Evaluation of antibody response after COVID-19 vaccination of healthcare workers.

The common goal of all vaccines developed against COVID-19, although they have been designed with different methods, is to develop an effective immunity and antibody response against SARS-CoV-2. However, the postvaccination immune response and antibody levels differ between individuals. This study examined the relationship between postvaccine seropositivity rates, age, gender, smoking, and body mass index (BMI), and antibody titers. A total of 314 healthcare workers (HCW) who were not previously infected with COVID-19 and who had received two doses of CoronaVac inactivated vaccine participated in the study. Seropositivity against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was measured from the participants 4 weeks after the second dose of vaccine using the electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) method. In addition, the antibody developed against the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) was evaluated and compared using Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 kit. One hundred and eighty-one of the participants were female (57.6%) with a median age of 39 (interquartile range [IQR], 10) and 133 (42.4%) were male with a median age of 41 (IQR, 11). 99.6% of the volunteers developed seropositivity 4 weeks after the second dose of vaccine. It was also observed that the rate of RBD protein antibody titer was >250 U/ml in smokers, which is quite low compared to nonsmokers (p = 0.032), and that high RBD antibody titers were proportionally lower in obese participants, according to BMI values, compared to those with normal BMI (49.5% and 9.9%). It was observed that seropositivity developed in almost all participants after the CoronaVac vaccine. However, it was determined that the antibody titer measured varied depending on factors such as smoking, BMI, and duration.

[Investigation of anti-HTLV I/II seroprevalence in healthy blood donors in Izmir region, Turkey]. / Izmir bölgesinde saglikli kan vericilerinde anti-HTLV-I/II seroprevalansinin arastirilmasi

Almost 10-20 million people in the world are thought to be infected by human deltaretroviruses, namely human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type I and II, recently. HTLV-I is endemic in southwestern Japan, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, whereas HTLV-II is more prevalent in intravenous drug addicts, and in American indian populations, endemically. HTLV-I is mainly responsible for adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), however, HTLVII is not clearly associated with a known clinical disease. Both viruses may be transmitted by sexual contact, parenteral route, whole blood transfusion and breast-feeding. In most of the countries [USA, Canada, South America, Caribbean, Japan, Taiwan and some Europe countries (France, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Greece)] routine screening of anti-HTLV-I/II in blood donors is mandatory, however, there is no such practice in Turkey since seroepidemiologic data on HTLVI/II infections is insufficient. In this study, the seroprevalence of HTLV-I/II in healthy blood donors admitted to the blood bank of Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital, Izmir (located at Aegean region), was investigated to support data on the decision making process on routine screening of anti-HTLV-I/II in blood centers. Serum samples from 10.000 healthy blood donors (mean age: 32.6 years; 87.8% were male), who succeeded the donor history questionnaire, were included to the study, and HTLV-I/II antibodies were screened by a commercial enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) (Murex HTLVI-II, Murex Diagnostics, UK) method. Serum samples which were yielded reactive and borderline results were retested by ELISA, and repeated reactive/borderline results were then confirmed by HTLV-I/II confirmation test (INNO-LIA HTLV-I/II, Innogenetics, Belgium). Seven samples yielded reactive/borderline reactive results by both ELISA lots, however, all of them were found negative by confirmatory test. According to our data HTLV-I/II infections are not endemic in Izmir region, and anti-HTLV-I/II screening of blood donors is not required in our blood center currently. Nevertheless, screening HIV which is very rare in prevalence among the donor population, is mandatory for blood donors in our country. Thus, even its prevalence is very low, much more comprehensive and multi-centered studies are necessary for making the decision of integrating HTLV-I/II in routine blood bank screening tests in Turkey.

Building a patient blood management program in a large-volume tertiary hospital setting: Problems and solutions.

Successful implementation of a patient blood management program necessitates the collaboration of a strong organization and a multidisciplinary approach. We organized a meeting with broad participation in our center to establish a consensus for implementation of a specific patient blood management program. International and domestic experiences were shared, the importance of coordination and execution of different pillars in patient blood management were discussed, and the problems about the blood transfusion system were also investigated with the proposal for solutions. The data obtained from this meeting are presented to be a guide for similar large-volume tertiary hospitals for integration of a patient blood management protocol.

In vitro activity of linezolid against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isoalted from Western Turkey.

We investigated the linezolid susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from a tertiary care hospital in Izmir. A total of 67 M. tuberculosis strains (33 multidrug-resistant [MDR] and 34 non-MDR) were isolated and identified by the Tuberculosis Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University. The activity of linezolid was studied by the standard agar proportion method. For all of the strains, the MIC range was 0.06-1 mg/L, and the MIC(50) and MIC(90) values were 0.5 mg/L. No differences were observed between the MDR and non-MDR isolates. In general, linezolid was found to be effective for both the non-MDR and MDR M. tuberculosis strains.

Evaluation of three different assays for the assessment of Epstein Barr Virus immunological status.

Various attempts have been made to improve Epstein Barr Virus serodiagnosis by developing convenient methods. The present study evaluated the performance of multiplexed bead assays and immunoblot based assays on automated platforms by comparing them with immunofluorescence based assays for the determination of EBV immune status. A total of 45 serum samples were included in the study. Serum samples were tested by multiplexed bead EBV assays (AtheNA Multi-Lyte, Zeus Scientific,USA) and immunoblot based assays (Euroline, Euroimmun AG, Germany) on automated platforms. Assay systems were evaluated by comparing them with immunofluorescence based assays (Zeus Scientific, USA). For EBV anti-VCA IgM, anti-VCA IgG, anti-EA and anti-EBNA, the kappa values reflecting agreements of AtheNA and IFA were 0.20, 0.54, 0.92 and 0.95 for anti-EA, anti-VCA IgG, anti-VCA IgM and anti-EBNA respectively and the agreements of Euroline and IFA were 0.53, 0.67, 0.81 and 1.000 for anti-VCA IgG, anti-EA, anti-VCA IgM and anti-EBNA respectively. The results of the study performed on a limited number of serum samples demonstrated that the multiplexed bead assays and immunoblot assays agree with the standard IFA assay for anti-EBNA IgG and anti-VCA IgM detection while the agreement is less for anti-EA and anti-VCA IgG.