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A pregnant woman was diagnosed with Rubella re-infection in Northern Cyprus. The patient was unaware of her pregnancy when she sought medical attention for the pain, stiffness, and numbness in the fingers and hand joints without the presence of a rash. Following the confirmation of pregnancy as part of a routine check, Rubella IgM and Rubella IgG antibodies were assessed. Her Rubella IgM was in the grey zone reference units of the tests performed with the presence of Rubella IgG supporting and reinfection. Thus, further Rubella IgG avidity and Western blot were performed. Rubella IgG avidity was borderline. Hence, abortion was advised following the test results. Post-abortion, the Rubella IgM antibodies remained persistent for over 12 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a common illness that causes skin lesions, principally ulcerations, on exposed regions of the body. Although neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are typically found in tropical areas, they have recently become more common along Africa's northern coast, particularly in Libya. The devastation of healthcare infrastructure during the 2011 war and the following conflicts, as well as governmental apathy, may be causal factors associated with this catastrophic event. The main objective of this study is to evaluate alternative diagnostic strategies for recognizing amastigotes of cutaneous leishmaniasis parasites at various stages using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The research is additionally aimed at testing different classification models employing a dataset of ultra-thin skin smear images of Leishmania parasite-infected people with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The pre-trained deep learning models including EfficientNetB0, DenseNet201, ResNet101, MobileNetv2, and Xception are used for the cutaneous leishmania parasite diagnosis task. To assess the models' effectiveness, we employed a five-fold cross-validation approach to guarantee the consistency of the models' outputs when applied to different portions of the full dataset. Following a thorough assessment and contrast of the various models, DenseNet-201 proved to be the most suitable choice. It attained a mean accuracy of 0.9914 along with outstanding results for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, F1-score, Matthew's correlation coefficient, and Cohen's Kappa coefficient. The DenseNet-201 model surpassed the other models based on a comprehensive evaluation of these key classification performance metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: There are two main purposes of microbial monitoring of the inanimate hospital environment. One of them is to monitor hygiene standards, and the second is to determine the presence of nosocomial pathogens. This study was aimed to investigate the indoor environment of the different departments of a university hospital. METHODS: The prospective study was conducted in a university hospital, a teaching hospital with 143 beds and 30 ICU beds, and a hospital with 6 different wards in Northern Cyprus. Active air sampling was done by using an air IDEAL 3P device. Air samples were taken at 38 points defined before in different parts of the hospital. RESULTS: Our results showed a low level of microorganisms' numbers in microbial airborne communities in a university hospital. Moreover, our results indicated that the temperature of the hospital's indoor environment is not significantly related to the airborne microbial community. On the other hand, our results indicate that the Aspergillus species were mostly isolated in the drug preparation room. CONCLUSION: The studies have shown that one of the causes of hospital infections is the microorganisms entering the airborne microbial communities. In this case, epidemiology and pathogenesis of airborne microbial communities should be understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of Brucella canis (B. canis) in humans is unknown in Northern Cyprus. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of B. canis and Brucella abortus (B. abortus) infection in human sera and evaluated the results obtained by agglutination-based techniques using standardized antigens made from B. canis comparatively. All of the subjects were negative in terms of Rose-Bengal plate test. Undiluted serum samples were initially screened by rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT), and those which were found positive were retested in the dilution of 1/25-1/200. Confirmation of the positive results was performed by using 2-mercaptoethanol standard agglutination test (SAT). The test antigen was prepared from the less mucoid M (-) variant of B. canis, and 1/1,048 titered dog antiserum was used as positive control. In 225 serum samples, 3.6% (8/225) was positive by B. canis M (-) RSAT, 4.4 % (10/225) was positive by B. canis M (-) indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA). 5.3% (12/225) was positive by B. abortus S99 RSAT and 9.8% (22/225) was positive by B. abortus S99 iELISA. Nine samples were positive by both B. abortus S99 RSAT and B. abortus S99 iELISA. Seven samples were positive by both B. canis M (-) RSAT and B. canis M (-) iELISA. One patient was positive by all methods. It is important to evaluate patient samples with RSAT and iELISA. Until the notification system gives better results to the Ministry of Health, in order to reach the real data for Northern Cyprus, multicenter prevalence determination studies should be done for future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gazi Medical Journal is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), including methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), can produce biofilm leading to increased morbidity and mortality in hospital infections. Antibiotic resistance is an inherent feature of bacterial biofilms, and the formation of biofilms is more widespread in MRSA. This study aimed to reveal the phenotypic biofilm-forming abilities of S. aureus isolates and to investigate the relationship of antibiotic resistance of biofilm-forming S. aureus with biofilm formation. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the microbiology laboratory at the Near East University Hospital in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. A total of 67 non-duplicative samples (wound/pus, sputum, aspirate, blood and urine) for the study were collected between January 2020 and April 2021 from samples of inpatients and outpatients from various hospital departments. VITEK 2 system was used for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing, biofilm formation was evaluated using Congo red agar (CRA). Results: It was observed that 56 (84.3%) of 67 S. aureus isolates cultured on CRA produced biofilm, while the remaining 11 (15.7%) were not biofilm producers. A statistically significant relationship was found between methicillin resistance and biofilm formation in S. aureus isolates. Accordingly, a significantly higher biofilm formation was observed in MRSAs compared to those with negative methicillin resistance (92.1% vs. 72.4%, p=0.034). A high proportion of isolates of S. aureus showed susceptibility towards tigecycline (100%) and gentamycin (100%). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that methicillin-resistant strains produced more biofilms and exhibited a high degree of resistance to most antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria is a serious infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites that still affects worldwide. The most common species in the world is Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax). Vivax malaria is characterized by hypnozoides forms that remain latent in the liver and cause relapses months or even years later. In addition, prolonged incubation periods are mentioned in P. vivax infection. In this study, two malaria cases who applied to our hospital with an interval of eight days and diagnosed with P. vivax were examined. One of our patients come to our country 7 months ago and the other 12 months ago from Pakistan and they did not go abroad again during this time. Neither had a previous history of malaria. In our country, malaria infection has been eradicated as a result of the destruction of Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit Plasmodium spp. since 1950, and no endemic malaria cases have been encountered since then. Despite this, it is thought that the increase in import malaria cases together with the changing mosquito fauna in recent years poses a risk in terms of endemic malaria cases. As a result, more accurate and precise data will be obtained by conducting up-to-date research and surveillance studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Mediterranean island of Cyprus has a high rate of human transit as a result of tourism, human trafficking, and migration, which could contribute to the rate of HIV infection. The island is divided into 2 states - the northern portion is mainly populated by Turkish-Cypriots, and the southern portion is populated by Greek-Cypriots. The aim of this study was to assess the dynamics of HIV infection in both segments of Cyprus using a mathematical model. Materials and Methods: Data of HIV-positive individuals diagnosed during the period 1997-2018 in northern Cyprus were obtained from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ministry of Health database, yielding a total of 129 cases, and data for the southern region, the Republic of Cyprus, were retrieved from a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) 2013 report and ECDC/World Health Organization 2017 data. The total number of reported HIV infections was 1057. A mathematical model was used to evaluate the current and future HIV infection rate. Results: Stability analysis of the equilibrium point - disease-free or endemic - was conducted using the Lyapunov function. The basic reproduction number, represented as R0, is a measure of the potential for disease spread and serves as a threshold for stability. The R0 value was 0.83 in northern Cyprus and 0.040 in southern Cyprus. An R0 indicated a disease-free equilibrium. Conclusion: The calculations suggest that there is no current HIV epidemic on either part of the island; however, the model predicted a significant increase in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leishmaniasis is vector-borne disease caused by a protozoan endo-parasite species belonging to the genus Leishmania that live in the blood and tissues of the host. Basically the animals are infected. However, human population who live in the same environment are under risk. Destructive results on the skin, mucous membranes, and visceral organs are clinical manifestations mostly observed. Overall annual prevalence of theLeishmaniasis is approximately 12 million people and the size of the populationat risk is approximately 350 million. On the other hand, it is expected that global warming will cause to increase in the number of vectors of the disease and probablyin the number of countries. Many plant extracts and the natural compounds isolated from the terrestrial plants and marine organisms have been evaluated for their antileismanial activities. The genus Cyclamen is one of the flowering plants that belongs to the family Primulaceae, and comprises numerous species, many of which are well-known for their ornamental value. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, some of the Cyclamen speciesare used traditionally for their potential biological activities. Triterpene-type saponins, flavonoids, and alkaloids are the major groups among the phytochemical constituents reported. This study focused on the chemical constituents and antileismanial activities of the tubers of C. rohlfsianum which is an endemic plant in the flora of Libya. It grows especially in limestone cracks, up to 450 m altitude, and the tuber extracts aretraditionally used against Leishmania infections. The ethanolic extract of the tubers has been fractionated using reversed-phase silica gel (LiChroprep-C18). The antileishmanial activities of the fractions and as well as pure compounds isolated fromthe fractions have been studied. The structures of the isolated potent leishmanicidal compounds were established using 1D (1H, and 13CNMR, DEPT-135) and 2D-NMR (COSY, HSQC, and HMBC) experiments and HR-MS measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes & Antimicrobials is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes & Antimicrobials is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori infects approximately half of the population worldwide. In our study, we aimed to investigate the correlation between the faeces antigen rapid test, which is one of the methods used in the diagnosis of H. pylori, and those with a positive diagnosis of H. pylori obtained from histopathological examination reports on stomach biopsy specimens. Materials and Methods: This study included 1,227 patients who applied to the Near East University Hospital between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019 and were examined with a H. pylori antigen rapid test in the microbiology laboratory. The patients’ age, gender, complaints and diagnosis were obtained by retrospective examination of H. pylori antigen test in human faecal specimens results and histopathology reports. Results: It was determined that 67 (5.5%) of 1,227 patients whose stool H. pylori antigen rapid test were examined were H. pylori positive. Biopsy was performed in 344 (28%) of the patients, and according to histopathology reports, 84 (24.4%) of the patients who underwent biopsy were found to be H. pylori positive. Conclusion: The sensitivity of H. pylori antigen rapid test in faecal specimens was 79.7% and the specificity was 100%. In our study, in which the results were evaluated retrospectively, it was concluded that the H. pylori stool Ag test may use in the detection of H. pylori and infection because it was non-invasive, cheap, easily applicable and gave positive results close to histopathological results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]