Background: Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is gram-negative bacterium, which causes Legionnaires’ disease as well as Pontiac fever. Objective: To determine the frequency of Legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, to determine the clinical utility of diagnosing Legionella pneumonia by urinary antigen testing (LPUAT) in terms of sensitivity and specificity, to compares the results obtained from patients by urinary antigen test with q Real Time PCR (RT PCR) using serum samples and to determine the frequency of serogroup 1 and other serogroups of L. pneumophila. Methods: A total of 100 pneumonic patients (community acquired pneumonia) were enrolled in this study during a period between October 2016 to April 2017; 92 samples were collected from patients attended and admitted to Al-Imamein Al-Kadhimein Medical City and 8 samples from those in the (Center of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation) in the Medical City of Baghdad. All patients were under therapy with antibiotics. Serum and urine specimens were obtained from all patients; urine samples were processed for urinary antigen test (rapid test). Serum samples were collected and submitted to DNA extraction for detection of L. pneumophila mip gene by q RT PCR assay. Results: The percentage of L. pneumophila in two hospitals in Bagdad was 30%. Of these 26% was serogroup 1 detected by urinary antigen testing (UAT). In the other hand, 23% of samples were positive by q RT PCR based mip gene, of these 19 % were serogroup 1 and 4% were another serogroup. The sensitivity of UAT is high (P value < 0.001), which means statistically highly significance than q RT PCR. Conclusion: LPUAT is a rapid tool for early diagnosis of Legionella infection, which highlights the need of using this test in hospitals and health institutions and there is a high prevalence of L. pneumophila in Iraq that refer to the necessity of considering this microorganism point of view in future studies for detection and treatment in pneumonic patients. Keywords: L. pneumophila, mip gene, quantitative real time PCR, urinary antigen. Citation: Gauad SA, Abdulrahman TR, Muhamad AK, Jawad AA, Hassan JS. Clinical utility of urinary antigen test and molecular method for detection of Legionella pneumophila. Iraqi JMS. 2018; 16(2): 207-215. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.16.2.13
For the period from February 2014 till May 2014, one hundred and nine lactose fermenter clinical isolates from different samples (urine, stool, wound swab, blood, and sputum) were collected from Alyarmok, Alkadimiya, and Baghdad teaching hospitals at Baghdad governorate. Identification of all Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were carried out depending on macroscopic, microscopic characterizations, conventional biochemical tests, and Api 20E system. Fifty-three (48.62%) isolates represented K. pneumoniae; however, 51.73% represented other bacteria. Susceptibility test was achieved to all fifty-three K. pneumoniae isolates using five antibiotic disks (Ceftazidime, Ceftriaxone, Cefotaxime, Imipenem, and Meropenem). Most of tested isolates (90
... Show MoreThe association of phytoplasma was investigated in symptomatic tomato (
Klebsiella pneumoniae is an adaptable pathogen that forms biofilms on a variety of surfaces. This study's objective was to identify the presence of fimbrial genes (types 1 and 3) in K. pneumoniae strains isolated from various clinical sources based on their antibiotic resistance and ability to form biofilms. According to identification utilizing the vitek 2 technology and confirmation by molecular identification targeting the 16S rRNA gene with a particular primer, forty isolates were identified from clinical specimens. The vitek 2 compact system was utilized to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of all the isolates. The findings revealed a range of resistance percentages, including 52.5% for Penicillin, 40.5% for Trimethoprim/S
... Show MoreTight reservoirs have attracted the interest of the oil industry in recent years according to its significant impact on the global oil product. Several challenges are present when producing from these reservoirs due to its low to extra low permeability and very narrow pore throat radius. Development strategy selection for these reservoirs such as horizontal well placement, hydraulic fracture design, well completion, and smart production program, wellbore stability all need accurate characterizations of geomechanical parameters for these reservoirs. Geomechanical properties, including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), static Young’s modulus (Es), and Poisson’s ratio (υs), were measured experimentally using both static and dynamic met
... Show MoreFusidic acid (FA) is a well-known pharmaceutical antibiotic used to treat dermal infections. This experiment aimed for developing a standardized HPLC protocol to determine the accurate concentration of fusidic acid in both non-ionic and cationic nano-emulsion based gels. For this purpose, a simple, precise, accurate approach was developed. A column with reversed-phase C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm ID x 5 m) was utilized for the separation process. The main constituents of the HPLC mobile phase were composed of water: acetonitrile (1: 4); adjusted at pH 3.3. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/minute. The optimized wavelength was selected at 235 nm. This approach achieved strong linearity for alcoholic solutions of FA when loaded at a serial concentrati
... Show MoreAbstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease with severe acute respiratory syndrome and first recognized in Wuhan, China, and it has since spread to the world, resulting in the coronavirus pandemic to 2020. The present study aimed to evaluate Molecular study of some types of vaginal fungi isolated from recovered women from Covid-19 in Baghdad governorate. The study was conducted on 213 samples collected between December 2021 and March 2022, where the number of positive samples reached 188 with percentage 88.26%, while the number of negative samples reached 25 with percentage 11.73% by taking vaginal swabs from various female patients in Al- Kadhimiya Teaching Hospital. Three of Candida spp. were isolated: Candida a
... Show MoreBackground: Non-host-adapted Salmonella serovar Typhimurium is a facultative intracellular bacterium, which invades and multiplies within mononuclear phagocytes in liver, spleen, lymph nodes and Peyer’s plaques. Salmonella infection is a crucial medical and veterinary problem globally. S. Typhimurium causes various clinical symptoms, from asymptomatic infection to typhoid-like syndromes in infants or highly susceptible animals, for instance mice. Objective: The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of anthrax protective antigen (PA)as a potent adjuvant mixed with killed Salmonella Typhimurium (S.T.) to enhance the immunization capacity of the last. Materials and Methods: Two groups of mice were immunized with either th
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