From June to July 1999 an outbreak of acute respiratory illness occurred in the town of Iporanga. Out of a total of 4,837 inhabitants, 324 cases were notified to the Regional Surveillance Service. Influenza virus was isolated from 57.1% of the collected samples and 100% seroconversion to influenza A (H1N1) was obtained in 20 paired sera tested. The isolates were related to the A/Bayern/07/95 st...

To investigate the effect of Clerodendron colebrookianum aqueous leaf extract on oxidative parameters in liver and the immune system of mice exposed to cold restraint stress (CRS). Three groups of mice were employed namely control, CRS and C. colebrookianum leaf extract+CRS. Mice were restraint by keeping them in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe restrainers and were exposed to cold at 4°C for 5 co...

The study was conducted to develop and evaluate an Indirect Hemagglutination Antibody Test (IHAT) for the serological diagnosis of Cysticercus bovis in live animals. IHAT was set-up inhouse and used to test serum samples of cattle against sheep red blood cell (SRBC) coated with crude extracts of C. bovis cyst. Serum samples for screening were collected from Addis Ababa abattoir (n=522), a dairy...

Rubella hemagglutinating (HA) antigen was prepared in BHK-21 tissue as 5% cell suspensions and from unconcentrated and 20x concentrated infected supernatant fluids. In some instances, unconcentrated fluids were treated with Tween 80 and ether; cell suspensions were treated with ether alone. Preparations were tested for HA activity in dextrose-gelatin-Veronal (DGV) buffer solutions; 0.85% NaCl; ...

Influenza virus evades host immunity through antigenic drift and shift, and continues to circulate in the human population causing periodic outbreaks including the recent 2009 pandemic. A large segment of the population was potentially susceptible to this novel strain of virus. Historically, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been fundamental tools for diagnosis and epitope mapping of influenza ...

In this study, we investigate the immunostimulatory effects of alcoholic extract of the coffee seed on cell-mediated immune response and cyclophosphamide-induced (CP) immunosuppressed mice. The assessment of cellular immune function was carried out by the measurement of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response. According to the literature survey, cyclophosphamide has only suppressing effect...