Correspondence Because of heavy pressure on our space, correspondents are asked to keep their letters short. SIR,-During the decade 1951-60 there were 21 deaths in England and Wales due to smallpox. In the same period there were 27 deaths, most of them infants, attributed to post-vaccinal encephalitis as well as a score or so deaths from other fatal complications of smallpox vaccination. As Pro...

background: brucellosis is one of the most common zoonosis in middle east and iran. objectives: the purpose of this study was genomic detection of brucella spp. in sero-positive dairy cattle. methods: we have collected 28,519 blood samples from cows during 2012-2013. samples were screened by slide and tube agglutination and 2-mercaptoethanol tests. samples with anti-brucella antibodies titer ≥ ...

Mercury (Hg) is considered one of the worlds most toxic metals. Current thinking suggests that exposure to mercury occurs primarily from seafood contamination and rare catastrophic events. Recently, another common source of exposure has been identified. Thimerosal (TMS), a preservative found in many infant vaccines, contains 49.6% ethyl mercury (EtHg) by weight and typically contributes 25 micr...

Spoligotyping was used to examine IS6110-positive DNA of 26 Mycobacterium bovis, M. bovis BCG and M. bovis subsp. caprae non-viable isolates stored up to 10 years. All of these isolates were previously identified by biochemical tests and all 17/17 tested isolates were earlier found virulent for guinea pigs. In total seven spoligotypes, designated S1–S7, were detected and compared with the spoli...

BACKGROUND Cephalosporins are a class of antibiotics that are active against many Gram-positive and some Gram-negative bacteria. Beyond their antibacterial activity, they are reported to have various immunomodulatory properties. It has been shown that they reduce the secretion of cytokines as well as influence the humoral and cellular immune response. In the field conditions antibiotics are fre...