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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 physicians. The course of the illness was followed in 213 individuals who­se blood samples were tested for cell immunity against Borrelia burgdorferi. All patients sho­wed clinical picture compatible with … Preberite več >>

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 – gp21 and gp46. HTLV-I viral genome is a positive single stranded mol­ecule of RNA. It containes structural (gag, pol and env) and regulatory (tax… Preberite več >>

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 (ticks). Tick-borne encephalitis occurs in endemic areas, which vary in activity. The purpose of the study was to determine the species and frequency of tick-borne encephalitis infection among small mammals … Preberite več >>

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 before being intro­duced as a routine diagnostic procedure or a tool for large-scale epidemiological studies. This comparative study of four most widely used HCV genotyping assays, employed on 40 HCV … Preberite več >>

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 HIV infection is probably the most important factor determining the outcome of the infection. A strong early immune response against efficient HIV antigens enables long-term prevention of aids development. A … Preberite več >>

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 Toxoplasma oocysts deposited in the environment by cats, different eating habits, hygiene standards and differences in climatic conditions and geographical location with respect to altitude. The aim of this … Preberite več >>

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 classified within the Deltavirus genus. Hepatitis D virus needs hepatitis B virus as a helper virus for its replication. It causes hepatitis only in patients who are concurrently infected with … Preberite več >>

The protozoon parasite Cryptosporidium is a pathogen that infects humans and animals. It causes cryptosporidiosis, which results in an acute or chronic diarrhea. The infectious agents of this parasite are oocysts, which are excreted into the environment with feces of the infect­ed host. Humans can become infected either directly through contact with infected humans and animals, or indirectly via contaminated … Preberite več >>

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an in vitro method which uses enzymatic synthesis to amplify, in an exponential manner, specific DNA or RNA sequences. Although it has been available for only a few years, PCR technology is already finding widespread application in biomedical research. This article presents a broad overview of the principles of PCR, summarizes some of the … Preberite več >>

In the article are described some key mechanisms, used by an immune system to distinguish a tumor cell from a normal, healthy cell. According to bulk of the literature in the past decades, T lymphocytes are able to specifically recognise tumor cells, but the specific recognition of tumor cells does not result in rejection of a tumor tissue. Some proposed … Preberite več >>

The paper describes new views on hepatitis A, a new classification of hepatitis A virus, its epidemiology, clinical picture, treatment and prevention, passive immunization and recently introduced active immunization with HAVRIX^®.… Preberite več >>

The paper gives a historical review of
 the discovery and further studies of Helicobacter pylori. This bacteria causes chronic antral
gastritis, as well as duodenal and gastric ulcer 
disease found in up to 90 and 70 percent of
 infected patients, respectively. The author presents the clinical picture and diagnosis of ulcer
 disease in childhood, and outlines new approaches to ulcer … Preberite več >>

Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is a lymphokine synthesized and secreted by lymphocytes T. Two stimuli are needed for this process: one is antigenic or mitogenic, and another is triggered by a monokine interleukin 1 (IL-1). Another consequence of these stimuli is an expression of membrane receptors for interleukin 2 (mIL-2R). The interaction of IL-2 with mIL-2R results in proliferation and differentiation … Preberite več >>