycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole against 327 strains of Haemophilus influenzae (55 encapsulated, 272 non-typeable) isolated from adults and children in northern Italy, between January 1984 and December 1989, was compared. Patients were affected by meningitis or other invasive infections, conjunctivitis, otitis, sinusitis, pneumonia or bronchitis.

In-vitro susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae to loracarbef (LY 163892) and other oral antibiotics. Collaborative Study Group on Pediatric Infectious Disease in Lombardy.

Data on susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae are scanty in Italy. We compared the activity of loracarbef (Ly 163892), a new carbacephem, with that of 4 other agents against 265 strains of H. influenzae (46 type b, 219 nontypable) isolated from adults and children at Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento of Milano, between 1/1/84 and 1/1/89, and also from 7 children at pediatric departments in Lombardy during 1988.

[Effect of the emotional state on immune functions: study on firstborn children on the occasion of the birth of a sibling].

The eventuality that a particular emotional involvement could weigh heavily on a person's psychophysical welfare, assuming a complementary role in the appearance of clinically noticeable pathologies (infections, allergies, neoplasms) has been object of several hypotheses which have been confirmed in researches on animals. Our research, by examining an unavoidable and surely natural situation like that one of the birth of a brother for a first born, a particularly severe for what affectivity is concerned, had the aim to evidence if there were some biological expressions, able to quantitatively settle the eventual immune functions' alterations indicative of a preexistent equilibrium. With this purpose have been examined several biological expressions indicative of immune functions (B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, NK cells, lymphocyte transformation, chemotaxis, phagocytosis, C3 Complement fraction) in three first-born children with 2 to 3 years of age, whose mothers had in course a second pregnancy, during a period of about 20 months (from III pregnancy month to XIV month of age of the brother).

In-vitro postantibiotic effects of miocamycin and erythromycin on gram-positive cocci.

The capability of miocamycin to induce a postantibiotic effect (PAE) on a Group A Streptococcus beta-haemolyticus clinical isolate and on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 has been studied. Erythromycin was chosen as a reference molecule. The exposure time to antibiotics was 90 min.

[Validity limits of data on secretory IgA].

Secretory IgA (sIgA) in saliva, and sometimes in expectoration, have been titrated in various groups of persons, both in pediatric age and in adults, by means of radial immunodiffusion technic. The aim was to find differences among sIgA levels in the course of respiratory tract infections, both acute and chronic, in consequence of treatment with Erythromycin (in children and in adults) in consequence of surgical intervention (in adults). Adjunctive aim was to establish if it was possible to recognize hereditary of the character that remark the predisposition to produce high sIgA quantities.