Lateral Flow Immunoassays for Ebola Virus Disease Detection in Liberia.

BACKGROUND: Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIs) are point-of-care diagnostic assays that are designed for single use outside a formal laboratory, with in-home pregnancy tests the best-known example of these tests. Although the LFI has some limitations over more-complex immunoassay procedures, such as reduced sensitivity and the potential for false-positive results when using complex sample matrices, the assay has the benefits of a rapid time to result and ease of use. These benefits make it an attractive option for obtaining rapid results in an austere environment. In an outbreak of any magnitude, a field-based rapid diagnostic assay would allow proper patient transport and for safe burials to be conducted without the delay caused by transport of samples between remote villages and testing facilities. Use of such point-of-care instruments in the ongoing Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa would have distinct advantages in control and prevention of local outbreaks, but proper understanding of the technology and interpretation of results are important. METHODS: In this study, a LFI, originally developed by the Naval Medical Research Center for Ebola virus environmental testing, was evaluated for its ability to detect the virus in clinical samples in Liberia. Clinical blood and plasma samples and post mortem oral swabs submitted to the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, the National Public Health Reference Laboratory for EVD testing, were tested and compared to results of real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), using assays targeting Ebola virus glycoprotein and nucleoprotein. RESULTS: The LFI findings correlated well with those of the real-time RT-PCR assays used as benchmarks. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid antigen-detection tests such as LFIs are attractive alternatives to traditional immunoassays but have reduced sensitivity and specificity, resulting in increases in false-positive and false-negative results. An understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of a particular assay lets the diagnostician choose the correct situation to use the correct assay and properly interpret the results.

A Review of Force Health Protection Aspects of Lyme Disease in the U.S. Military.

INTRODUCTION: Lyme disease (LD) is an underrated threat to the military that negatively impacts mission readiness. Lyme disease has traditionally been thought to only be a risk in an operational context, where training or deployments are frequently conducted in heavily wooded environments. However, this view diminishes risks posed by many off-duty outdoor recreational activities. Furthermore, although the Army introduced a permethrin factory-treated Army Combat Uniform in 2012, permethrin retention and subsequent protection have been shown to decrease significantly after 3 months of wear. Thus, although LD is a known health risk that threatens unit readiness, beyond using treated uniforms there has been little progress at the unit level to address this threat. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Focusing on a narrative review of LD and its impact on U.S. military force health protection, sources included DoD websites and policies, government press releases and information papers from sources like the CDC and FDA, and scholarly peer-reviewed journals with full-text access from the online databases EBSCOhost, MEDLINE, SCOUT, and Google Scholar. Searches included the following key words: LD and military, Army, etiology, epidemiology, incidence, treatments, post-treatment LD, and chronic LD. Articles were selected for review based on the relevance of their abstracts and titles. RESULTS: Although the incidence of LD appears to be increasing among service members, it is difficult to attribute this increase to military-related duties. Also, despite ongoing LD research specifically conducted and funded by the DoD, there are limited data on the mitigating effects of force education and permethrin-treated uniforms on the LD threat. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that LD negatively impacts military readiness and monetary costs diverted from other priorities. CONCLUSION: Lyme disease poses a genuine threat to the health and careers of service members and is an often-overlooked disruptor to military operations. Simple, feasible prevention strategies that are tailored to high-risk geographic regions can be emphasized by military units to reduce the incidence of on-duty and off-duty cases. Additionally, there remains a critical need for new preventative and diagnostic measures for LD.

Epigenetic regulation of the nitrosative stress response and intracellular macrophage survival by extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli.

Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) reside in the enteric tract as a commensal reservoir, but can transition to a pathogenic state by invading normally sterile niches, establishing infection and disseminating to invasive sites like the bloodstream. Macrophages are required for ExPEC dissemination, suggesting the pathogen has developed mechanisms to persist within professional phagocytes. Here, we report that FimX, an ExPEC-associated DNA invertase that regulates the major virulence factor type 1 pili (T1P), is also an epigenetic regulator of a LuxR-like response regulator HyxR. FimX regulated hyxR expression through bidirectional phase inversion of its promoter region at sites different from the type 1 pili promoter and independent of integration host factor (IHF). In vitro, transition from high to low HyxR expression produced enhanced tolerance of reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNIs), primarily through de-repression of hmpA, encoding a nitric oxide-detoxifying flavohaemoglobin. However, in the macrophage, HyxR produced large effects on intracellular survival in the presence and absence of RNI and independent of Hmp. Collectively, we have shown that the ability of ExPEC to survive in macrophages is contingent upon the proper transition from high to low HyxR expression through epigenetic regulatory control by FimX.

The type 1 pili regulator gene fimX and pathogenicity island PAI-X as molecular markers of uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) fall within a larger group of isolates producing extraintestinal disease. UPEC express type 1 pili as a critical virulence determinant mediating adherence to and invasion into urinary tract tissues. Type 1 pili expression is under regulation by a family of site-specific recombinases, including FimX, which is encoded from a genomic island called PAI-X for pathogenicity island of FimX. Using a new multiplex PCR, fimX and the additional PAI-X genes were found to be highly associated with UPEC (144/173 = 83.2 %), and more prevalent in UPEC of lower urinary tract origin (105/120 = 87.5 %) than upper urinary tract origin (39/53 = 74 %; P<0.05) or commensal isolates (28/78 = 36 %; P≤0.0001). The Fim-like recombinase gene fimX is the only family member that has a significant association with UPEC compared to commensal isolates. Our results indicate PAI-X genes, including the type 1 pili regulator gene fimX, are highly prevalent among UPEC isolates and have a strong positive correlation with genomic virulence factors, suggesting a potential role for PAI-X in the extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli lifestyle.

Artificial Blood Development Implications for Military Medicine.

Massive hemorrhaging remains the most common cause of preventable battlefield deaths. Blood used for trauma care requires a robust donation network, capacity for long-term storage, and extensive and accurate testing. Bioengineering technologies could offer a remedy to these constraints in the form of blood substitutes-fluids that could be transfused into patients to provide oxygen, carry away waste, and aid in coagulation-that would be used in prolonged casualty care and in far-forward settings, overcoming the obstacles of distance and time. The different molecular properties of red blood cells (RBCs), blood substitutes, and platelet replacements contribute to their respective utilities, and each type is currently represented in ongoing clinical trials. Hemoglobin oxygen carriers (HBOCs) are the most advanced RBC replacements, many of which are currently being evaluated in clinical trials in the United States and other countries. Despite recent advancements, challenges remaining in the development of blood alternatives include stability, oxygen capacity, and compatibility. The continued research and investment in new technologies has the potential to significantly benefit the treatment of life-threatening emergency injuries, both on the battlefield and in the civilian sector. In this review, we discuss military blood-management practices and military-specific uses of individual blood components, as well as describe and analyze several artificial blood products that could be options for future battlefield use.

Intracellular Macrophage Infections with E. coli under Nitrosative Stress.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) produces disseminated infections of the urinary tract, blood, and central nervous system where it encounters professional phagocytes such as macrophages, which utilize reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) to arrest bacteria. In vitro, extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) can survive within bone marrow-derived macrophages for greater than 24 h post-infection within a LAMP1+ vesicular compartment, and ExPEC strains, in particular, are better adapted to intracellular macrophage survival than commensal strains (Bokil et al., 2011). This protocol details an intracellular murine macrophage-like cell infection, including modulation of the host nitrosative stress response, to model this host-pathogen interaction in vitro. To accomplish this, RAW 264.7 murine macrophage-like cells are pre-incubated with either L-arginine, an NO precursor, or IFNγ to yield a high nitric oxide (NO) physiological state, or L-NAME, an inducible NO synthase (iNOS)-specific inhibitor, to yield a low NO physiological state. This protocol has been successfully utilized to assess the contribution of a novel ExPEC regulator to intracellular survival and the nitrosative stress response during macrophage infections (Bateman and Seed, 2012), but can be adapted for use with a variety of E. coli strains or isogenic deletions.

Promoter Orientation of Prokaryotic Phase-variable Genes by PCR.

One major mechanism of phase variable gene expression in prokaryotes is through inversion of the promoter element for a gene or operon. This protocol describes how to detect the promoter orientation of a phase-variable gene by PCR. This protocol, including primer design, is specific to detection of the promoter orientations of hyxR, a LuxR-like response regulator in Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) isolates (Bateman and Seed, 2012); however, this protocol can be generalized to other organisms and genes to discriminate prokaryotic promoter inversions by PCR through size discrimination of the amplification products. Expression of hyxR is regulated through bidirectional phase inversion of the upstream promoter region mediated by a member of the family of site-specific tyrosine recombinases called Fim-like recombinases. The recombinases recognize inverted DNA repeat sequences flanking the promoter and produce a genomic rearrangement, orientating the promoter in favor or disfavor of gene expression.

Procession to pediatric bacteremia and sepsis: covert operations and failures in diplomacy.

Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, bacterial sepsis remains a major cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality, particularly among neonates, the critically ill, and the growing immunocompromised patient population. Sepsis is the end point of a complex and dynamic series of events in which both host and microbial factors drive high morbidity and potentially lethal physiologic alterations. In this article we provide a succinct overview of the events that lead to pediatric bloodstream infections (BSIs) and sepsis, with a focus on the molecular mechanisms used by bacteria to subvert host barriers and local immunity to gain access to and persist within the systemic circulation. In the events preceding and during BSI and sepsis, Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens use a battery of factors for translocation, inhibition of immunity, molecular mimicry, intracellular survival, and nutrient scavenging. Gaps in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of bacterial BSIs and sepsis are highlighted as opportunities to identify and develop new therapeutics.