Two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs.

Marmots are an important reservoir of Yersinia pestis and a source of human plague in Mongolia. We present two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs and discuss the distribution of natural foci of Y. pestis in Mongolia.

Aflatoxin exposure may not play a role in liver cancer development in Mongolia.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Mongolia is growing at an alarming rate. Traditional dried food was suggested as the major reason for high HCC numbers, due to possible aflatoxin contamination during manufacturing. We thus aimed to measure aflatoxin concentrations in Mongolian food samples. METHODS: Samples of traditional Mongolian food ('aaruul', dried meat, and dried noodles; in total 11 samples) were collected and shipped to Germany. The food samples were analyzed for aflatoxins by extraction, immunoaffinity purification, and subsequent HPLC with fluorescence detection. RESULTS: The traditional Mongolian food samples did not contain any detectable amounts of aflatoxin. CONCLUSION: Since Mongolian food does not contain aflatoxins, the cause for the increasing HCC incidence in Mongolia is probably due to a high prevalence of viral hepatitides. Further studies to identify the reason for this development are warranted.

Molecular detection of measles virus in primary cell cultures of otosclerotic tissue.

CONCLUSION: Primary cell cultures were established from otosclerotic/otospongiotic footplate bone particles. Although this procedure is time-consuming, the quality and quantity of RNA isolated from these cells were much higher in comparison with the direct isolation of RNA from footplate bone samples and the preparation was more suitable for the detection of measles virus (MeV) RNA. OBJECTIVE: Morphological and biochemical investigations suggest that persistent MeV infection participates in the development of otosclerotic foci. However, this hypothesis is controversial because the detection of MeV in otosclerotic foci is inconsistent since the results are dependent on the presence and stage of foci in the investigated bone particles. Unfortunately, this cannot be confirmed before investigation. To study the presence of the MeV by different techniques in otosclerotic foci, stapes footplate fragments were collected during stapedectomy from patients suffering from clinical otosclerosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MeV-specific RT-PCR was performed on total RNA isolated directly from four fresh frozen footplate bone fragments and from the cells of 16 primary cultures of otosclerotic tissue samples. In order to rescue persisting MeV, the primary footplate cells were cocultured with MeV permissive B95a cells. RESULTS: MeV was not detected in RNA from fresh frozen otosclerotic materials, but analysis of the RNA from 5 of the 16 primary cell cultures showed MeV-positive results. Nucleotide sequencing of a 317 bp MeV-specific RT-PCR fragment confirmed the presence of the MeV RNA genome. Here, we report the first determination of MeV sequences in total RNA isolated from primary cells cultured from otosclerotic tissue. Persisting MeV in primary footplate cells could not be recovered by coculturing with B95a cells.