Presence in Dental Unit Waterlines: A Cultural and Molecular Investigation in the West Bank, Palestine.

A bacterium is ubiquitous in water distribution systems, including dental unit waterlines (DUWLs). Legionellosis is atypical pneumonia, including Legionnaires' disease (LD) and the less acute form of Pontiac fever. Legionellosis occurs as a result of inhalation/aspiration of aerosolized -contaminated water by susceptible patients, health workers, and dentists.

Cytotoxicity, Intracellular Replication, and Contact-Dependent Pore Formation of Genotyped Environmental Isolates from Hospital Water Systems in the West Bank, Palestine.

is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease. Due to the hot climate and intermittent water supply, the West Bank, Palestine, can be considered a high-risk area for this often fatal atypical pneumonia. occurs in biofilms of natural and man-made freshwater environments, where it infects and replicates intracellularly within protozoa.

Biogeography and Environmental Drivers of Abundance and Genotype Composition Across the West Bank: Relevance of a Genotype-Based Ecology for Understanding Occurrence.

The West Bank can be considered as a high-risk area for prevalence in drinking water due to high ambient temperature, intermittent water supply, frequent pressure loss, and storage of drinking water in roof containers. To assess occurrence of species, especially , in the drinking water of the West Bank, the drinking water distribution systems of eight hospitals were sampled over a period of 2.3 years covering the seasonal cycle and the major geographic regions.

Characterization of Populations by Multilocus Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MLVA) Genotyping from Drinking Water and Biofilm in Hospitals from Different Regions of the West Bank.

The West Bank can be considered a high-risk area for Legionnaires' disease (LD) due to its hot climate, intermittent water supply and roof storage of drinking water. , mostly , are responsible for LD, a severe, community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. To date, no extensive assessment of spp and using cultivation in combination with molecular approaches in the West Bank has been published.

Comparison of in situ sequence type analysis of Legionella pneumophila in respiratory tract secretions and environmental samples of a hospital in East Jerusalem.

Legionella pneumophila genotyping is important for epidemiological investigation of nosocomial and community-acquired outbreaks of legionellosis. The prevalence of legionellosis in pneumonia patients in the West Bank was monitored for the first time, and the sequence types (STs) from respiratory samples were compared with STs of environmental samples from different wards of the hospital. Sputum (n = 121) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) (n = 74) specimens were cultured for L.

Mental health and quality of life of elderly people in the Bethlehem district: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The focus of this study was quality of life and mental health in elderly people living in the Bethlehem district. The aim of this study was to identify the most prevalent mental health problems and how they affect quality of life.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in June and July, 2010.