Frequency of dengue virus infection in blood donors in Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran.

Risk of dengue virus in the blood supply has been demonstrated in recent studies. In this paper, Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan province, south east of Iran, was selected for studying dengue infection because of its climatic and geographical situation in the middle of the transit way between East Asia and other countries. The blood samples were taken from volunteer healthy donors who were referred to the Chabahar Blood Center for blood donation. The presence of dengue virus (DENV) was studied by detecting IgG to DENV by enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Reactive ELISA results were confirmed by an immune flouorescence assay (IFA). According to the results, some of the healthy donors were infected by DENV, which could not been recognized in donor selection. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the criteria of donor selection and additional screening tests are recommended.

Frequency of West Nile Virus Infection in Iranian Blood Donors.

West Nile virus (WNV) can be transmitted by blood transfusions and organ transplants. This study was a retrospective study which was performed in Blood Transfusion Center to evaluate the WNV infection in blood donors in Iran. A total of 540 blood samples were taken from volunteer healthy donors who referred for blood donation to Chabahar Blood Center. The presence of WNV was studied by detecting immunoglobulin G (IgG) WNV by enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Demonstration of elevated WNV IgG confirmed by immunoflouorescence assay (IFA) Euroimmun kit. Out of the 540 samples 17.96 % (97 cases) were seropositive by ELISA and 1.48 % (8 cases) was seropositive by IFA. This means that 8.24 % of ELISA seropositive samples were confirmed by IFA. Special attention should be paid to criteria of donor selection, albeit positive results may be due to a previous infection in these donors.

Immunological evaluation of an alginate-based conjugate as a vaccine candidate against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes serious infections, is usually resistant to antimicrobial agents, and is the leading cause of morbidity and premature mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Mucoid strains of P. aeruginosa produce a virulence factor known as alginate. Developing a strategy to raise opsonic antibodies against alginate could be promising for the treatment of P. aeruginosa infection in CF patients. Conjugation of alginate to a carrier protein is a good method for increasing the immunogenicity of alginate. We conjugated alginate to the outer membrane vesicle (OMV) of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, which is a safe carrier protein, and evaluated its efficacy in mice. To evaluate the immune response, total IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG2b titers were analyzed. Immunization of mice with the alginate-OMV conjugate raised the levels of opsonic antibodies, and the vaccinated mice were protected when challenged intranasally with P. aeruginosa. Further studies showed that the conjugated vaccine could eliminate P. aeruginosa from the lungs of infected mice. This study supports the proposal that immunization of mice with an alginate-OMV conjugate vaccine could be safe and protective against P. aeruginosa infection.