Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia is common in immunocompromised patients. It has significant mortality, which is why it is important to consider an infection with P. jirovecii in these patients and use…

Infections with Aspergillus spp. are most typically associated with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. However, an increasing number of reports deal with unusual manifestations of invasive aspergillosis. In the…

BACKGROUNDS. Antibiotics are antibacterial agents that are used for empirical, oriented and prophylactic treatment of various infectious diseases. Although the majority of antibiotics is prescribed outside hospitals, hospitals remain foci…

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first reported over 30 years ago. Within a decade, MRSA was established as an important nosocomial pathogen in both the adult and pediatric populations. MRSA…

This review discusses interactions in the complex microbial population and explains some views on communication within the population of medically important microbes. Interactions between various microbes can help them survive…

Tuberculosis represents a great world public health problem due to its increased incidence and the advent of multidrug-resistant strains. Recent developments in molecular microbiology have raised hopes about the possibilities…

Immunity consist of several mechanisms evolved to protect host organisms against infectious diseases. Microorganisms use different strategies to evade immune responses of the host. The immune system must be able…

The polymerase chain reaction is a relatively new in vitro method, which uses enzymatic synthesis to amplify, in an exponential manner, specific DNA or RNA sequences. The polymerase chain reaction…

Recently, the principal etiological agent of parenterally transmitted non–A, non–B hepatitis was molecularly cloned from the plasma of an experimentally infected chimpanzee. It was named hepatitis C virus (HCV). The…

Forty-six Shigella sonnei strains were tested for their susceptibility to seven different antimicrobials. The strains were isolated during an epidemics of shigellosis in Slovenia in 1990. Using the diffusion method,…

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a gastrointestinal disease of unknown etiology, which usually lasts a lifetime. It is characterized by a chronic course with frequent flares and inter­mediate periods of…

Gastric and duodenal peptic ulcers are among the most frequent diseases of mankind. Etiological causes for deep gastric and duodenal mucosal lesions are heterogeneous, and among them Helicobacter pylori infection…

Diarrhea is one of the most common diseases for which patients seek medical help. Most (more than 90%) cases of acute diarrhea are caused by enteropathogenic bacteria, viruses or pa­rasites.…

Celiac disease is a systemic disease with autoimmune inflammatory response triggered by gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. It is more prevalent than previously thought and may appear at any age.…

Between September 1989 and October 1990, 25 gonococcal strains were isolated from 55 ureteral swabs of patients with clinical diagnosis of acute gonococcal infection. Their sensitivity to penicillin was determined…

Backgrounds. Severe trauma of the spleen can be followed by excessive internal bleeding. The life of the injured person can be saved only with splenectomy. Removal of the spleen reduces…

The purpose of this study was to de­termine the diagnostic value of the lymphocyte blast transformation test in Lyme disease. Our laboratory results were compared with the diag­noses established by…

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) belongs to the family Retroviridae and subfamily Oncovirinae. HTLV-I has an outer envelope consisting of a lipid bilayer and two types of glycoproteins –…

Tick-borne encephalitis is the most important human central nervous system virus infection in Europe. The virus is maintained in nature by a cycle involving reservoirs (small mammals, deer) and vector…

Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolates is of particular interest for epidemiolo­gy. Because of extreme genome variability of HCV genome, each genotyping method should be evaluated in local setting…

HIV infection induces both humoral and cytotoxic immune response. HIV is extremely efficient in evading host immune response due to virus adaptability. An immune response early in the course of…

The most important agents of endemic mycoses that can cause disease in healthy hosts are Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Coccidioides immitis. They occupy specific ecologic and geographic…

A zoonosis called toxoplasmosis, which is caused by the protozoon Toxoplasma gondii, occurs worldwide. The prevalence of Toxoplasma infection varies in different populations, proba­bly due to differences in exposure to…

Hepatitis D virus is one of five well-defined viruses identified as causing agents of viral hepa­titis. Hepatitis D virus is a small, defective single-stranded RNA virus, which has been recently…