Seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against measles in health care workers of the Strakonice Hospital.

AIM: Due to mandatory vaccination introduced in the Czech Republic since 1969, only few measles cases were reported annually until recently. However, a rapid increase of cases has been recorded in last two years. In contrast to the pre-vaccination era, in recent measles outbreaks, many cases have been reported among vaccinated adults. Health care workers (HCWs) are particularly at high risk of contact with measles. Therefore, to minimize transmission in health care settings, many hospitals evaluate measles immune status of their HCWs and offer free vaccination to those with too low anti-measles antibody levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against measles in all HCWs of the Strakonice Hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Anti-measles IgG serum levels were measured using quantitative ELISA. RESULTS: Almost all HCWs born before 1969, when the mandatory vaccination started, showed high levels of IgG antibodies (93.5%). Contrarily, among previously vaccinated individuals, only 64.8% were seropositive. A high percentage of seronegative or borderline samples was observed even in the age groups who were previously vaccinated with two doses. CONCLUSIONS: In total, 25.4% of all HCWs of the Strakonice Hospital had too low anti-measles IgG levels, and most of them were immunized with one dose of MMR vaccine. Prioritized vaccination substantially decreased the number of staff at higher risk of measles acquisition and, at the same time, of those who would need to be quarantined after exposure.

The intensities of γ-rays from the decay of 196m2Au.

The intensities of γ-rays from the 196m2Au decay adopted in 1998 and 2007 ENSDF evaluations differ up to 20%. Gold samples were irradiated in intensive neutron fluxes with energies up to 35 MeV to produce the isotopes 196Au in all isomeric states. The intensities of gammas from the radioactive decay of the isomer 196m2Au were measured by means of the nuclear γ-ray spectrometry (HPGe detectors) and compared to the existing adopted data.

The Neutrons for Science Facility at SPIRAL-2.

The neutrons for science (NFS) facility is a component of SPIRAL-2, the new superconducting linear accelerator built at GANIL in Caen (France). The proton and deuteron beams delivered by the accelerator will allow producing intense neutron fields in the 100 keV-40 MeV energy range. Continuous and quasi-mono-kinetic energy spectra, respectively, will be available at NFS, produced by the interaction of a deuteron beam on a thick Be converter and by the 7Li(p,n) reaction on thin converter. The pulsed neutron beam, with a flux up to two orders of magnitude higher than those of other existing time-of-flight facilities, will open new opportunities of experiments in fundamental research as well as in nuclear data measurements. In addition to the neutron beam, irradiation stations for neutron-, proton- and deuteron-induced reactions will be available for cross-sections measurements and for the irradiation of electronic devices or biological cells. NFS, whose first experiment is foreseen in 2018, will be a very powerful tool for physics, fundamental research as well as applications like the transmutation of nuclear waste, design of future fission and fusion reactors, nuclear medicine or test and development of new detectors.

[Antibiotic resistance in nontyphoidal salmonellae serovars in the Czech Republic]. / Antibiotická rezistence u netyfových sérovaru Salmonella spp. v Ceské republice.

STUDY AIM: To determine antibiotic resistance and incidence of multidrug resistance among Nontyphoidal salmonellae serovars isolated from humans. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Consecutive Salmonella isolates from patients, recovered in 48 microbiology laboratories in May 2012, were analyzed in the respective reference laboratories at the National Institute of Public Health. Strains were re-identified and differentiated into serovars. Their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to 11 antibiotics were determined by the microdilution method. RESULTS: Of 25 serovars identified among 637 strains of Salmonella enterica, the most frequent were Enteritidis (87.0 %), Typhimurium (4.9 %), and monophasic Typhimurium 4,[5],12:i:- (2.0 %) and Mbandaka (0.6 %); other serovars were rare. Altogether 558 strains (87.6 %) were susceptible to all antibiotics tested and the remaining 79 strains were resistant to one or more antibiotics. The prevalence rates of resistance to individual antibiotics among 637 study strains were as follows: ampicillin 8.5%, tetracycline 5.7%, sulfamethoxazole 5.2%, cipro-floxacin 3.8%, and chloramphenicol 2.5%. Resistance to gentamicin, trimethoprim, and third and fourth generation cephalosporins was rare ( 0.5%) and none of the study strains showed resistance to meropenem. Three producers of extended spectrum beta-lactamase were multidrug resistant and two of them recovered from twins exhibited a different pattern of resistance. Resistant strains were most often assigned to the following serovars: Enteritidis (49.4%), Typhimurium (26.6%), and monophasic Typhimurium (15.2%). While only 7% (39 of 554 strains) of Enteritidis strains were resistant, the serovars Typhimurium and its monophasic variant 4,[5],12:i:- showed high rates of resistance, i.e. 66.7 and 92.3%, respectively. Furthermore, resistance was revealed in all strains of the serovars Virchow (n = 3), Kentucky (n = 1), and Newport (n = 1), in two of three strains of the serovar Infantis, and in one of two strains of the serovar Stanley. All five blood isolates were assigned to the serovar Enteritidis and one of them showed resistance to ciprofloxacin. Of 79 resistant strains, 26.6% showed resistance to ampicillin only and 24.1% to ciprofloxacin only, with multidrug resistance, i.e. resistance to three or more antibiotics, confirmed in 43.0% of strains. CONCLUSION: Despite a relatively low prevalence of resistance to the antibiotics tested among 637 study strains, the following alarming findings were made: Detection of Salmonella enterica strains resistant to ciprofloxacin as the drug of choice or to higher generation cephalosporins and multidrug resistance revealed in two thirds of the strains of the serovar Typhimurium and in all but one strains of its monophasic variant 4,[5],12:i:-.