Oral shedding of HSV-1 and EBV and oral manifestations in paediatric chronic kidney disease patients and renal transplant recipients.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research demonstrated that salivary shedding of HSV-1 and EBV occurs often in adult renal transplant recipients, but there is a lack of studies on the presence of them in the saliva of paediatric population. Therefore, the objective of this study is to describe oral characteristics and to compare the shedding profile of HSV-1 and EBV in the saliva of children with renal transplant to that of chronic kidney disease patients and controls. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving 100 children, being 25 renal transplant recipients, 25 chronic kidney disease patients and 50 healthy children. Demographic and oral clinical characteristics were assessed. Saliva samples were collected and submitted to screening for EBV and HSV-1 by using nested polymerase chain reaction technique. Fisher's exact, Pearson's chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical analysis at a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Oral shedding of HSV-1 (28%) and EBV (60%) were significantly higher in renal transplant recipients compared to the other groups. Single vesicles in the oral mucosa were statistically associated with the presence of HSV-1 (p = .035). In children with chronic kidney disease, there was a higher prevalence of pale oral mucosa (32%) and enamel hypoplasia (40%) compared to paediatric renal transplant recipients and controls. Dental calculus (36%), candidiasis (8%), drug-induced gingival overgrowth (16%), mouth blisters (8%), xerostomia (12%) and salivary gland enlargement (20%) were more common in paediatric renal transplant recipients. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, it can be concluded that salivary shedding of HSV-1 and EBV in paediatric patients was more often found in renal transplant recipients than in the renal failure and control children. Transplanted recipients showed more oral manifestations than renal failure and control children did.

Bacteria and archaea paleomicrobiology of the dental calculus: a review.

Dental calculus, a material observed in the majority of adults worldwide, emerged as a source for correlating paleomicrobiology with human health and diet. This mini review of 48 articles on the paleomicrobiology of dental calculus over 7550 years discloses a secular core microbiota comprising nine bacterial phyla - Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, TM7, Synergistetes, Chloroflexi, Fusobacteria, Spirochetes - and one archaeal phylum Euryarchaeota; and some accessory microbiota that appear and disappear according to time frame. The diet residues and oral microbes, including bacteria, archaea, viruses and fungi, consisting of harmless organisms and pathogens associated with local and systemic infections have been found trapped in ancient dental calculus by morphological approaches, immunolabeling techniques, isotope analyses, fluorescent in situ hybridization, DNA-based approaches, and protein-based approaches. These observations led to correlation of paleomicrobiology, particularly Streptococcus mutans and archaea, with past human health and diet.

Comparison of nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR and viral culture for the detection of cytomegalovirus in subgingival samples.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to compare nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR, and shell vial for the detection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in subgingival samples in periodontitis patients. METHODS: A group of 44 patients and 24 individuals without periodontitis were included in the study. A full periodontal examination was conducted in each subject. Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) was collected by pocket lavage and used for viral culture (shell vial). Additional subgingival samples were obtained with paper points and used for molecular analysis. Nested PCR and real-time PCR were used to detect and quantify HCMV. Student's t-test and chi-squared test were used to compare groups. The sensitivity and specificity for the tests were calculated on 2 x 2 tables considering the nested PCR as the gold standard. RESULTS: The detection of HCMV was greater using nested PCR than with either real-time PCR or shell vial (P < 0.0001). However, the frequency detection of both molecular techniques was higher than in viral culture (P < 0.0001). Only one case of chronic periodontitis was positive by viral culture. Agreement between nested PCR and real-time PCR was observed 47.7% and 4.1% of the time in the periodontitis and control groups, respectively. The sensitivity of real-time PCR was 60%, compared with 2.8% for the shell vial technique. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, this study confirmed that active HCMV infection occurs in human periodontitis; however, its frequency seems to be low. In contrast, latent periodontal HCMV infection seems to be a more frequent event.