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ABSTRACT: The aim of this community-based seroepidemiological survey was to assess the immune status against pertussis among the healthy population in three selected provinces with different geographical and socioeconomical status (Antalya, Diyarbakir and Samsun, located at Mediterrenean, Southeast Anatolia and Black Sea regions of Turkey, respectively) in relation with DwPT (whole cell pertussis vaccine combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids) vaccination status. A total of randomly selected 2085 subjects ages between 6 months to > 50 years were included to the study. Serum samples have been screened for the presence of pertussis antibodies by an in house ELISA method with the use of pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) antigens. The levels of > or = 10 EU/mL was accepted as positive for anti-PT and anti-FHA. Vaccination rate with 3-4 doses among children under 15 years old was significantly lower in Diyarbakir compared to the other two provinces (p< 0.05). The antibody positivity was increased with age up to the 10-14 year group and was maintained among older groups. There was no statistically significant relationship between the vaccination rate and antibody prevalence (p> 0.05). Adult females showed a significantly higher antibody-positivity rate for anti-PT than the males (p< 0.05). Our study pointed out a high prevalence of pertussis infection in those selected provinces, suggesting that the adults play a role as potential reservoirs for B. pertussis. It can be concluded that adult immunization, especially of those who are likely to have close contact with infants, should be considered.
Mikrobiyoloji bülteni 08/2008; 42(3):389-98. · 0.40 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In order to assess the effect of the neonatal tetanus elimination program in Turkey, tetanus antibody prevalence among women of childbearing age from three selected provinces was evaluated in relation to vaccination doses of the single-type tetanus vaccine. A combined method of in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and particle agglutination test was used to determine tetanus antibody titers. Among 205 women aged 20-39 years, the tetanus antibody level was higher in women with 1-3 children than those without children. The geometric mean of the log antibody titer was increased proportionally with a slope of 0.405 +/- 0.174 per dose between 0 and 3 doses (P > 0.05). However, the proportion of 20-39-year-old women with the protective antibody in the provinces ranged from 54.8 to 86.6%. Diyarbakir had the lowest immunity with a larger number of children in the household, and a lower educational level. The results of our serological study demonstrated that the neonatal tetanus elimination program in Turkey is effectively promoting immunity against tetanus in pregnant women. However, the study also revealed that the tetanus immunity among women of childbearing age was still insufficient. Intensive implementation of the supplemental immunization activities and encouraging vaccinations through neonatal care services will improve the situation.
Japanese journal of infectious diseases 06/2007; 60(2-3):92-6. · 1.49 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The immune status against tetanus in relation to vaccination was investigated among healthy populations in 3 selected provinces in Turkey (n=2094). In-house ELISA supplemented with the particle agglutination test was performed for this purpose. An exact correlation was found between vaccination status and immunity against tetanus. The immunity was high among children and sharply decreased with age among adults. The primary vaccination for children increased the immunity, reaching a geometric mean titer (GMT) of 6.2 IU/ml at the fourth dose. There was a reduction of immunity during the next y, followed by an increase with a booster injection at primary school age. Among adolescents and adults, the GMTs after the last vaccination fell off exponentially with a slope of -0.068 log10 IU/ml per y. Extrapolation of the regression line predicted that the minimum protective level (> or =0.01 IU/ml) would be maintained for approximately 30 y on average after the last vaccination. Diyarbakir, 1 of the selected provinces, had lower immunity than the other 2 provinces with poor immunization. Adult females tended to show slightly higher GMTs than males, probably due to the neonatal tetanus elimination program. Reinforcement of immunization against tetanus for adults is recommended.
Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 01/2006; 38(11-12):1009-16. · 1.72 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To evaluate immunity against measles and its relation with some variables among healthy subjects in 3 cities in Turkey.
We carried out a cross-sectional study on measles antibody titers in the serum samples of 712 people from Antalya, 696 from Diyarbakir and 667 from Samsun, Turkey using particle agglutination test between February 2000 and October 2001. The study groups, informed and asked for their consent by midwives, consisted of randomly selected subjects of all ages older than 6 months. We implemented the study in 3 steps: physical examination, interview and blood collection.
We considered titers of > or = 1:16 as positive and we observed lower seropositivity in Diyarbakir (90.8%) than Antalya (95.9%), and Samsun (94.9%) (p=0.040). We also observed that seropositivity was lower among preschool group than older groups (p=0.006). The number of doses of measles vaccine (p=0.001) and measles infection history (p=0.003) were found as a factor increasing the seropositivity ratio. There was no statistically significant between age groups (p=0.219), gender (p=0.148), residence (p=0.537), and number per household (p=0.983) among the provinces.
Based on the findings, measles infection still has a high incidence in Turkey and the second dose of measles vaccine is extremely important in the prevention of measles transmission among school children and the community. Furthermore, we must improve our regional differences in routine vaccination services.
Saudi medical journal 12/2005; 26(12):1971-7. · 0.52 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Seroepidemiological studies need sensitive, practicle and cost-effective methods. For pertussis serosurveillance, an in-house ELISA for antipertussis-toxin (PT) and anti-filamentous-hemagglutinin (FHA) were established in our laboratory and compared by a Ball-ELISA which had been reported to be reliable previously. Sixty sera with various antibody titers were tested by both of the methods. The correlation coefficients between two methods were 0.729 and 0.776 for anti-PT and anti-FHA, respectively, and regression coefficients were 0.623 and 0.693, respectively. The in-house ELISA was applied to a serosurvey including 373 healthy subjects (6 months-91 years old) in Turkey to observe the results. The moving averages of both antibodies were increased until 10 years old, reaching to 31 EU/ml for anti-PT and 65 EU/ml for anti-FHA and kept around this level in the older ages. The in-house ELISA was found to be reliable and the serosurvey results obtained by ELISA showed a characteristic distribution of antibody titers in each age group.
Mikrobiyoloji bülteni 08/2005; 39(3):281-9. · 0.40 Impact Factor
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Japanese journal of infectious diseases 05/2005; 58(2):120-2. · 1.49 Impact Factor
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Nilay Coplu,
Berrin Esen,
Aysegul Gozalan, Kikuko Miyamura,
Iwao Yoshida,
Demet Kurtoglu,
Nuvide Ozturk Dogan,
Gokhan Afacan,
Ahmet Unal,
Setsuji Ishida,
Motohide Takahashi
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ABSTRACT: In order to determine a practically useful quantitative assay method for tetanus antibody in a large-scale seroepidemiological study, a method combining an in-house ELISA with a particle agglutination test (KPA) was evaluated in comparison with the in vivo mouse neutralization test. Serum samples with mouse neutralization antibody titers 0.01 IU/ml (the minimum protective level) or below showed considerable overestimation of antitoxin titers up to 1.0 IU/ml when studied by in-house ELISA alone. On the other hand, the KPA values were highly correlated with the mouse test, even in cases of titers equal to 0.01 IU/ml or below. The combination of these two procedures, in which in-house ELISA values of 1.0 IU/ml or below were replaced by KPA values, provided a high correlation in antibody titers with the mouse test (r = 0.968). We applied this combined method to a tetanus seroepidemiological survey in a province in Turkey. The survey included 347 subjects from the healthy population, and the quantitative analyses showed high antibody levels in children and young adults and significantly low levels among adults aged 40 or over. A characteristic distribution of antibody titers in each age group was also demonstrated.
Japanese journal of infectious diseases 07/2004; 57(3):97-102. · 1.49 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The last poliomyelitis case associated with a wild poliovirus in Turkey occurred in November 1998. This was the last known case of paralytic poliomyelitis caused by indigenous wild poliovirus in the World Health Organization's European Region. This study investigated the genetic relationships of wild-type 1 polioviruses at the latest period of transmission. A phylogenetic tree was constructed on the basis of the VP1/2A sequence from 14 wild-type 1 polioviruses isolated from Turkey in 1994-1998, along with those from other areas of the world. The Turkey isolates in the latest period of transmission were closely related to each other, forming a cluster distinct from other strains. The results showed that these viruses had been spreading indigenously in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Turkey, and ceased transmission there during 1998. This finding serves as a reference for future poliovirus surveillance both in Turkey and worldwide.
Journal of General Virology 07/2004; 85(Pt 6):1591-5. · 3.36 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to assess immunity levels against tetanus in the areas of 26 health centers in Samsun, Antalya, and Diyarbakir in Turkey in 2000 - 2001. The study group consisted of 2,465 healthy subjects aged 6 months old or above, randomly selected from each age group in the area. Of these, a total of 2,094 (85.0%) serum samples were assayed for tetanus antibody; 716 were from Antalya, 706 were from Diyarbakir, and 672 were from Samsun. The surveys were implemented in three steps: physical examination, interview, and blood collection. ELISA-in-house was used as a screening procedure and a particle agglutination test was used to reassess antibody titers of 1.0 IU/ml or below. It was revealed that 73.5% subjects had the full protection level (>/=0.1 IU/ml) of antibody in Antalya, 59.9% in Diyarbakir, and 75.0% in Samsun, indicating that protection against tetanus was significantly lower in Diyarbakir than in Antalya and Samsun. The results also showed that the percentage of protective levels decreased with increasing age in three provinces and was higher in rural areas than urban areas in Diyarbakir. The study indicates that the immunity levels against tetanus can be considered as satisfactory among children and adolescents but that it is necessary to increase immunity against tetanus among adults through effective vaccination of pregnant women and those in military service and also among people older than 40 years of age.
Japanese journal of infectious diseases 03/2004; 57(1):10-6. · 1.49 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was the detection and comparison of measles antibody titers with particle agglutination (PA) and neutralization (Nt) methods, in the sera samples of 364 subjects from different age groups. PA method was performed with a commercial test kit (Serodiameasles, Fujirebio Com. Japan), and Nt test which was standardized in this study, by using COBL (cord blood) cell lines, has been started to use in our laboratory as a reference method. As a result, antibody titers detected by PA were in parallel to the titers which detected by Nt test, and it was concluded that the differences in antibody titers would arise from the differences of test principles and viral antigens.
Mikrobiyoloji bülteni 05/2002; 36(2):193-9. · 0.40 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis caused by coxsackievirus A24 variant (CA24v) first appeared in Taiwan in October 1985, followed by two other sequential epidemics in 1986 and 1988. In order to know the evolutionary relationship of the CA24v strains isolated in Taiwan, we first determined the nucleotide sequence of the 3C proteinase (3Cpro) region of the prototype strain (EH24/70), isolated in Singapore in 1970, by molecular cloning. The nucleotide sequence of the 3Cpro region thus sequenced showed striking homology with polioviruses and coxsackievirus A21.Viral RNA of eight isolates obtained from the three epidemics was reverse transcribed, amplified by the polymerase chain reaction, and cloned into M13 phage for the production of ssDNA for nucleotide sequencing by the dideoxy chain termination method. When the number of nucleotide difference was taken as a genetic distance between isolates, all isolates showed a very similar distance from the EH24/70, the earliest isolate of CA24v, indicating that they evolved at a constant evolutionary rate. Phylogenetic analysis by the unweighted pairwise grouping method of arithmetic average (UPGMA) indicated that the six isolates collected in 1985 and 1986 were closely related, while two 1988 isolates were more distant from them. The branching time between these two groups was estimated to be May 1984, 18 months before the first recognition of the CA24v epidemic in Taiwan.This is the first report of the nucleotide sequence of CA24v genome RNA and of an evolutionary analysis of the virus using the nucleotide sequence.
Virus Genes 05/1991; 5(2):121-131. · 1.85 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Serologic and sero-epidemiologic characteristics of AHC virus infection were studied by neutralization test (NT). Four-fold or greater virus neutralizing (VN) antibody response was demonstrated to the Japanese isolate of AHC virus (the J 670/71 strain) in 77.3% and 66.7% of paired sera from clinical AHC patients in Japan (1971–1973) and Tunisia (1973). The four patients from Indonesia studied in 1972 showed similar antibody response. Cross-neutralization tests of AHC virus isolated in Japan (1971), Taiwan (1971), Hong Kong (1971), Thailand (1972), Indonesia (1972), Singapore (1972), Morocco (1971) and England (1971) with three kinds of antisera prepared against Japanese, Hong Kong and Moroccan AHC virus isolates indicated their antigenic identity. However, isolates from Singapore in 1970 (Singapore 70 virus) were not neutralized with the AHC virus antisera mentioned above: Singapore 70 virus constitutes another antigenic type, to which, however, no VN antibody rise was found in paired patients' sera from Japan, Tunisia and Indonesia. Thus, no serologic evidence supporting an etiologic role of this virus group in the development of AHC was found. Although cross-tests using monospecific antisera suggested some cross-relation between AHC and both echovirus type 4 (E4) and coxsackie A (CA). type 19, no serologic relationship between AHC and these viruses was found. Sera from healthy individuals collected before and after AHC outbreaks were tested for VN antibody against AHC virus in Japan and two epidemic foci, Ghana and Indonesia. Before the epidemic, 80 to 90% of the people lacked antibody in the three countries, but 39.7% and 45.2% of inhabitants posessed VN antibody of 1:8 or over in Ghana and Indonesia after the outbreak. In Japan, however, only a slight increase was found in VN antibody prevalence afterwards. Serologic study showed that 41.5% of horse sera were VN positive at dilutions of 1:8 or more; many cattle sera also had a low VN titer but few cynomologus monkey sera had VN activity.
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ABSTRACT: The nucleotide sequence of the 3′-end of the Japanese F4 strain of feline calicivirus (FCV) RNA was determined from a cloned cDNA of 3.5 kbp. We found three open reading frames (ORFs). The largest ORF encoded a 668-amino acid protein of 73,588 Da, which was presumably the capsid precursor protein of FCV and had significant amino acid sequence homology with the VP3 of picornaviruses. A small ORF at the extreme 3′-end was compared with that of the F9 strain of FCV, a vaccine strain originally from the U.S. Highly conserved amino acid sequences were shown, suggesting that this ORF might be functional and encode a putative 106-amino acid protein of 12,153 Da. The other ORF in the 5′-flanking region of the cDNA had consensus amino acid sequences conserved among the RNA-dependent RNA polymerases.
Virology.
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REISAKU KONO, Kikuko Miyamura,
Shudo Yamazaki,
AKIRA SASAGAWA,
HIROMU KURAHASHI,
ETSUKO TAJIRI,
Naokazu Takeda,
YVES ROBIN,
JEAN RENAUDET,
KEIZO ISHII,
NAOKI NAKAZONO,
HARUMI SAWADA,
YUKIO UCHIDA,
KAZUMORI MINAMI
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ABSTRACT: Human sera were collected in Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Liberia, Gabon and Togo during the pre-epidemic period of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) from 1965 to 1969, and tested for virus neutralizing (VN) antibody to enterovirus type 70 (EV7O). Of these, 1109 (91%) were antibody negative (≥1:4), 116 (9%) neutralized at a dilution of 1:8 or over, and 45(4%) at dilutions of at least 1:16. The distribution pattern is not significantly different from that of sera collected from Kenya in 1967 or from army recruits in the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia in the 19608. Sera collected during the post-epidemic period (1970 to 1977) in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali, Upper Volta, Chad, Niger and Gabon were also examined; 1573(68%) were VN antibody negative (≧1:4), whiie 733 (32%) and 433 (19%) had titers of 1:8 or greater and 1:16 or over, respectively. There is a significant difference in distribution between pre- and post.epldemlc antibody titers ( p < 0.001), although the incidence of AHC was lower in these countries than in Ghana and Southeast Asia. The prevalence of VN antibodies tends to be lower in the dry, hot inland areas and thus humid coastal monsoonal climates and dense populations seem to favor the spread of AHC.
