Coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) is a pulmonary and systemic fungal disease with increasing incidence and expanding endemic areas. The differentiation of etiologic agents Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii remains problematic in the clinical laboratories as conventional PCR and satellite typing schemes are not facile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFculture-positive rodents and shrews were reported in different territories across Georgia during 14 of 17 years of investigations conducted for the period of 1981-1997. In total, was isolated from 2052 rodents (15 species) and 33 shrews. Most isolates were obtained from , , , and spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnthrax is endemic in Georgia, as are multiple zoonotic poxviruses. Poxvirus-associated infections share some clinical manifestations and exposure risks with anthrax, and so it is important to distinguish between the two. With this in mind, an archived collection of anthrax-negative DNA samples was retrospectively screened for poxviruses, and of the 148 human samples tested, 64 were positive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a bacterial species within the genus , mostly known as a human enteric pathogen, but also recognized as a zoonotic agent widespread in domestic pigs. Findings of this bacterium in wild animals are very limited. The current report presents results of the identification of cultures of from dead bats after a massive bat die-off in a cave in western Georgia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors report isolation and identification of two strains of bacteria belonging to the genus from a human patient with aortic stenosis from a rural area of the country of Georgia. The microorganisms were isolated from aortic heart valve. Two isolates with slightly distinct colony morphologies were harvested after sub-culturing from an original agar plate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBat research networks and viral surveillance are assumed to be at odds due to seemingly conflicting research priorities. Yet human threats that contribute to declines in bat populations globally also lead to increased transmission and spread of bat-associated viruses, which may pose a threat to global health and food security. In this review, we discuss the importance of and opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborations between bat research networks and infectious disease experts to tackle shared threats that jeopardize bat conservation as well as human and animal health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKlebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most frequent cause of health care associated infections. Dissemination of carbapenem-resistant (CR) K. pneumoniae infections significantly trend toward patient morbidity, length of stay and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBartonella infections were investigated in seven species of bats from four regions of the Republic of Georgia. Of the 236 bats that were captured, 212 (90%) specimens were tested for Bartonella infection. Colonies identified as Bartonella were isolated from 105 (49.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrucellosis, which is among the most widespread global zoonotic diseases, is endemic in the nation of Georgia and causes substantial human morbidity and economic loss. Here, we report whole-genome sequences of three and seven isolates from cattle, sheep, and humans that represent genetic groups discovered in Georgia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple factors help shape the infant intestinal microbiota early in life. Environmental conditions such as the presence of bioactive molecules from breast milk dictate gut microbial growth and survival. Infants also receive distinct, personalized, bacterial exposures leading to differential colonization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Brucellosis is an endemic disease in the country of Georgia. According to the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC), the average annual number of brucellosis cases was 161 during 2008-2012. However, the true number of cases is thought to be higher due to underreporting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Leishmaniasis includes multiple clinical syndromes, most notably visceral, cutaneous, and mucosal forms. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, is a potentially fatal disease endemic to large parts of Africa and Asia, and in South-Eastern Europe (Greece, Turkey, Georgia). Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by species of the L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeorgian Med News
October 2015
In 2009-2013, 851 cases of brucellosis were registered in Georgia. Most cases of brucellosis were found in eastern Georgia (91.3% of cases).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Brucellosis is considered as endemic zoonotic disease in the country of Georgia. However, the burden of the disease on a household level is not known. Therefore, this study sought to determine the benefits of active surveillance coupled to serological screening for the early detection of brucellosis among close contacts of brucellosis cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe recent discovery of genetically distinct hantaviruses in multiple species of shrews and moles prompted a further exploration of their host diversification by analyzing frozen, ethanol-fixed and RNAlater®-preserved archival tissues and fecal samples from 533 bats (representing seven families, 28 genera and 53 species in the order Chiroptera), captured in Asia, Africa and the Americas in 1981-2012, using RT-PCR. Hantavirus RNA was detected in Pomona roundleaf bats (Hipposideros pomona) (family Hipposideridae), captured in Vietnam in 1997 and 1999, and in banana pipistrelles (Neoromicia nanus) (family Vespertilionidae), captured in Côte d'Ivoire in 2011. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the full-length S- and partial M- and L-segment sequences using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods, demonstrated that the newfound hantaviruses formed highly divergent lineages, comprising other recently recognized bat-borne hantaviruses in Sierra Leone and China.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA previous surveillance study of human pathogens within ticks collected in the country of Georgia showed a relatively high infection rate for Rickettsia raoultii, R. slovaca, and R. aeschlimannii.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe TaqMan real-time PCR assay was developed from the Blastomyces dermatitidis BAD1 gene promoter. The assay identified all haplotypes of B. dermatitidis and five of six positive paraffin-embedded tissues.
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