Does vaginal irrigation with saline solution in women with infectious vaginitis contribute to the clinical and microbiological results of antibiotic therapy?

Aim: To compare the clinical and microbiological results between patients with infectious vaginitis receiving vaginal irrigation with saline or no irrigation before standard antibiotic therapy.

Methods: Women with vaginitis (n = 109) were randomized to receive vaginal irrigation with saline or no irrigation before standard antibiotic therapy. The vaginal symptoms perceived by subjects and clinical findings were assessed with a standardized scale during four follow-up visits, and Gram stain Nugent scores and vaginal fluid cultures were analyzed at each visit.

School-based deworming programme in Sanliurfa, Turkey: changing from externally funding phase to self-sufficient phase.

In Sanliurfa, Turkey, externally funded temporary deworming activities have led to an internally funded self-sufficient programme in 2004-05 academic year. A total of 200,000 doses of mebendazole were distributed to schoolchildren, absentee children and small children and women through both schools and health centres. We interviewed 64 representative teachers, 82 administrative teachers, 112 schoolchildren and 108 parents using questionnaires, department interviews and focus groups discussions.

The diagnosis of malaria and identification of plasmodium species by polymerase chain reaction in Turkey.

More than half of the world's population is exposed to malaria in approximately 100 countries. Rapid diagnosis and correct treatment of cases are the main objectives of control programs in malaria endemic areas. We have developed a PCR method to determine the presence of plasmodium DNA in blood.

Two cases of rarely recognized infection with Entamoeba moshkovskii.

We report two cases (a 36-year-old woman and 2-year-old girl) infected with Entamoeba moshkovskii in Turkey. Entamoeba moshkovskii was identified and distinguished from the morphologically identical parasites E. histolytica and E.

Community perception of school-based deworming program in Sanliurfa, Turkey.

This article presents an evaluation of the community perception of the recently implemented School Based Health Program, which delivered anthelmintics to 96,000 schoolchildren in Sanliurfa, Turkey. One hundred forty-four parents and 140 teachers were interviewed through questionnaires, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews. The evaluation indicated that most of the parents and teachers reported that the program was beneficial as it led to improvement in children's health and well being.

[The results of a control program carried out on school children for intestinal parasites in Sanliurfa province, Turkey between the years of 2001 and 2005].

This paper presents a school-based deworming program carried out from 2001-2005. It began with baseline studies in 2001 which indicated that intestinal helminth infection was endemic among schoolchildren with a prevalence of 80%in shantytown schools and 53% in apartment district schools. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most frequently detected helminth (45%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (25-30%) and Hymenolepsis nana (10-15%) and Taenia species (5%).

Relationship between levels of DNA damage in lymphocytes and histopathological severity of chronic hepatitis C and various clinical forms of hepatitis B.

Background And Aim: A significant proportion of cancer is attributable to DNA damage caused by chronic infection and inflammation. Because both hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV, respectively) cause chronic infection and inflammatory disease, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether there is a difference in peripheral DNA damage in patients with chronic HCV compared with patients with chronic HBV; and whether there is an association in the level of peripheral DNA damage with a natural history of HBV infection.

Methods: Twenty patients with chronic hepatitis C, 20 patients with chronic hepatitis B, 11 patients with cirrhosis secondary to hepatitis B, 12 inactive hepatitis B s antigen (HBsAg) carriers and 21 healthy subjects were included in the study.

Comparison of two methods (microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) for the diagnosis of amebiasis.

Diagnosis of amebiasis is usually performed on a clinical basis alone in most endemic countries having limited economic resources. This epidemiological study was conducted using modern diagnostic tests for amebiasis in the southeastern region of Turkey, an endemic area for amebiasis. The population of this study included patients with symptomatic diarrhea/dysentery attending both Yuzuncu Yil University, Van and Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.

Demographic and parasitic infection status of schoolchildren and sanitary conditions of schools in Sanliurfa, Turkey.

Background: The design and development of school health programmes will require information at demographic characteristics of schoolchildren and the major health burdens of the school-age group, the opportunities for intervention and the appropriateness of the available infrastructure. This study aims to analyse demographic and parasitic infections status of schoolchildren and sanitary conditions of schools in Sanliurfa province of south-eastern Turkey.

Method: Three primary schools were randomly selected in the shantytown, apartment and rural districts.

Antimonial therapy induces circulating proinflammatory cytokines in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between antimonial therapy and circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Patients were treated with conventional chemotherapy by using pentavalent antimonium salts (Glucantime) for 3 weeks. Circulating plasma levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) were determined for CL patients and healthy subjects before and 3 weeks after the treatment was started.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sanliurfa: epidemiologic and clinical features of the last four years (1997-2000).

Background: Sanliurfa is located in south-east Anatolia, the region with the largest focus of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Turkey. The present study was designed to determine the epidemiological and clinical patterns of cases of CL in the Sanliurfa area over a period of 4 years (1997-2000).

Methods: 2120 CL cases attending the Harrankapi in this study.