PurposeIn eye care field, contact lenses (CL) have a great impact on improving vision, but their use can be limited by ocular infection. CL- associated infections can be reduced by good attention to CL storage case practice. CL-care solutions should be able to control microbial growth on CL.The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of CL-care solutions (found in Egyptian market) with some natural compounds in removal and inhibition of bacterial biofilm formed on soft CL.Clinical isolates were recovered from patients having conjunctivitis from Benha University Hospital and identified microbiologically. Quantification of biofilm was done using microtiter plate assay. Three multipurpose CL-care solutions were examined for their ability to remove and inhibit biofilm. Also four natural extracts having antibacterial activity and are safe on eye were tested for their anti-biofilm activity.ResultsThe major bacterial isolates from eye infections were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (36%) and Staphylococcus spp. (37.8%). Only 33.3% of isolates showed ability to produce weak to moderate biofilm. The tested multi-purpose CL-care solutions showed moderate ability to remove preformed biofilm. Among the tested natural compounds, Calendula officinalis and Buddleja salviifolia extracts showed an excellent efficacy in inhibition of biofilm and also removal of preformed biofilm.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that isolates from infected eye and CL-cases showed weak to moderate biofilm formation. Calendula officinalis and Buddleja salviifolia extracts showed excellent effect on inhibition and removal of biofilm, these extracts could be added into CL-care solutions which could markedly reduce eye-infections during CL-wear.

Background: Human bocavirus (HBoV) infection possibly plays a role in gastroenteritis because of the frequent manifestation of gastrointestinal symptoms. Objectives: Detect human bocavirus (HBoV) and assess its prevelance among gastroenteritis associated viral agents in infants with gastroenteritis in Benha University Hospital. Methodology: The study was carried out on 100 stool samples collected from 100 infants with acute gastroenteritis for detection of Rotavirus (RV), Norovirus (NoV) & Astrovirus (AstV) by multiplex reverse transciptase polymerase chain reaction and detection of Adenovirus(AdV) & HBoV by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Results: Viral agents were detected in 57 (57%) samples; 51 (51%) samples show mono-infection while 6 (6%) samples show co-infection. Rotavirus, Norovirus, Adenovirus and astrovirus were detected in 37%, 14%, 7.0%, and 3% of the study population, respectively; HBoV was detected in 2%. Conclusion: This percentage of HBoV suggests that it might play a minor role in gastroenteritis.

Introduction: Skin prick test (SPT) is the most sensitive and reliable method of detecting the causative allergens and considered the gold standard method for allergy testing, it is also simple, quick and cheap. However it has an invasive nature requires multiple skin pricks, painful for children and difficult if skin diseases coexist. SPT can be affected by antihistaminics and corticosteroids. Hence, an immunoblotting technique as an alternative test for IgE determination has been developed, which is lesser invasive. Aim: To evaluate the immunoblot test by comparing it to SPT in diagnosis of allergic conjunctivitis. Patients and Methods: Immunoblot test was done for 32 patients clinically diagnosed as allergic conjunctivitis, either alone or associated with allergic rhinitis and / or bronchial asthma and who gave positive SPT with one or more of 11 natural allergenic extracts. Results: Overall diagnostic performance of immunoblot test in comparison to SPT for detection of all studied aeroallergens showed 27.5% sensitivity, 98.0% specificity, 97.0% positive predictive value, 33.2% negative predictive value and 46.2% diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: Since immunoblotting technique has low sensitivity and high specificity, hence it can be used as confirmatory test secondary to SPT for diagnosis of causative allergens.

Background: The evolution of nosocomial infections by multidrug resisitance (MDR) and extensive drug resistance (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii and klebsiella pneumoniae are considered a major health problem owing to the relatively limited treatment options. Colistin and tigecycline are increasingly used as a last choice for treatment of these infections. The most accurate antibiotic susceptibility methods for colistin and tigecycline are still challenging. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to detect colistin and tigecycline antibiotic susceptibility of K. pneumoniae and A. baumanii and evaluate disk diffusion (DD), E- test and VITEK 2 automated system compared to broth dilution (BD) test. Methodology: This study was performed on 35 K. pneumoniae and 15 A. baumanii clinical isolates collected from patients admitted to Benha University Hospitals. The isolated strains were identified by the standard laboratory technique with subspecies identification by VITEK 2 automated system. Colistin and tigecycline antibiotic susceptibility for K. pneumoniae and A. baumanii were evaluated by E-test, disk diffusion and VITEK 2 compared to BD as the reference method. Results: Through the study of the studied k. pneumoniae and A. baumanii strains, The essential and categorical agreements of colistin suscebtibility were (82% & 80 %) for E-test, (92% & 98%) for VITEK 2 and categorical agreement for DD was 54%. The essential and categorical agreements of tigecycline suscebtibility were (96% & 98%) for E-test, (88% &78%) for VITEK 2 and categorical agreement for DD was 74%. Conclusion: For colistin, VITEK 2 is considered a reliable method to detect colistin susceptibility while E-test and disk diffusion showed a poor performance. For tigecycline, E-test showed the best performance compared to the gold standard test while shortcomings of automated VITEK 2 and manual DD were observed.

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