Vaccination of multi-age layer operations, wherein one million plus commercial layer chickens are housed, has been spurious until the development of a self-propelled, constant-speed spray vaccinator. Still, even with its use, live Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) vaccinations have been questionable in terms of seroconversion. Using the vaccinator as a research tool over the past 5 yr, factors have...

Both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 seroconversions have been considered as outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of needle exchange programs. To assess the relationships between incident HBV and HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs), seroconversions were prospectively studied among a cohort of 240 HBV- and HIV- seronegative IDUs. The i...

The Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) is a non-particulate secretory protein, which is not essential for viral assembly or replication but is important for the establishment of persistent infection in vivo. A recent study suggested that it down-regulates the innate immune response to infection and function as a T cell tolerogen [1]. For patients with chronic HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B infec...

PURPOSE To identify the predictive factors of long-term therapeutic response or resistance to lamivudine treatment in children and adolescents with chronic hepatitis B. METHODS Eighty one children and adolescents with chronic hepatitis B were included, who received lamivudine treatment for at least 6 months. Their condition was monitored for at least 12 months (12-88 months) thereafter. Twent...

OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of nurse understaffing on the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a large hospital-based hemodialysis (HD) unit with a high HCV prevalence. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The records of 198 patients (107 males and 91 females) with end-stage renal disease enrolled on long-term HD at King Fahad Hospital and Tertiary Care Center, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia, from...

BACKGROUND Hemodialysis (HD) patients have multiple causes of immune dysfunction and poor immune response to influenza vaccination. We investigated the antibody response rate to a pandemic H1N1/2009 influenza vaccination and clinical parameters influencing the induction of antibody responses in HD patients. METHODS A total of 114 HD patients were vaccinated with a monovalent adjuvanted H1N1 i...

BACKGROUND Several long-term cohort studies and in-vitro fitness assays have resulted in inconsistent reports on changes in HIV-1 virulence, including reports of decreasing, stable, and increasing virulence over the course of the AIDS pandemic. We tested the hypothesis of changing HIV-1 virulence by examining trends in prognostic clinical markers of disease progression from 1984 to 2005 among n...

background: hepatitis- b infection is one of the infectious diseases that transmits via blood transfiosion, blood product, injection, mother to fetus and sexual contact. protective anti hepatitis-b titer are observed in more than 90% of healthy children. the aim of this study was to evaluate seroconversion rates in children who received routine vaccination program. methods: a cross sectional st...

conclusions the current study indicates increased risk for hcv infection in patients under dialysis and its relation with the mean duration of hemodialysis, history of renal transplantation and surgical intervention. considering the immune deficiency in these patients, intense education to both patients and medical staff will be beneficial. patients and methods a retrospective analysis was perf...

The reactogenicity and immunogenicity of combined measles and rubella (MR) booster vaccination, via aerosol and subcutaneous routes, was assessed in 562 healthy children. Rates of rubella seroconversion and geometric mean titers (GMT) were similar for both routes. Rates of measles PN seroconversion, GMT and measles ELISA post-vaccination seropositivity and seroconversion rate were each higher f...