T cells are critical to control acute infection of a host with retroviruses but they are usually unable to prevent the development of chronic infections. This review summarizes studies from the Friend virus mouse model that reveal some of the mechanisms by which T cells control chronic retroviral infection, and also reveal why these responses ultimately fail to fully eradicate infection. Also s...

Chronic infections induce T cells showing impaired cytokine secretion and up-regulated expression of inhibitory receptors such as PD-1. What determines the acquisition of this chronic phenotype and how it impacts T cell function remain vaguely understood. Using newly generated recombinant antigen variant-expressing chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) strains, we uncovered that T c...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are leading causes of death from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States. Because underreporting has complicated the understanding of disease burden, in 2010 the Institute of Medicine requested that CDC perform a comprehensive evaluation of national viral hepatitis surveillance. Hepatitis surveill...

Despite years of research and clinical advances, chronic pulmonary infections with mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa remain the primary concern for cystic fibrosis patients. Much of the research on these strains has focused on the contributions of the polysaccharide alginate; however, it is becoming evident that the neutral polysaccharide Psl also contributes to biofilm formation and the maintenanc...

asthma and cystic fibrosis (cf) have some identical manifestations. in the present study, the frequency of positive sweat test was assessed in asthmatic children. this cross-sectional study was performed in asthmatic children, who were referred to bahrami children hospital, tehran, during july 2003 to july 2005. sweat test was performed for all children. one hundred and thirty five (95 males an...

Pantoea agglomerans, formerly known as Enterobacter is a facultative anaerobic Gram-negative bacillus and form yellow-pigmented colonies on culture media. It an environmental microorganism, commonly found in soil, water, plants food can colonize gastrointestinal system of humans. Although quite rare, P. agglomerans cause wound infections, soft tissue or joint infections nosocomial such bacterie...

Infections occurring 6 mo or later after bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia or hematologic malignancy were analyzed in 98 long-term survivors. Varicella-zoster (VZ) infections were analyzed separately from all other infections. The factor predisposing most strongly to late VZ infection was genotypic nonidentity for HLA between marrow donor and recipient. There was a suggesti...

OBJECTIVE Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a lymphotropic herpes virus causing infectious mononucleosis (IM), also causes various central nervous system (CNS) infections. In the present study, EBV CNS infections were investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS For adult inpatients in our hospital and related hospitals between 1984-2002, CNS syndromes with IM symptoms were examined, and serologic positives we...

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) is a pivotal cytokine in host defences with broad ranging effects on the innate and adaptive immune systems. Clinically, TNFalpha inhibitors have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders but clearly at the cost of heightened susceptibility to a variety of infections in those treated with these agents. Most ...

AIM To detect chronic hepatitis B (CHB), chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in dried blood spot (DBS) and compare these samples to venous blood sampling in real-life. METHODS We included prospective patients with known viral infections from drug treatment centers, a prison and outpatient clinics and included blood donors as negative controls. Five drop...