Heterotheca inuloides Cass. (Asteraceae) is used in the traditional medicine of Mexico. The aqueous extract obtained from the flowers of H. inuloides was assessed for anti-inflammatory activity by carrageenan-induced edema test. At 100 mg/kg, i.p, it produced 29% inhibition of inflammation. Ethyl ether (HI-1), butanol (HI-2) and aqueous fraction (HI-3) were obtained from the aqueous extract. Th...

Five erythrocyte species (horse, goose, chicken, guinea pig, and human) were used to agglutinate avian influenza H5N1 viruses by hemagglutination assay and to detect specific antibody by hemagglutination inhibition test. We found that goose erythrocytes confer a greater advantage over other erythrocyte species in both assays.

To investigate the protective efficacy of a seasonal trivalent inactivated whole virion influenza vaccine (TIV) adjuvanted with aluminum phosphate (Fluval AB, referred to here as TIV+Al), we immunized mice with the TIV+Al, and as controls, with TIV, TIV+Al combined with Freund adjuvant (TIV+Al+F), inactivated A/PR/8/34(H1N1) (PR8) strain or PBS, and challenged them with a lethal dose of a mouse...

We established a rapid method for the identification of influenza A and B virus strains: the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) staining method with two subtype-specific murine monoclonal antibodies, C179 (H1 and H2 specific) and F49 (H3 specific), and an anti-influenza B virus rabbit polyclonal serum. The types and subtypes of 160 strains were examined, and 158 strains were identified to be the s...

Epidemics of a malaria-like illness affected several thousand residents of the Dam Camp, a refugee camp near Hargeysa in Somalia, during 1985, 1986, and 1987. The disease was characterized by fever, chills, sweats, headache, back and joint pains for as long as 10 days in some patients. Blood smears from acutely ill patients were negative for malaria. Of 28 acute and 10 convalescent sera tested ...

Between November 2005 and March 2006, a total of 253 poultry flocks in the Gyeonggi-do of Korea were examined for seroprevalence against avian influenza (AI) using a hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and an agar gel precipitation test. No low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus was isolated from 47 seropositive flocks that lacked clinical signs during sampling. The unadjusted percentage...

Experimental infection of Muscovy ducks with V4 strain of Newcastle disease virus was undertaken to determine the response of the ducks to the virus and the possibility of virus transmission to ducks and chickens in village like conditions. Twelve ducks were randomly and equally divided into three groups of control, inoculated and in-contact. Additionally, the chickens were placed into two grou...

Three serological procedures, the agar-gel precipitin inhibition, the complement fixation, and the indirect hemagglutination tests, were used to detect and measure antibody to Yersinia pestis in the sera from 383 individuals. Although all three tests were useful in detecting plague antibody, the most reliable and sensitive test procedure was indirect hemagglutination.

Like enteroviruses, hepatitis A virus (HAV) hemagglutinated various species of erythrocytes under similar conditions. HAV-specific antibodies in both acute- and convalescent-phase sera were found to inhibit hemagglutination. The HAV hemagglutination inhibition test can be used for diagnosis, epidemiological surveillance, and vaccine assessment.

Single radial diffusion (SRD) tests for antibodies to influenza type A hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, nucleoprotein, and matrix protein antigens were compared with conventional hemagglutination inhibition, neuraminidase inhibition, and complement fixation tests. Sera used in this study were obtained in 1968-1969 from volunteers before and after vaccination and before and after an ensuing epidemi...