BACKGROUND Healthcare workers in primary care are at risk of infection during an influenza pandemic. The 2009 influenza pandemic provided an opportunity to assess this risk. AIM To measure the prevalence of seropositivity to influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 among primary healthcare workers in Canterbury, New Zealand, following the 2009 influenza pandemic, and to examine associations between seropositiv...

BACKGROUND We investigated behavioural and environmental risk factors for seropositivity to human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). METHODS A nested case-control study of 201 HTLV-I seropositive subjects and 225 age- and sex-matched seronegative controls was performed using questionnaire data from the enrollment visit of a cohort study in 1987-1988. HTLV-I serostatus was confirmed using e...

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk factors and clinical significance of anti-PGL-I seropositivity. DESIGN A large-scale sero-epidemiological study (COLEP) was carried out in northwest Bangladesh. Blood on filter paper from 1025 newly diagnosed patients was collected before treatment was started and tested with an anti-PGL-I ELISA; the relation between patient determinants and seropositivity was ...

BACKGROUND The rheumatoid factor (RF) blood test is the most commonly adopted test for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA patients who are seropositive for RF might face a greater likelihood of developing more aggressive symptoms. METHODS Our goal was to study the demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as their correlation with RF seropositivity, among a series of 80 RA...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the adequacy of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination among children and to assess risk of outbreak in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS We recruited a total of 527 children from schools located at different urban regions, and preschool children from those attending the well baby clinics in Jeddah, KSA. We tested for MMR viruses antibodies using ELISA...

BACKGROUND Several epidemiological and clinical reports have suggested seropositivity for Helicobacter pylori may be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. However, there has been no prospective study of this association involving an ethnically diverse sample of middle-aged men and women. METHODS AND RESULTS Using a prospective, case-cohort design, we determined H pylori seropositivity in ...

Background—Several epidemiological and clinical reports have suggested seropositivity for Helicobacter pylori may be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. However, there has been no prospective study of this association involving an ethnically diverse sample of middle-aged men and women. Methods and Results—Using a prospective, case-cohort design, we determined H pylori seropositivity in re...

Toxoplasma gondii is a cosmopolitan protozoon parasite, and the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, one most prevalent zoonotic parasitic diseases. Cats, as definitive hosts, spread parasite via their faeces, but this occurs only for very short period in life. Seropositivity cats, although not associated with current shedding indicative infection cat population can be used to assess risk intermed...

To determine whether human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is associated with schistosomal and hepatitis C virus infections in Egypt, we surveyed 965 rural household participants who had been tested for HHV-8 and schistosomal infection (seroprevalence 14.2% and 68.6%, respectively, among those <15 years of age, and 24.2% and 72.8%, respectively, among those > or =15 years of age). Among adults, HHV-8 ser...