Infectious disorders drug targets最新文献

Cryptosporidiosis is caused by infection with a coccidian parasite belonging to the genus Cryptosporidium. Initially, human cryptosporidiosis was believed to be caused only by one species, but since the advent of molecular studies, 15 more species have been discovered to cause this infection. Among them, Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum are the most common species involved. This mainly affects children and causes diarrhea in most cases. It is mainly diagnosed by microscopy, especially in low-middle-income countries. This review covers the epidemiology, life cycle, risk factors, clinical manifestations, different diagnostic methods and treatment of this disease.

Background: Cutaneous mucormycosis is an unusual fungal infection that continues to occur. It needs aggressive surgical debridement and timely administration of antifungals due to its high fatality rate. High clinical suspicion on the part of a surgeon is required to prevent the same.

Case presentation: We present two cases of cutaneous mucormycosis in which the patients succumbed to death, highlighting the seriousness of the condition. One patient had a lower leg ulcer and was diabetic, and the other patient had a gluteal abscess following an intramuscular injection. Tissue samples grew Rhizopus arrhizus and Apophysomyces sp., respectively. Both patients were treated with amphotericin B, and extensive debridement was performed.

Discussion: Cutaneous mucormycosis can be reported in immunocompetent people, and there is a need for early recognition of the entity as a differential diagnosis of any nonhealing necrotic ulcer.

Conclusion: Proper training and education of technical and clinical staff should be done at peripheral primary and secondary care centres so as not to miss out on cases of mucormycosis and for better prognosis in a cutaneous variety of mucormycosis in surgical patients.

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a common worldwide zoonotic infection affecting warm blooded animals and humans caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Clinical features range from mildfebrile illness and lymphadenopathy in the immunocompetent host to encephalitisin the immunosuppressed host (E.g. HIV infected patients). Congenital infection can also occur. For effective control and treatment of toxoplasmosis, accurate detection of T. gondii infection is important.

Objective: In this study, ELISA detecting anti-toxoplasma antibodies IgM and IgG has been used for diagnosing Toxoplasmosis in patients.

Methods: Enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA) was carried out in serum samples collected from 40 patients to detect anti-toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies as a part of work up in suspected cases. Relevant clinical history was also taken.

Results: Of the total 40 samples taken, only one sample came positive for IgM and 9 came positive for IgG antibody. All patients who were seropositivefor T. gondii antibodies had HIV infection. Five patients were in the age group between 30 to 40 years.

Conclusion: From the limited data available in this study, it may be recommended to screen for T. gondii antibodies in HIV patients.

Background: Hemorrhoid disease (HD) is an anal-rectal ailment that is commonly painful or may be painless and causes rectal bleeding with or without prolapsing anal tissue. It is generally associated with bleeding, prolapse, pruritus, and discomfort, which results in a diminished quality of life and well-being.

Objective: To highlight the recent developments in terms of safety, clinical efficacy, and marketed formulation for the effective management of hemorrhoids.

Method: Reported literature available on Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Clinicaltrails.gov, and from many reputed foundations has been studied to summarize the recent development and clinical studies for the management of hemorrhoids.

Results and conclusion: The high incidence of hemorrhoids obliges the development of new molecules; therefore, safe and efficient drugs to confer protection against hemorrhoids are urgently needed. This review article mainly focuses on the newer molecules to overcome hemorrhoids and also emphasizes various studies carried out in the past.

Introduction: Giardia lamblia is a neglected parasitic infection that typically affects the developing nations of the world. It is a microscopic intestinal parasite that is known to cause stomach cramps, bloating, nausea and bouts of diarrhoea.

Case presentation: Here, we are presenting the case of a 1.5 years-old-baby with an immunocompromised condition who got infected by Giardia lamblia. The baby with fibrosarcoma was receiving treatment in our tertiary care centre, and later developed abdominal and minor systemic complaints. Stool samples were collected, which showed trophozoites and cysts of Giardia.

Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Giardia lamblia infection in a paediatric patient with fibrosarcoma. The patient improved after taking metronidazole for ten days.

Conclusion: It is critical to keep a watch out for this neglected parasite, and suggested samples, particularly stool samples, must be sent for investigation in order to diagnose and manage these cases properly.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is rapidly spreading. Recently, antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) using safe and cost-effective photosensitizers has been introduced as a valuable therapy for the eradication of microbial infections.

Objective: This in silico study aimed to investigate the potential of aPDT against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^Pro).

Methods: In this study, to evaluate possible inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 during aPDT, a computational model of the SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro was constructed in complex with emodin, resveratrol, pterin, and hypericin as the natural photosensitizers.

Results: According to the molecular docking analysis of protein-ligand complexes, emodin and resveratrol with a high affinity for SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro showed binding affinity -7.65 and -6.81 kcal/mol, respectively. All natural photosensitizers with ligand efficiency less than 0.3 fulfilled all the criteria of Lipinski's, Veber's, and Pfizer's rules, except hypericin. Also, the results of molecular dynamic simulation confirmed the stability of the SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro and inhibitor complexes.

Conclusion: As the results showed, emodin, resveratrol, and pterin could efficiently interact with the M^Pro of SARS CoV-2. It can be concluded that aPDT using these natural photosensitizers may be considered a potential SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro inhibitor to control COVID-19.

Background: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 232 infants aged <1 month with proven UTI admitted to three major teaching hospitals for the period 2010-2018 to assess clinical, demographic, and laboratory findings of urinary tract infection in this age group.

Methods: All information was extracted from the medical records. Urinary tract infection was defined as ≥ 50,000 colony-forming units per milliliter of a single uropathogen isolated from a catheterized or suprapubic aspiration or greater than 100,000 colony-forming units per milliliter from a midstream, clean-catch sample.

Results: The most common pathogen isolated was E. coli (78.4%), followed by Enterobacter and Klebsiella, accounting for 12.1 and 4.7% respectively. The main presenting clinical manifestation was jaundice, which was found in 54.7% of cases; it was followed by restlessness (45.6%) and fever (40%).

Conclusion: During infancy, the signs and symptoms of UTI are often nonspecific and although urine culture is a gold standard diagnostic tool specimen collection is challenging and urine contamination is common in children, therefore it makes the diagnosis difficult. UTI in infants may indicate underlying genitourinary abnormalities; therefore, appropriate diagnosis and immediate initiation of antibiotic therapy are crucial to decrease long-term complications like renal scarring. According to our study, the most common clinical features were jaundice, restlessness, and fever, therefore it is suggested that urine culture should be performed for all infants presenting with these signs and symptoms.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the fatal infectious diseases, making it one of the causes of death in the infectious mortality strata, and it is of prime concern globally. It is spread by a causative agent called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) which gets ingressed within the host cells. The current clinical interventions have been associated with various limitations, such as a long treatment regimen (6 months), low lipophilicity of drugs to penetrate the bacterial cell, associated side effects and emerging incidence of multiple drug-resistant strains. Despite these limitations, Isoniazid (INH), a first-line agent, remains a drug of choice to date due to its effectiveness. However, INH is associated with poor penetration into the bacteria cell wall and ultimately leads to the low therapeutic distribution of drugs into the lungs.

Methods: Studies have shown that the structural modifications of INH by introducing more lipophilic moiety could lead to its better penetration into the bacterial cell wall resulting in better anti-TB activities.

Results: This review updates various studies conducted on INH derivatives as anti-tubercular (Anti-TB) agents, including in silico and preclinical investigations. In addition, updates on clinical investigations of novel anti-TB molecules have also been highlighted.

Conclusion: The article focuses on the structural modification of various INH derivatives reported, including the in vitro studies and molecular modelling preclinical and clinical investigations of various INH derivatives.