Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Japan and public health communication.

A fatal case of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome was reported in Japan in 2013. The ensuing process of public communication offers lessons on how to balance public health needs with patient privacy and highlights the importance of multilateral collaborations between scientific and political communities.

The first identification and retrospective study of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), a novel bunyavirus reported to be endemic in central and northeastern China. This article describes the first identified patient with SFTS and a retrospective study on SFTS in Japan. METHODS: Virologic and pathologic examinations were performed on the patient's samples. Laboratory diagnosis of SFTS was made by isolation/genome amplification and/or the detection of anti-SFTSV immunoglobulin G antibody in sera. Physicians were alerted to the initial diagnosis and asked whether they had previously treated patients with symptoms similar to those of SFTS. RESULTS: A female patient who died in 2012 received a diagnosis of SFTS. Ten additional patients with SFTS were then retrospectively identified. All patients were aged ≥50 years and lived in western Japan. Six cases were fatal. The ratio of males to females was 8:3. SFTSV was isolated from 8 patients. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that all of the Japanese SFTSV isolates formed a genotype independent to those from China. Most patients showed symptoms due to hemorrhage, possibly because of disseminated intravascular coagulation and/or hemophagocytosis. CONCLUSIONS: SFTS has been endemic to Japan, and SFTSV has been circulating naturally within the country.

Response to Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2014-2015.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is categorized in the Category 1 Infectious Disease under the Act on Infectious Disease Control. Since the Act came into effect in 1999, no confirmed case of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) has been reported, though some clinical samples have been tested for VHF in the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has monitored the situation of the EVD outbreak in West Africa since the first report from Guinea in March 2014 and reinforced quarantine and public health preparedness in August. The whole-of-government response was activated at the end of October, establishing the Ministerial meeting on the Response to the EVD presided by the Prime Minister. The responses have raised the level of preparedness for such a rare import disease like VHF; however elicited many lessons. Even if the current VHF outbreak is over, the risk of the global infectious diseases outbreak will be unchanged. The maintenance and improvement of preparedness and response for infectious diseases emergency such as the Category 1 Infectious Disease outbreak by the improvement of manuals and continuous exercises are crucial for a future domestic response. In addition, human resource development is essential for contributing to global response efforts.

WHO's public health agenda in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has responded to the 2011 East-Japan earthquake and tsunami through the three levels of its decentralised structure. It has provided public health advice regarding a number of issues relating to protective measures, potassium iodide use, as well as safety of food and drinking water, mental health, travel, tourism, and trade. WHO is currently developing an initial health risk assessment linked to a preliminary evaluation of radiation exposure around the world from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Lessons learned from this disaster are likely to help future emergency response to multi-faceted disasters.

Carcinomatous meningitis from adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix: a case report and literature review.

Carcinomatous meningitis from uterine cervix-related malignancies is a rare complication. We found only eight cases of meningeal metastasis from primary cervical carcinoma in the English-language medical literature. However, its incidence has increased recently, probably because carcinomatous meningitis is being identified more often and survival time for the primary disease is extended. Thus, the clinical signs and methods for diagnosis are of great importance. A 47-year-old Japanese woman had a stage IIIb uterine cervical adenocarcinoma. She chose initial chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. Ten months after initial chemotherapy and 6 weeks after the last chemotherapy, she suddenly presented with unexplained neurological signs. We performed a lumbar puncture, which demonstrated adenocarcinoma cells compatible with metastases from the primary cervical adenocarcinoma. She died 7 weeks later. This rare complication occurs in the advanced stage of cervical cancer. Lumbar punctures for neoplastic cells are advised, and the prognosis remains poor.

Rapid identification of penicillin and macrolide resistance genes and simultaneous quantification of Streptococcus pneumoniae in purulent sputum samples by use of a novel real-time multiplex PCR assay.

We evaluated a real-time quantitative PCR combined with a multiplex PCR assay for the quantification of Streptococcus pneumoniae and the simultaneous detection of drug-resistant genes by gel-based PCR, using purulent sputum samples. This assay correctly quantified S. pneumoniae and identified their penicillin and erythromycin susceptibilities directly from samples within 3 h.

Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma Associated with Metastases to Central Nervous System: Two Case Reports.

We experienced two rare cases of metastases to the central nervous system (cerebral and leptomeningeal metastases) from primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma. The first case was a 55-year-old woman who developed carcinomatous meningitis while on chemotherapy for ovarian cancer stage IIIC. Cytological analysis confirmed carcinomatous cells of ovarian origin in the cerebrospinal fluid. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated abnormal hyperintensity in the cerebral sulci on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence with enhanced gadolinium indicating leptomeningeal metastases. Her consciousness rapidly declined and she died 42 days after diagnosis. The second case was a 63-year-old woman who underwent surgery for ovarian cancer and who was diagnosed as stage IA. Thirty-eight months after surgery, she developed weakness of the left hand and headaches. A CT scan revealed metastases to the right cerebrum and she was treated with surgical resection followed by radiotherapy. Five months after resection, she developed ileus caused by multiple relapses in the pelvis. Despite chemotherapy, her performance status declined and she died nine months after the resection. Both cases were rare because the first case was isolated leptomeningeal metastases, and the second case was confirmed relapse site in the cerebrum due to neurological symptoms despite her early clinical stage.

Rapid and accurate detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by real-time polymerase chain reaction with melting curve analysis targeting gyrB gene.

Laboratory detection of Pseudomonas spp., particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is an important assay in the nosocomial control. The study was designed firstly to establish a new assay-applied LightCycler polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology with melting curve analysis (MCA). A total of 224 Gram-negative isolates were used to verify the assay system. The PCR with MCA method using the P. aeruginosa-specific gyrase B gene primers was rapid and accurate; the total run is approximately 3 h, and the sensitivity and specificity relative to the Vitek (bioMerieux, Hazelwood, MO) results were 98.1% and 100%, respectively. Vitek identification system was not able to identify the isolates from the new Pseudomonas otitidis spp. opposite to the real-time PCR. This assay was validated to be accurate with an overall sensitivity and specificity of 98.7% and 98.9%, respectively. Conclusively, this rapid and accurate PCR assay with MCA will help to manage and control infections with P. aeruginosa.

Two cases of hepatopulmonary syndrome with improved liver function following long-term oxygen therapy.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a complication of liver disease that is characterized by hypoxemia and intrapulmonary vascular dilatations. The only established therapy for this disorder is liver transplantation. Here, we report two patients (a 63-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man) with HPS associated with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis. We gave the patients low-dose oxygen supplementation to improve their respiratory symptoms. Surprisingly, their liver function improved from Child Pugh class C to class A, and ascites disappeared after a year of oxygen supplementation. We believe that long-term oxygen therapy contributed to the improvement of liver function in these two cases. Long-term oxygen therapy might offer a new therapeutic approach to improve liver function in patients with cirrhosis with hypoxemia.

[The proper use of quinolones to the elderly patient with community-acquired pneumonia examined by Monte Carlo simulation].

Recently, proper use of antimicrobial agents for treatment of infections based on pharmacokinetics (PK)/ pharmacodynamics (PD) theory has been recommended to many clinical doctors. To consider the optimized administration method based on PK/PD theory for the elderly patients of gatifloxacin (GFLX), which was one of the oral respiratory quinolone antibacterial, Monte Carlo Simulation was conducted with community-acquired pneumonia and susceptibility data for Streptococcus pneumoniae (345 strains) collected by the second gatifloxacin surveillance study. From this results, the probabilities of achieving AUC/MIC 30 against pneumococcus for the elderly patients was 96.3% at twice-daily dosing of GFLX 100 mg, 97.2% at twice-daily dosing of GFLX 200 mg, therefore, it was suggested that the clinical effectiveness of the regimen of GFLX 100 mg was as well as the regimen of GFLX 200 mg.

Increased neuronal expression of alpha B-crystallin in human olivary hypertrophy.

We studied morphologic changes in olivary hypertrophy from dentato-olivary tract lesions by immunohistologic methods with antialpha B-crystallin and antiheat shock protein 27 (HSP 27). The majority of central chromatolysis-like enlarged neurons, which are frequently seen in the early stages of olivary hypertrophy on ipsilateral lesions, showed a marked expression of alpha B-crystallin; however, HSP 27 did not show increased expression in those neurons. In the later stages of olivary hypertrophy, increased expressions of alpha B-crystallin varied in the remaining neurons and the expression of HSP 27 increased in hypertrophied astrocytes, although the expression of alpha B-crystallin in hypertrophic astrocytes was not prominent. The accumulation of alpha B-crystallin and HSP 27 may represent responses to pathologic conditions.

Rapid screening of topoisomerase gene mutations by a novel melting curve analysis method for early warning of fluoroquinolone-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae emergence.

We developed a real-time PCR assay combined with melting curve analysis for rapidly genotyping quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDR) of topoisomerase genes in Streptococcus pneumoniae. This assay was not only accurate for the screening of fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistance but also relevant as an early warning system for detecting preexisting single QRDR mutations.

Quorum sensing system lactones do not increase invasiveness of a MexAB-OprM efflux mutant but do play a partial role in Pseudomonas aeruginosa invasion.

We studied the quorum sensing (QS) system and the related homoserine lactones (HSLs) observing Pseudomonas aeruginosa invasion using the epithelial cell monolayer penetration assay model. Compared to the PAO1 wild-type, the QS mutants, DeltalasI and DeltarhlI, were compromised in their capacity to invade. The decreased invasiveness of DeltarhlI was restored by adding 100 microM exogenous C(4)-HSL. However, the decreased invasiveness of an efflux mutant, DeltamexAB-oprM, was not restored in the presence of exogenous HSLs. The QS system partially plays a role in P. aeruginosa invasion; however, C(4)-HSL and 3-O-C(12)-HSL are not the essential determinants for invasiveness for P. aeruginosa.