Respiratory Syncytial Virus is the most common cause of acute viral bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants and young children. This study is designed to examine the presence of anti-RSV IgM and IgA antibodies in infants and young children aged between 2 months up to 5 years old. ELISA was used to examine the levels of IgM and IgA antibodies in the serum samples from 90 individuals (60 are with respiratory symptoms and 30 healthy as controls). The results were analysed by systematically dividing those individuals into two groups according to their age and clinical status. The age groups included infant between 2 months and 1 year of age and young children between 2-5 years whereas the clinical grouping includes the severity of infection of those hospitalized with acute respiratory symptoms and /or with chest pain from two main children hospitals in Baghdad. ELISA results revealed that anti-RSV IgM levels were 80% and 72% for those with acute infection and those with chest pain, respectively, whereas the levels of IgA were 45% for both groups. On the other hand, the level of IgM for individuals from group I and group II of age distribution were 63% and 35%, respectively; while the levels of IgA were only 27% for group I and 8% for group II. This study showed that the level of IgM antibodies for RSV is indicative of early detection of viral infection and it is more likely to be associated with the onset of recent infection with RSV regardless of the severity of infection. By including another test together with IgM detection may significantly improve early detection of RSV infections. These results may contribute for better understanding for the prevalence of RSV among infants and young children as well as the status of respiratory infection with RSV in children from Baghdad areas which may eventually lead to better rationale for the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics in community.
Background: Inhibitor development and HCV are considered the most serious complications of hemophilia treatment. Many factors may increase the risk of complications which include: type of hemophilia, age of the patient, age of onset, duration of the disease, & number of replacement per month. Patients and methods: A descriptive study included 200 patients less than 20 years of age admitted to the Hemophilia Center in Children Welfare Teaching Hospital , medical city in Baghdad , their data ( ag , sex , disease onset and duration , severity of hemophilia ) were collected over 8 months period from 1st January to 31st August 2006. Mixing tests and serology tests for HCV and HBV were performed for all patien
... Show MoreBackground: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is one of the most important metabolic causes for mental retardation in children, in which early diagnosis would successfully prevent mental retardation, yet, there are some other serious metabolic diseases that share the same mode of presentation and some of the phenotypic manifestations also.
Methods: During the period from August 2009 to August 2011, 63 cases were referred to the Children Welfare Teaching Hospital (CWTH) with clinical features of PKU, all were enrolled in this study, few blood drops on a special filter paper were taken from each patient and sent to a specialized metabolic laboratory in Saint Joseph University \Beirut, using tandem mass
The field work to study morbidity & nutritional status of 3828 child aged between 659 months in Basra, Misan and Thi Qar governorate. The results indicated that 14%, 11.7% and 5.4% of the children suffer from diarrhea, Fever & Acute Respiratory Infection (API) respectively. While the prevalence of malnutrition for the children at the three governorate indicated that the chronic was 24.8%, 25.1% and 23%, general malnutrition was 17.1%, 21.4% and 22% where as the acute malnutrition was 9.2, 9.4 and 14.2 respectively.
Background: The immunogenetic predisposition
may be considered as an important factor for the
development of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM)
in association with the HLA antigens.
Objective:This study was designed to investigate
the role of HLA-class II antigens in the etiology of
type T1DM and in prediction of this disease in
siblings, and its effect on expression of glutamic
acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA).
methods:Sixty children who were newly diagnosed
type 1 diabetes (diagnosed less than five months)
were selected. Their age ranged from 3-17 years.
Another 50 healthy siblings were available for this
study, their ages range from 3-16 years. Eighty
apparently healthy control subjects,
The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status of childs of nurseries in Baghdad city so that an early detection of malnutrition cases could be carried out. The results revealed that the daily consumption of food calories, protein, fat and carbohydrate were 1180.5 calories, 27.2gm, 38gm and 180gm, respectively, which were less than the RDA values and the percentages of these nutrients supplied by the food intake were 90.8, 83.7, 87.3 and 90.3%, respectively. It was also demonstrated that the highest percentages of stunting, underweight and wasting, which amounted to 32, 22.7 and 1.5%, respectively, were among those childs who obtained inadequate calories, while the percentages of the forementioned malnutrition cases amon
... Show MoreBackground: Varicose vein (VV) is a common problem that mostly occurs in legs. This medical condition can influence the quality of life and working condition of nurses. Aim of the study: To estimate the prevalence of lower limbs varicosity and its associated risk factors among nurses. Methods: This a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among 100 nurses working Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Surgical Specialties Hospital, and Al- Kidney Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq from January 1st to May 10th, 2022. The participants were recruited in the study using systematic random sampling. The Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity and Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaires were used for data gathering. Results: The prevalence o
... Show MoreToxoplasma gondii is intracellular parasites, which infect a large proportion of the world's population, but uncommonly causes clinically significant disease .The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iraqi male. Venous blood samples were collected from healthy male age between (18-57) years attended the National blood transfusion centre in Baghdad from Oct, 2011 to Jan. 2012. Latex agglutination test (LAT) and Enzyme linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA), were used to detect anti-Toxoplasmosis IgM and IgG antibodies. The results showed significant differences between seropositive toxoplasmosis infections between LAT, 136/400 (34%) and ELISA - IgG, 121/400 (30.25%). The blood group phenotypes of the infe
... Show MoreA significant increase in the incidence of non-O157 verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) infections have become a serious health issues, and this situation is worsening due to the dissemination of plasmid mediated multidrug-resistant microorganisms worldwide. This study aims to investigate the presence of plasmid-mediated verotoxin gene in non-O157 E. coli. Standard microbiological techniques identified a total of 137 E. coli isolates. The plasmid was detected by Perfectprep Plasmid Mini preparation kit. These isolates were subjected to disk diffusion assay, and plasmid curing with ethidium bromide treatment. The plasmid containing isolates were subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for investigating
... Show MoreBackground: The prevalence of thrombocytopenia in most studies ranges from 7 to 10% of all
pregnant females. Although pregnancy is associated with physiological changes that may affect
platelet count, several pathological conditions can cause thrombocytopenia which have a significant
impact on both the mother and her baby.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of thrombocytopenia in pregnant
women attending an out-patient clinic in Al-Yarmouk Teaching hospital in Baghdad.
Material and Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital from
1st October 2016 to 1st July 2017. Five hundred sixty pregnant women randomly selected as the study
group and another 100 non-