Browsing by Subject "infectious disease"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    AI for infectious disease modelling and therapeutics
    (World Scientific, 2020-11) Alterovitz, Gil; Alterovitz, Wei-Lun; Cassell, Gail H.; Zhang, Lixin; Dunker, A. Keith; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    AI for infectious disease modelling and therapeutics is an emerging area that leverages new computational approaches and data in this area. Genomics, proteomics, biomedical literature, social media, and other resources are proving to be critical tools to help understand and solve complicated issues ranging from understanding the process of infection, diagnosis and discovery of the precise molecular details, to developing possible interventions and safety profiling of possible treatments.
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    Daily Situational Brief, January 20, 2015
    (MESH Coalition, 1/20/2015) MESH Coalition
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    Fecal microbiota transplantation for the treatment of recurrent and severe Clostridium difficile infection in solid organ transplant recipients: A multicenter experience
    (Wiley, 2018) Cheng, Yao-Wen; Phelps, Emmalee; Ganapini, Vincent; Khan, Noor; Ouyang, Fangqian; Xu, Huiping; Khanna, Sahil; Tariq, Raseen; Friedman-Moraco, Rachel J.; Woodworth, Michael H.; Dhere, Tanvi; Kraft, Colleen S.; Kao, Dina; Smith, Justin; Le, Lien; El-Nachef, Najwa; Kaur, Nirmal; Kowsika, Sree; Ehrlich, Adam; Smith, Michael; Safdar, Nasia; Misch, Elizabeth Ann; Allegretti, Jessica R.; Flynn, Ann; Kassam, Zain; Sharfuddin, Asif; Vuppalanchi, Raj; Fischer, Monika; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) is recommended for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) treatment; however, use in solid organ transplantation (SOT) patients has theoretical safety concerns. This multicenter, retrospective study evaluated FMT safety, effectiveness, and risk factors for failure in SOT patients. Primary cure and overall cure were defined as resolution of diarrhea or negative C difficile stool test after a single FMT or after subsequent FMT(s) ± anti‐CDI antibiotics, respectively. Ninety‐four SOT patients underwent FMT, 78% for recurrent CDI and 22% for severe or fulminant CDI. FMT‐related adverse events (AE) occurred in 22.3% of cases, mainly comprising self‐limiting conditions including nausea, abdominal pain, and FMT‐related diarrhea. Severe AEs occurred in 3.2% of cases, with no FMT‐related bacteremia. After FMT, 25% of patients with underlying inflammatory bowel disease had worsening disease activity, while 14% of cytomegalovirus‐seropositive patients had reactivation. At 3 months, primary cure was 58.7%, while overall cure was 91.3%. Predictors of failing a single FMT included inpatient status, severe and fulminant CDI, presence of pseudomembranous colitis, and use of non‐CDI antibiotics at the time of FMT. These data suggest FMT is safe in SOT patients. However, repeated FMT(s) or additional antibiotics may be needed to optimize rates of cure with FMT.
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    Hajj – Beyond traveller's diarrhea
    (Elsevier, 2017) El Ghany, Moataz Abd; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Hill-Cawthorne, Grant A.; Memish, Ziad A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
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    Histoplasmosis: Fever of Unknown Origin Disseminated to Bone Marrow
    (2021-06-09) Lugo, Adrian; Adjapong, Andrews; Ahmad, Waseem
    Histoplasmosis capsulatum is a dimorphic fungus highly endemic to the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys of North America. Infection develops when Histoplasma microconidia are inhaled and transform into their yeast form inside the lungs. In this report, we highlight the importance of including histoplasmosis as a differential diagnosis for a fever of unknown origin. A 42-year-old female with a PMH of HIV presented to the ED in Southwest Indiana for a fever. Her last known CD4 count was 4 and viral load was 601,000. She was found to have pancytopenia. Her platelets were refractory to platelet transfusion and she had several episodes of epistaxis requiring packing. She failed IV antibiotics as her fever persisted. Blood cultures were initially negative, chest x-ray was insignificant, urinalysis was unremarkable, and a respiratory panel was negative, but a urine blastomyces antigen test came back positive and a month later the blood culture subsequently grew presumptive histoplasma capsulatum. She subsequently underwent a bone marrow biopsy as part of her pancytopenia workup which demonstrated histiocytes containing fungal organisms. Her pancytopenia was therefore declared to be secondary to disseminated mycosis. She was treated with IV amphotericin B per infectious disease with improvement. Extrapulmonary disease has been well reported in patients with blastomycosis and histoplasmosis, but bone marrow infiltration is rare. In fact, according to one epidemiological study, only 4% of cases have bone involvement. Our case report is unique as the patient had evidence of fungus in the bone, and it was only through inadvertently obtaining a bone marrow sample for hematologic testing that we were able to find the source for her fever. Although CT of the chest would later demonstrate lung involvement, the case of disseminated mycosis was made by both blood cultures and bone marrow aspirate, indicating osteomyelitis and, hence, disseminated disease that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. This case report highlights the importance of keeping histoplasmosis and other fungal infections on the list of differential diagnoses given the demographic and geographical region as it can potentially be the source for acute illness.
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    Sequestration of host metabolism by an intracellular pathogen
    (eLife Sciences Organisation, Ltd., 2016) Gehre, Lena; Gorgette, Olivier; Perrinet, Stéphanie; Prevost, Marie-Christine; Ducatez, Mathieu; Giebel, Amanda M.; Nelson, David E.; Ball, Steven G.; Subtil, Agathe; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, IU School of Medicine
    For intracellular pathogens, residence in a vacuole provides a shelter against cytosolic host defense to the cost of limited access to nutrients. The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis grows in a glycogen-rich vacuole. How this large polymer accumulates there is unknown. We reveal that host glycogen stores shift to the vacuole through two pathways: bulk uptake from the cytoplasmic pool, and de novo synthesis. We provide evidence that bacterial glycogen metabolism enzymes are secreted into the vacuole lumen through type 3 secretion. Our data bring strong support to the following scenario: bacteria co-opt the host transporter SLC35D2 to import UDP-glucose into the vacuole, where it serves as substrate for de novo glycogen synthesis, through a remarkable adaptation of the bacterial glycogen synthase. Based on these findings we propose that parasitophorous vacuoles not only offer protection but also provide a microorganism-controlled metabolically active compartment essential for redirecting host resources to the pathogens.
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