host cellular immune response among HTLV-I carriers. In data published elsewhere, we documented subclinical immunosuppression on the basis of the association of HTLV-I infection with reduced response to the tuberculin-purified protein derivative (PPD) recall antigen [3, 4]. In vitro studies suggest that the nonresponsiveness to PPD in these HTLV-I carriers may be related to a lack of IFN-g prod...

Introduction Canada experienced 92 waterborne diseases outbreaks between 1975 and 20011. In addition, at any one time about 1500 communities in Canada are unable to use their drinking water. The source of exposure in disease outbreaks is often not known, so the true disease burden attributable to water related exposure may be much higher. Researchers have investigated risk factors for waterborn...

This chapter provides an overview on the prevalence and environmental load of waterborne zoonotic pathogens of public health importance shed in the excreta of livestock. Chapter 2 presents the five zoonotic pathogens that will be reviewed in this book: Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia duodenalis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. These protozoa and bacteria are important d...

Abstract Different bacterial community profiles were observed on the soft coral Dendronephthya sp. and an inanimate reference site using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of bacterial community DNA. To correlate the observation with a chemical defense mechanism against bacterial epibiosis, antibacterial effects of coral tissue extracts and waterborne products of coral-a...

Nosocomial invasive aspergillosis can cause life-threatening infections among immunosuppressed patients and is thought to be primarily airborne. Despite the use of appropriate hospital air filtration systems, however, the incidence of this infection continues to increase. In this article, we present our hypothesis, which is that nosocomial aspergillosis can be airborne from a water source in th...

and further research is needed to find cost-effective ways to control the spread of vancomycin resistance, HICPAC strongly encourages hospitals to develop their own institution-specific plans, which should stress the following elements: 1) prudent vancomy-cin use by clinicians, 2) education of hospital staff regarding vancomycin resistance, 3) early detection and prompt reporting of vancomycin ...

Introduction: The protozoan parasite, Cryptosporidium Spp., widely spreads in both raw and drinking waters. It is the causative agents of waterborne diarrhea and gastroenteritis in the world. In the present study, a molecular assay was used for the detection and quantification of Cryptosporidium oocysts in environmental water samples. Materials and methods: Thirty surface water samples wer...