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Serological screening for TORCH(Toxoplasma gondii [TOX], Rubella virus [RV], Cytomegalovirus [CMV], and Herpes simplex virus [HSV]) infections is an effective method for preventing congenital infections caused by TORCH pathogens.In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of TORCH infections in 17,807 infertile women of childbearing age in northwest China.We conducted serological detection of TORCH-pathogen-specific IgM and IgG antibodies. The seroprevalence of TORCH infections was statistically analyzed by applying χ2 and Fisher exact-probability tests to evaluate the differences among ages and across quarters of the year. The overall IgM/IgG seroprevalences of TOX, RV, CMV, HSV-1, and HSV-2 were 0.46/3.4%, 0.77/84.93%, 0.68/97.54%, 1.2/82.83%, and 0.62/10.04%, respectively. The positive rates for RV-IgM in women ≥ 40 years old were significantly higher than those for women 25-39 (P < 0.05) years of age. The seroprevalence of HSV1-IgM was higher in the third and fourth quarters of the year (seasons) (P < 0.001), and the seroprevalence of CMV-IgG was statistically significant between differences quarters (P = 0.017), and the seroprevalence of CMV-IgG in the first quarter was lower than that in the third and fourth quarters (Bonferroni correction, P = 0.009 > 0.0083), suggesting no statistically significant difference between the latter two groups. This study showed that in northwestern China the risk of acquiring primary infection by a TORCH pathogen among infertile women of childbearing age were still high, especially Toxoplasma gondii and Herpesvirus type 2 infection. Therefore, effective prevention strategies that include serological screening for TORCH should be implemented., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society for Reproductive Investigation.)

Background: A. baumannii is an important and common clinical pathogen, especially in the intensive care unit (ICU). This study aimed to characterize one hypervirulent A. baumannii strain in a patient with community-acquired pneumonia and herpes simplex type 1 virus infection., Methods: Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined using the Kirby-Bauer (K-B) and broth microdilution methods. Galleria mellonella infection model experiment was conducted. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed using the Illumina and Nanopore platforms. The resistance and virulence determinants were identified using the ABRicate program with ResFinder and the VFDB database. The capsular polysaccharide locus (K locus) and lipooligosaccharide outer core locus (OC locus) were identified using Kleborate with Kaptive. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using the BacWGSTdb server., Results: A. baumannii XH2146 strain belongs to ST10 Pas and ST447 Oxf . The strain was resistant to cefazolin, ciprofloxacin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Bautype and Kaptive analyses showed that XH2146 contains OCL2 and KL49. WGS analysis revealed that the strain harbored bla ADC-76 , bla OXA-68 , ant(3'')-IIa, tet(B), and sul2. Notably, tet(B) and sul2, both were located within a 114,700-bp plasmid (designated pXH2146-1). Virulence assay revealed A. baumannii XH2146 possessed higher virulence than A. baumannii AB5075 at 12 h. Comparative genomic analysis showed that A. baumannii ST447 strains were mainly isolated from the USA and exhibited a relatively close genetic relationship. Importantly, 11 strains were observed to carry bla OXA-58 ; bla OXA-23 was identified in 11 isolates and three ST447 A. baumannii strains harbored bla NDM-1 ., Conclusions: Early detection of community-acquired hypervirulent Acinetobacter baumannii strains is recommended to prevent their extensive spread in hospitals., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) causes a chronic, lifelong infection in >60% of adults. Multiple recent vaccine trials have failed, with viral diversity likely contributing to these failures. To understand HSV-1 diversity better, we comprehensively compared 20 newly sequenced viral genomes from China, Japan, Kenya, and South Korea with six previously sequenced genomes from the United States, Europe, and Japan. In this diverse collection of passaged strains, we found that one-fifth of the newly sequenced members share a gene deletion and one-third exhibit homopolymeric frameshift mutations (HFMs). Individual strains exhibit genotypic and potential phenotypic variation via HFMs, deletions, short sequence repeats, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms, although the protein sequence identity between strains exceeds 90% on average. In the first genome-scale analysis of positive selection in HSV-1, we found signs of selection in specific proteins and residues, including the fusion protein glycoprotein H. We also confirmed previous results suggesting that recombination has occurred with high frequency throughout the HSV-1 genome. Despite this, the HSV-1 strains analyzed clustered by geographic origin during whole-genome distance analysis. These data shed light on likely routes of HSV-1 adaptation to changing environments and will aid in the selection of vaccine antigens that are invariant worldwide.

Recently we demonstrated an ectopic expression of the human herpesvirus 1 thymidine kinase (HHV1-TK) gene by functioning of an intrinsic endogenous promoter in the transgenic rat (TG-rat), suggesting that HHV1 infection in humans induces expression of the TK gene with the ectopic promoter in the testis and results in accumulation of HHV1-TK protein, triggering male infertility similar to that in the TG-rat. Hence, in this study, we started to investigate a relationship between infection of herpesvirus and human male infertility. Semen was donated by Chinese male infertile patients (153 men, aged 21-49 years) with informed consent, followed by DNA preparation and analysis by PCR and DNA sequencing. Semen volume, sperm number and density, and sperm motility were examined. DNAs of HHV1, HHV4, HHV5 and HHV6 were confirmed by PCR, electrophoresis and DNA sequencing. Finally, virus DNA was identified in 59 patients (39%). The number of carriers was 39 (25%) for HHV1, 6 (4%) for HHV4, 33 (22%) for HHV5 and 3 (2%) for HHV6, respectively. Moreover, double-infection was found in 22 out of 59 specimens (37%), most of which were double-infection of HHV1 and HHV5 (15 out of 22 carriers). Though slight severity was present in some of the carriers, the relationship between virus infection and sperm impairment was not conclusive. Accordingly, it is essential to examine whether the viral HHV1-TK gene is expressed in the testis of the infertile human HHV carrier.

An epidemic of rash and fever illnesses suspected of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) occurred in Gansu Province of China in 2008, laboratory tests were performed in order to identify the pathogen that caused this epidemic. Eight clinical specimens collected from the 4 patients (each patient has throat swab and herpes fluid specimens) with rash and febrile illness, were inoculated onto RD and HEp-2 cells for virus isolation, and the viral nucleic acid was then extracted with the positive virus isolates, the dual-channel real-time reverse transcript-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect the nucleic acid of human enterovirus (HEV) in the viral isolates at the same time. For the viral isolates with the negative results of HEV, a sequence independent single primer amplification technique (SISPA) was used for "unknown pathogen" identification. Totally, 6 viral isolates were identified as herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Comprehensive analyses results of the clinical manifestations of the patients, epidemiological findings and laboratory test indicated that this epidemic of rash and febrile illness was caused by HSV-1. The differences among the gG region of 6 HSV-1 isolates at nucleotide level and amino acid level were all small, and the identities were up to 98. 8% and 97.9%, respectively, showing that this outbreak was caused by only one viral transmission chain of HSV-1. HSV-1 and other viruses that cause rash and febrile illnesses need differential diagnosis with HFMD. The etiology of rash and febrile illness is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the clinical symptoms and epidemiological data, the laboratory diagnosis is therefore critical.

Objective: This study was undertaken to describe the viral etiology and clinical features in patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) in Guangzhou., Methods: The nasopharyngeal and throat swabs were collected from 882 patients presenting with ILI between January and September, 2009. Viral pathogens were cultured and identified by immunofluorescence technique using the Shell-Vial method. The clinical data were statistically analyzed., Results: (1) Viral etiology. Of the 882 samples, 385 (43.7%) were confirmed to have at least one of the 9 different respiratory viruses detected. Among these viral isolates, 67.3% (259/385) were seasonal influenza A virus, 27.8% (107/385) were influenza B virus, and 1.3% (5/385) were human parainfluenza virus (PHIV) 1, 2, or 3. In addition, 2 cases (0.5%) of each adenovirus, HSV-1, enterovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were also found in the samples. Co-infections with more than one virus were revealed in 8 (2.1%) of 385 samples tested, among them 6 samples were mixture of influenza A and influenza B, 1 sample was positive for both influenza B virus and HPIV-3, and 1 was for both adenovirus and RSV. Seasonal influenza B virus appeared endemic between March and May, and seasonal influenza A virus became dominant between June and August. (2) Clinical features. The percentage of patients aged from 18-30 years was much higher than that of other age groups. The most common symptoms were moderate fever and sore throat, followed by cough. The percentage of upper respiratory infection and pneumonia was 88.4% (727/882) and 10.7% (95/882) respectively. Clinical features did not discriminate between patients with seasonal influenza A and those with influenza B virus infection. The average numbers of leukocytes and lymphocytes were lower in the group positive for influenza viruses than in virus negative group. The patients with adenovirus, HPIV and RSV infection were significantly younger. No rash was observed in patients with enterovirus or HSV infection., Conclusions: (1) Seasonal influenza virus was the major viral etiologic agent of ILI in Guangzhou during the first 9 months in 2009. Influenza B and A viruses seasonally prevailed in spring and summer, respectively, while other viral etiologic agents appeared to be sporadic. (2) The analysis of clinical features in patients with ILI indicated that fever was the most common symptom, with body temperature varying greatly, and may be associated with evident respiratory and occasionally systemic symptoms. Among the cases with viral infection, the upper respiratory presentation was universal, and pneumonia was frequently noticed.

Genital herpes is one of 8 legally reportable sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in China. Using a HSV antigen ELISA kit we detected and typed HSV antigen in 1,148 clinical specimens collected from the genital organs (penis, cervix, vagina and vulva) of 446 men and 702 women in Qindao and divided into 11 different professional and 2 special groups (patients with cervical cancer and pregnant women). The highest positive rate of HSV antigen was found among long-distance transport drivers (48.0%). The second and third high positive rates were among waiters and waitresses in private, restaurants (39.2%) and patients with cervical cancer (38.2%). The positive rates among self-employed retailers and employees in private inns and restaurants were notably higher than those among employees in state-run shops, restaurants and hotels. And, the positive rate among workers was higher than that among peasants. There was no notable difference between the positive rate of HSV antigen among men (24.2%) and that among women (21.5%). But the incidence of HSV-2 infection was much higher than that of HSV-1 infection. The results indicate that some special professional groups have high rates of genital HSV infection. More attention needs to be paid to these special groups in order to control sexually transmitted herpes diseases.