Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is an important respiratory bacterial pathogen, especially among children. It causes acute upper and lower respiratory infections.Objective: This study was aimed to measure anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies among hospitalized children who were admitted to hospital diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections.Method: Automated ELISA technique was performed to detect anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies (IgM and IgG antibodies) in serum from 108 children less than 5 years old. The children were admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Suleimani city/Kurdistan Region/Iraq because of acute respiratory tract infections. A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic and clinical data from those children.Results: IgM anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 15 (13.9%) out of 108 children. The highest seroprevalence was found in the age group 25-36 months while the lowest is in the age group 1-12 months. M. pneumoniae infections were more common among males than females though results were statistically not significant, and attendance of kindergarten or nursery, residency, history of chronic diseases, history of contact with similar conditions, and family history of chronic diseases, they were all statistically not significant. The IgMseropositive children were suffering from bronchitis, croup, pneumonia, or other respiratory infections, in frequencies of 7 (46.6%), 4 (26.7%), 3 (20%), and 1 (6.7%) respectively. Increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, diagnosis of croup, and diagnosis of bronchitis were more frequent in M. pneumoniae infected group and the results were statistically significant. The IgG anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 31 (28.8%) out of the 108 children, and the greatest IgG seroprevalence was highest in age group 49-60 months.Conclusion: M. pneumoniae is an important respiratorypathogen among hospitalized children in Sulaimanigovernorate/Kurdistan/Iraq, and nearly one third of childrenhad experienced M. pneumoniae infection by the age of fiveyears
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic destructive inflammatory disease associated with destruction of joint connective tissues and bones, affecting 0.5%–1% of the population worldwide reporting higher prevalence of periodontitis among rheumatoid arthritis patients. The purpose of this study is to estimate level of salivary C-reactive protein in relation to the occurrence and severity of the periodontal disease and other oral parameters among group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis Material and methods: Fifty women patients with rheumatoid arthritis; twenty five on Methotrexate treatment and twenty five on combination treatment of Methotrexate and Etanercept selected as study groups with an age range (30-40) years old and
... Show MoreStaphylococcus are cause hospital community acquired infection and they are an important cause of health –care associated infection.The Coagulase positive Staphylococcus are Staphylococcus aureus which can implicated in toxic shock syndrome. Methicillin and Vancomycin Staphylococcus aureus resistant (MRSA, VRSA) become major cause of hospital- acquired infection and community acquired infection.Coagulase negative staphylococcus emerged as major cause of infection in immunocompromised patients.The main objective of this study was to evaluate the distribution of Staphylococci among leukemic patients since it is well known that leukemic patients are prone to be infected easily due to their immunosuppressed status.This study was undertaken b
... Show MoreBackground Birth defects are one of the causes of pediatric disability and mortality in all around the world. Data on birth defects from population-based studies originating from developing countries are lacking. Cleft lip (CL), cleft lip and palate (CLP), and isolated cleft palate (CP), collectively termed oral clefts, occur in all races, both sexes, and all socioeconomic groups and vary internationally (1). The main aim of this research is to establish the frequency of cleft lip and/or palate in the population of the Al-Ramadi City, and to characterize the demographic features of affected individuals and find possible risk factors. Materials and methods We conducted a survey of the Educational Maternal and Pediatric Hospital in Al-Ramadi
... Show MoreUropathogenic Escherichia coli is the main cause of urinary tract infections, the ability of this bacteria to cause urinary tract infections is related to a variety of virulence factors that enhance colonization and evade the immune response, one of these virulence factors is cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 toxin which converts the glutamine residue to glutamic acid to activated GTPase Rho family. The study was meant to find out the prevalence rate of the cnf1 gene in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from Iraqi patients. Conventional laboratory methods were used for primary bacterial identification and molecular methods were used to confirm bacterial identity and gene detection. Escherichia coli was identified in 89/165 (53.93%) of th
... Show MoreThe present study was performed to evaluate the level of some risk factors (biochemical and immunological) in hypothyroid Iraqi patients considering the different thyroid functional states (hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism).The study includes 82 patients clinically diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Three study groups have been investigated: (47 clinical hypothyroid patients, 12 subclinical hypothyroid patients 23 healthy individuals) of different ages. This study, show that the proportion of females (83.3 %), (87.2%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyroidisim respectively higher than the proportion of males (16.7%),(12.8%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyrodism respectively of the total patients.The majority of subclinical hyp
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of the mandibular fractures relating to gender, age, the etiology of injury, and the rendered treatment modalities and complications. The data of the patients who sustained mandibular fractures were retrieved and were analyzed retrospectively, and based on these data a descriptive analysis was conducted. A total of 112 patients were included in this study; the most common cause was road traffic accidents (RTAs) followed by assaults and missile injuries. The most frequently involved age group was 11 to 20 years, treatment modalities included conservative, closed reduction and indirect fixation, and open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) in 11.6, 79.5, and 8.9%
... Show MoreBackground: Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood;it can become chronic or recurrent and affect dental health .Thus this research aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries among students with different grade of depression in relation to physicochemical characteristics of stimulated whole saliva. Materials and methods: The total sample involved for depression status assessment is composed of 800 students for both gender aged 15 years old that were selected randomly , This was performed using children depression inventory (CDI) index that divided the students into four groups of depression(low or average grade, high average grade, elevated grade and very elevated grade). The diagnosis and
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