Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Viral Diseases”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Integrated management of plant viral diseases.

Viral diseases of plants cause enormous economic losses particularly in the tropics and semitropics which provide ideal conditions for the perpetuation of viruses and their vectors. Intensive agricultural practices necessitated by the ever-increasing demands of the rapidly growing population and the introduction of new genotypes, cropping patterns and crops have further aggravated the problem of viral diseases. Many diverse approaches have been tried to minimize the losses caused by these diseases. The approaches are mainly based on avoidance of sources of infection; avoidance or control of vectors; modification of cultural practices; use of resistant varieties obtained though conventional breeding procedures; cross protection; systemic acquired resistance; and use of transgenic plants containing alien genes that impart resistance to viruses. Although the use of resistant varieties has been found to be the most economical and practical, for effective management of viral diseases an integrated approach is essential in sustainable agriculture. Development of integrated management practices also requires correct identification of the causative viruses, because symptoms can be misleading, and adequate understanding of the ecology of viruses and their vectors.

Animals↗

Evaluation of a synthetic tripeptide as antigen for detection of IgM and IgG antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi in serum samples from patients with Chagas disease or viral diseases.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed to detect IgG and IgM antibodies in human sera against a synthetic tripeptide derived from a hybrid peptide containing 3 specific epitopes from Trypanosoma cruzi. This assay was compared in Brazil with one using conventional antigen, the alkaline crude extract. Serum samples were divided into positive (40 samples) or negative (107 samples) for Chagas disease. Positive samples included 9 serum samples from patients with acute Chagas disease, while negative samples included 57 samples from patients suffering from viral diseases. The total percentages of IgG positive samples from patients with chronic Chagas disease for alkaline extract and synthetic tripeptide were 93.5% and 100%, respectively. All samples from patients with acute Chagas disease were confirmed positive for IgM antibodies by using both the tripeptide and the alkaline extract. However, the results for anti-T. cruzi IgM in the group of chronic Chagas disease patients demonstrated that 41.9% were positive for IgM with the alkaline extract, while the synthetic peptide showed a significantly lower number of positive samples (12.9%). The serum samples from healthy people showed similar results for both antigens. However, 40% of the serum samples from patients presenting with viral diseases were IgM positive for Chagas disease when assayed with conventional antigen; with the synthetic tripeptide as antigen, 100% of this group of samples were found to be negative. Thus, as the results of ELISA with synthetic tripeptide showed higher rates of sensitivity and specificity than ELISA with conventional antigen, the former should be included as a laboratory tool in the serodiagnosis of Chagas disease.

Acute Disease↗

Health control policies in fish viral diseases.

Viral infections cause significant levels of mortality in intensive fish farming. There is no treatment, and, because vaccination is not yet feasible, prevention is only possible through fish health control measures or policies. The transportation of fish or fish products represents a major means of virus dissemination. For this reason, official systems of inspection and certification have focused mainly on exported shipments. A need for unanimity among the various systems has been recognized. Standardized rules and procedures have been encouraged by the international organizations (the FAO and the OIE) through the publication of technical documents, guidelines and codes. Health control systems can be effective, but they may be affected by many socio-economic factors and should always be associated with other preventive measures.

Animal Husbandry↗

Hand, foot, and mouth disease: a viral disease of importance to dentists.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a disease of viral origin that produces characteristic lesions in the mouth and on the hands and feet. Knowledge of the disease is important to dentists since the oral vesicular and ulcerative lesions are usually the first clinical signs of the disease, and the epidemiclike patterns of the disease make it likely that the dentist will contract the disease himself or possibly become a carrier of the virus. The lesions of hand, foot, and mouth disease usually regress in two to three weeks, and complications are rare. Treatment is basically palliative to reduce the pain and irritation. Differential diagnosis of the disease must include consideration of herpes simplex, herpangina, recurrent aphthae, erythema multiforme, and animal foot and mouth disease. A case involving a dentist and his family is reported.

Adult↗

Light microscopy of selected viral diseases (morphology of viral inclusion bodies).

A significant number of viruses produce intracellular changes, inclusion bodies, which do have specific and consistent features important to their identification. The inclusions must fulfill the designated criteria for the specific virus or a member of that group. The specific features of viral inclusions are consistent fixative-dependent artifacts: uniformity and familiarity of staining quality are important to the consistency of recognition and identification. Bouin's or Zenker's-acetic acid are the fixatives of choice, and a well-done hematoxylin and eosin stain offers the greatest uniformity of quality. Viral inclusions are not static objects in a cell and recognition of the range of development is often more important than the appearance of a single inclusion. Generally, most viruses within a group cause identical intracellular reactions and produce similar inclusion bodies, thus permitting the pathologist an accurate prediction of the etiologic agent in clinically undiagnosed or unsuspected viral disease. By correlating viral inclusion identification, clinical history, and physical findings the anatomic pathologist can make the diagnosis of many viral diseases rapidly, inexpensively, and with a high degree of accuracy when compared to the complex, expensive, and time consuming procedures of animal inoculation, tissue culture, or serology.

Adenovirus Infections, Human↗

[Renal manifestations of viral diseases].

Like bacterial diseases viral diseases may also be accompanied by functional renal disorders or abnormalities of the urinary sediment. Thus, to find a hematuria or an isolated proteinuria in the context of influenza or hepatitis is not rare at all. In certain cases viral affections may even be accompanied by a nephrotic syndrome. This article aims at the discussion of multiple renal disorders appearing in the context of hepatitis B and C and AIDS.

AIDS-Associated Nephropathy↗

The viral diseases of fish: a review through 1978. Part 1: Diseases of proven viral etiology.

In this review, a survey is made of the published literature on the viral diseases of fish available up to and including the year 1978. It is divided into two main sections. Part 1 describes 11 diseases where a virus has been isolated and proven to be the causative agent. Part 2 discusses 16 diseases where there is reason to suspect viral etiology because of evidence deriving from electron microscopy or transmission experiments with bacteria-free filtrates of homogenates of diseased tissue, but where final proof of a causative relationship is lacking. The review attempts to provide the most significant information on the disease process itself, in most cases including external signs, fish species susceptible, pathology, geographic distribution, existence of carriers, methods of transmission, and control. It also gives the most recent and significant data concerning the nature of the causative virus, including its cultural, biological, and physicochemical properties, where such information is available.

Anguilla↗

Assessing the risk of transmission of viral diseases in flooded areas: viral load of the River Elbe in Dresden during the flood of August 2002.

In order to assess the risk of transmission of viral diseases during floods, the viral burden in flooded areas of the city of Dresden (Germany) in August 2002 was investigated. Water samples were collected from 9 sampling sites and tested for the presence of 11 enteric viral pathogens. As a control, water samples from the same sites were analyzed in seasonal intervals over the following year. A total of 36 samples were collected, 92% (33/36) being positive for at least one virus. Adenovirus type 40/41 was the most frequently detected (53%), followed by astrovirus (50%) and enterovirus (50%). In all samples, low levels of bacteriophages were detected with no specificity as to sampling site and season, indicating a moderate river contamination with wastewater. A striking association between water temperature and viral genome detection was observed, as illustrated in August 2002 (mean water temperature of 17.8 degrees, 8 sites positive for 17 viruses), in comparison to November 2002 (mean water temperature of 7.6 degrees, 9 sites positive for 45 viruses). Importantly, hepatitis A viral RNA was not detected in the flooded area. In conclusion, our results indicate no increased risk for transmission of viral diseases through water contact in flooded areas.

Bacteriophages↗

Antiviral agents for the control of viral diseases.

Infectious viral diseases are an important worldwide problem and as a result of more efficient epidemiological studies and improved techniques of viral diagnosis "new" diseases are periodically identified. More importantly, as we learn to control cancer and perform tissue and organ transplants, the immunosuppressed patient is at greater risk of viral infection. There are currently very few generally accepted antiviral agents, but recent research efforts are encouraging. The status of the approved agents and of those showing the greatest promise is discussed in this article.

Acyclovir↗

Catalytic antibodies in healthy humans and patients with autoimmune and viral diseases.

Antibodies have been first characterized as proteins produced by the immune system solely for binding other molecules, called antigens, with the goal of eliciting immune response. In this classical conception, antibodies act similarly to enzymes in specific binding to different molecules but cannot catalyze their chemical conversion. However, in 1986 the first monoclonal catalytic antibodies against a chemically stable analog of the transition state of a reaction were obtained and termed abzymes (Abzs). At present, artificial monoclonal Abzs catalyzing more than 100 distinct chemical reactions have been obtained. The discovery of IgG specifically hydrolyzing intestinal vasoactive peptide in the blood serum of asthma patients stimulated studies of natural Abzs. Numerous Abzs discovered afterwards in sera of patients with various autoimmune diseases, viral disorders, or in the milk of healthy mothers, are capable of hydrolyzing proteins, DNA, RNA, polysaccharides, or nucleotides, as well as to phosphorylate proteins and lipids. The phenomenon of catalysis by auto-Abzs is more and more in research focus. In this review we summarize new data on Abzs applications in basic science, medicine and biotechnology.

Animals↗

Recent achievements and trends in the molecular diagnosis of bovine viral diseases--a view from the "OIE Collaborating Centre for the Application of Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for the Diagnosis of Viral Diseases in Veterinary Medicine".

The activities of the "OIE Collaborating Centre for the Application of Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for the Diagnosis of Viral Diseases" and its partner laboratories are summarised, providing a view of recent achievements and trends in the field the molecular diagnosis of bovine viral diseases. Results are briefly discussed concerning the diagnostic application of various techniques and approaches, such as PCR, semi-nested and nested PCR assays, phylogeny and molecular epidemiology, real-time PCR assays, "general" PCR systems, multiplex PCR, multi PCR, robotics in nucleic acid extraction, automated diagnosis, international standardisation and validation of the PCR-based diagnostic assays, and several future trends in molecular diagnostics. These achievements and trends lead to more rapid and specific detection of various viral infections in the cattle populations. Their application will certainly contribute to the reduction of losses which are caused by bovine viral diseases worldwide.

Animals↗

Life-threatening cutaneous viral diseases.

Most viral infections present with a cutaneous eruption that in the greater majority of cases is self-healing. Only in rare instances is the eruption accompanied by constitutional symptoms, and even more rarely, irreversible damage may occur or death may ensue. As with other infectious diseases, prognosis depends on the status of immunologic surveillance. Immunodepressed patients are, therefore, at the greatest risk. It has become more evident, however, that even in immunocompetent patients, eruption that were considered not long ago as benign diseases may in fact result in complications and even death. The introduction of polymerase chain reaction assays has allowed us to attribute conditions to a specific viral infection, which in the past was not possible. Therefore, dermatologists may come across, directly or during consultation, patients presenting with skin lesions that may be related to a viral disease and may lead to possible severe systemic complications. Dermatologists, however, may not be prepared for such developments, and thus the goal of this article is to suggest some of the possibilities. Discussing all the viral diseases that may present with cutaneous manifestations would be cumbersome; thus this article will be limited to the diseases that may endanger the life of a patient who is seeking dermatologic advice and who does not seem to have, at first sight, severe systemic involvement.

Adolescent↗

Viral diseases of the rabbit.

Viral disease in the rabbit is encountered infrequently by the clinical practitioner; however, several viral diseases were reported to occur in this species. Viral diseases that are described in the rabbit primarily may affect the integument, gastrointestinal tract or, central nervous system or maybe multi-systemic in nature. Rabbit viral diseases range from oral papillomatosis, with benign clinical signs, to rabbit hemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis, which may result in significant clinical disease and mortality. The wild rabbit may serve as a reservoir for disease transmission for many of these viral agents. In general, treatment of viral disease in the rabbit is supportive in nature.

Animals↗

Polynucleotide antibodies in connective tissue disease: viral markers or disease mediators?

Antibodies to polynucleotides are seen primarily in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but also occur in a variety of other connective tissue diseases. We looked at the prevalence of antinucleotide antibodies (double- and single-stranded RNA and DNA [dRNA, sRNA, dDNA, and sDNA]) in the sera of patients with SLE (70), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (31), juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) (68), osteoarthritis (12), and of 22 patients with a preceding viral illness. In comparison with sera from a control population, elevated mean antibody levels to sRNA were found in the sera of all the patients with connective tissue disease, as well as in the sera of patients with preceding RNA, but not DNA, viral infections. Elevated mean levels of antibodies to dRNA were seen in all groups with the exception of RA. Elevated mean antibody titers to sDNA were not seen in patients with JRA nor were they present in the sera of patients with preceding RNA viral infections. Elevated mean anti-dDNA titers were seen only in sera from patients with SLE. High correlation coefficients between the levels of antibodies to sRNA and dRNA in sera from SLE and RA, and between sDNA and dDNA in sera from SLE suggest cross-reactivity of the antibodies in these diseases. Immunization of an elderly population with influenza (RNA) viral vaccine induced antibodies to sRNA only. These studies further document the prevalence of antipolynucleotide antibodies in the sera of patients with connective tissue diseases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗