Influenza remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in at-risk groups where vaccination reduces complications of infection but is not universally protective. In order to determine whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II polymorphisms modulate anti-influenza antibody responses to vaccination, a cohort of HLA-typed at-risk donors was investigated. The subjects were recruited from a single urban family practice. Hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) titers were measured immediately before and 28 days after subunit vaccination. Nonresponsiveness was defined as failure to mount an HAI response to any component of the trivalent influenza vaccine. When the nonresponders and responders with HLA class II were compared, the nonresponder group had more HLA-DRB1*07-positive donors (13/32 vs. 6/41 responders; P=.016, Fisher's exact test) and fewer HLA-DQB1*0603-9/14-positive donors (2/32 vs. 14/41 responders; P=.0045). Thus, polymorphisms in HLA class II molecules appear to modulate antibody responses to influenza vaccination.

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is characterised by multiple laryngeal papillomas. Left untreated, the lesions enlarge, spread, and endanger the airway. Medical treatments are unsatisfactory, and repeated surgery remains the mainstay of therapy. RRP is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. However, since oral HPV infection is common and RRP is rare, other host and/or viral factors may contribute to pathogenesis. In an attempt to identify such factors, we have investigated 60 patients. The patients were HLA class I, II, and tumor necrosis factor TNF typed by sequence-specific primer PCR, and the results compared to those for 554 healthy controls by using Fisher's exact test. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferative responses of 25 controls and 10 patients to HPV-11 L1 virus-like particles (VLP) were compared. Short-term VLP-specific T-cell lines were established, and recognition of L1 was analyzed. Finally, the L1 open reading frames of HPV isolates from four patients were sequenced. Susceptibility to RRP was associated with HLA DRB1*0301 (33 of 60 patients versus 136 of 554 controls, P < 0.0001). The three most severely affected patients were homozygous for this allele. A range of T-cell proliferative responses to HPV-11 VLP were observed in DRB1*0301-positive healthy donors which were comparable to those in DRB1*0301-negative controls. Individuals with juvenile-onset RRP also mounted a range of VLP responses, and their magnitude was negatively correlated with the clinical staging score (P = 0.012 by the Spearman rank correlation). DRB1*0301-positive patients who responded to L1 recognized the same epitope as did matched controls and produced similar cytokines. Sequencing of clinical isolates excluded the possibility that nonresponsiveness was the result of mutation(s) in L1.

Background The aims of this study were to identify the organisms responsible for microbial keratitis, as identified by corneal scrape using brain-heart infusion broth, trends over time and antimicrobial sensitivities, over an 11-year period at two eye units in the South West of England; Bristol Eye Hospital and Royal United Hospital, Bath. Methods All corneal scrapes performed and sent for microbiological analysis between 4th April 2006 and 31st October 2017 at the two eye units were retrospectively reviewed. First-line treatment was monotherapy with levofloxacin 0.5% and second-line treatment was a combination of cefuroxime 5% and gentamicin 1.5%. Both direct and enrichment cultures were used. Results In total, 2614 corneal scrapes from 2116 patients (1082 female, mean age 47.7 ± 21.2 years) were identified. 38.1% (n = 996) were culture positive and 1195 organisms were cultured. In all, 91.6% were bacteria (69.4% were gram-positive, 30.6% gram-negative). Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) were the most commonly cultured organism (n = 430). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most commonly identified gram-negative organism (n = 189). In total, 6.9% (n = 83) of organisms cultured were fungi. In all, 1.4% (n = 17) were acanthamoeba. There was no statistically significant trend in the organisms observed over the study period. Sensitivity testing confirmed reasonable sensitivity to the empiric antibiotics used in clinical practice. Conclusions This is the first report on microbial keratitis trends in the South West of England. Virulent organisms were likely to be detected on direct culture, whereas low virulent organisms such as CoNS were more likely to be detected on enrichment alone. Antibiotic sensitivity testing confirmed fluoroquinolone monotherapy as appropriate first-line treatment.

We report the development of a novel detection and typing methodology for human papillomaviruses (HPV) based on real-time PCR with the self-probing fluorescent primers known as Scorpions. This technique is quick, simple, specific, sensitive, and capable of estimating viral load per cell. We report the results of over 100 typing reactions performed on cell lines, biopsies, and cervical cytobrush samples which, when compared to the current reference HPV detection and typing technique, present a value of 0.89. We further report preliminary data suggesting a relationship between viral load per cell and grade of cervical disease.Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cause of death from cancer in women worldwide (16). Cervical screening programs reduce the incidence of cervical cancer (18); however, 50% of invasive cervical cancers arise in women screened with existing cytological methodologies (5). In recent years it has been established that a subset of human papillomaviruses (HPV) is associated with cervical cancer, and it is estimated that HPV DNA is present in over 99% of these cancers (22). There are currently 84 types of HPV, approximately 30 of which infect the genital tract (17). The infecting HPV type, the viral load, and the integration state of the HPV genome are known to have profound implications for patient prognosis (10,19,28). Thus, HPV detection and typing techniques have been proposed as an adjunct to, or a replacement for, the current cytological screening regime (3,4,12,25). Clearly the success of such strategies will depend on the development of rapid, reliable, sensitive, and specific HPV detection methods applicable in the clinical setting.Currently, there are eight main approaches to the detection and typing of HPV, all of which display advantages and disadvantages depending on their application (for reviews, see references 7, 15, and 21). Despite recent innovations (6,14), no single technique performs optimally in both clinical and research settings.We report a new technique for HPV typing that we have named viral evaluation using self-probing amplicons (VESPA). VESPA is a real-time PCR-based technique that utilizes selfprobing amplicon primers known as Scorpions (24). This methodology is well suited to HPV detection, since it is simple to perform, rapid, highly specific (20), and reproducible and has the potential to measure viral load. We report typing results for 108 samples, including cell lines, cervical cytobrush samples, and biopsies, performed using both VESPA and the current reference technique, PCR-enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (8). We also present preliminary viral load data for 16 clinically defined HPV-16-positive samples. MATERIALS AND METHODSCell lines. The HeLa, Caski, and SiHa cell lines were a kind gift from Steve Man,

IMPORTANCE The optimum antibiotic treatment for cellulitis and erysipelas lacks consensus. The available trial data do not demonstrate the superiority of any agent, and data are limited on the most appropriate route of administration or duration of therapy. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of antibiotic therapy for non-surgically acquired cellulitis.