Darier’s disease results from abnormal keratinization of skin and is characterized by numerous keratotic papules that preferentially involve seborrheic areas. Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption (KVE) occurs by viral infections such as herpes simplex virus (HSV) in some inflammatory skin disorders like Darier’s disease. Herein, we describe a 68-year-old man, a known case of Darier’s disease, who pr...

Background and objective: Pityriasis rosea (PR) is a transient skin disease with a distinct appearance that is prevalent throughout the world and is more frequently seen in winter. Despite the reported epidemiological evidence, which account for an infective agent, this has not been proved, yet. This study was designed to determine the epidemiological features of PR in terms of age, gender, sea...

Diagnosis of infectious diseases remains an important issue in medical science. Identification of biomarkers can be used to predict early infections. Recently, heat shock proteins (HSPs) have been known as the conserved compounds expressed under stress conditions in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems. These proteins act as molecular chaperones. Several studies showed the increased levels o...

Dengue viral infections are one of the most important mosquito-borne diseases in the world. Presently dengue is endemic in 112 countries in the world. It has been estimated that almost 100 million cases of dengue fever and half a million cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) occur worldwide. An increasing proportion of DHF is in children less than 15 years of age, especially in South East and...

The importance of protecting pregnant women from infection as well as from possible harmful effects of various medications and other noxious agents has received increasing attention in recent years. Much of the work related to viral diseases has been directed toward (1) identifying the agents that might be associated with fetal wastage and congenital malformations; (2) determining the risk to t...

The effects of viral infections on wounds, be they surgical or due to thermal injury, remain ill-defined. The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the effects of surgical wounds, burn wounds and viral infections on the immune system and to review what has been reported in the literature on viral infections and wounds in the immunocompetent host to gain a greater understanding of their t...

© 2005 The Medicine Publishing Company Ltd 18 MEDICINE 33:7 Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes. It causes more illness and death than any other arboviral infection, and its control is a priority for the WHO. Dengue viruses are flaviviruses closely related to yellow fever virus and Japanese encephalitis virus. There are four serotypes (1, 2, 3 and 4). Infection with one seroty...

In Clinical Science Viral infections may cause seizures via several pathogenetic mechanisms. Systemic infections, such as influenza, can lead to metabolic compromise, as well as occasional direct central nervous system (CNS) invasion—even though not usually neu-rotrophic. Although viral infection confined to the meninges rarely causes seizures and does not increase risk for later epilepsy , enc...

Exogenous cannabinoids or receptor antagonists may influence many cellular and systemic host responses. The anti-inflammatory activity of cannabinoids may compromise host inflammatory responses to acute viral infections, but may be beneficial in persistent infections. In neurons, where innate antiviral/pro-resolution responses include the activation of NOS-1, inhibition of Ca(2+) activity by ca...

Defensins are antimicrobial peptides important to innate host defense. In addition to their direct antimicrobial effect, defensins modulate immune responses. Increasing evidence indicates that defensins exhibit complex functions by positively or negatively modulating infections of both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The effects of defensins on viral infections appear to be specific to the...