formulation as blue-coloured, sweet-tasting tablets, and in the fact that it is prescribed for migraine, a relatively non-serious disease. Dixarit is probably regarded as a non-dangerous drug, being stored in places accessible to children, while, by contrast, the antihypertensive Catapres is treated with appropriate respect. We hope that this article will alert doctors prescribing Dixarit so th...

Copyright © 2008 Massachusetts Medical Society. A cute lower respiratory tract infections are a persistent and pervasive public health problem. They cause a greater burden of disease worldwide than human immunodeficiency virus infection, malaria, cancer, or heart attacks.1 In the United States, they cause more disease and death than any other infection, and there has been little change in morta...

The oral cavity has long been considered a potential reservoir for respiratory pathogens. The mechanisms of infection could be aspiration into the lung of oral pathogens capable of causing pneumonia, colonization of dental plaque by respiratory pathogens followed by aspiration, or facilitation by periodontal pathogens of colonization of the upper airway by pulmonary pathogens. Several anaerobic...

Virion uncoating is an essential early event in reovirus infection. In natural enteric infections, rapid proteolytic uncoating of virions is mediated by pancreatic serine proteases. The proteases that promote reovirus disassembly and cell entry in the respiratory tract remain unknown. In this report, we show that endogenous respiratory and inflammatory proteases can promote reovirus infection i...

Invasive fungal infection in burn injury is caused by inoculation of fungal spore from patient skin, respiratory tract or from care giver. The risk factors for acquiring fungal infection in burns include age of burns, total burn size, full thickness burns, inhalational injury, prolonged hospital stay, late surgical excision, open dressing, central venous catheters, antibiotics, steroid treatmen...

Background: Acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality especially in pediatric patients. Among important respiratory pathogens, adenovirus is a most prevalent cause of upper and lower respiratory tract infection. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of adenovirus infection in pediatric patients with respiratory sympt...

Hospital acquired infections with respiratory syncytial virus are a major problem. The virus is spread predominantly by infected nasal secretions and we investigated whether we could reduce its incidence by cohorting babies on each ward into designated areas and encouraging staff and parents to wash their hands. We examined the incidence of hospital acquired infection due to respiratory syncyti...

  Background :Respiratory viruses are the leading cause of respiratory tract infections among children and are responsible for causing morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study was performed to detect viruses in children with respiratory infections and describe their epidemiology and clinical characteristics.   Methods : In this descriptive cross sectional study, throat swabs and wash speci...

Introduction Chlamydia pneumoniae was initially recognized as a cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis in both adults and children (1-7), hence the species name “pneumoniae.” Moreover, C. pneumoniae was noted in some individuals to cause a persistent respiratory tract infection following an acute infection (8), which is entirely consistent with the kn...

The respiratory epithelium functions as a central orchestrator to initiate and organize responses to inhaled stimuli. Proteases and antiproteases are secreted from the respiratory epithelium and are involved in respiratory homeostasis. Modifications to the protease/antiprotease balance can lead to the development of lung diseases such as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Furth...