ISSN 1673-6184 CN 31-1966/R
The first patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was identified in 1985; since then, as of October 31, 2010, a total accumulative number of 370,000 patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS have been reported. The estimated number of patients living with HIV (PLHIV) in China was 740,000 in 2009. Although China is still a low-HIV prevalence region (rate of 0.057%), the epidemic has spread more widely from the high-risk groups to the general population. This paper covers five topics of importance, i.e., current trends of the HIV epidemic; HIV-1 subtype diversity; emergence of HIV drug resistance; the country’s response to the disease; and future challenges and additional actions needed. This paper emphasizes sexual transmission as the predominant route of transmission and it being spread more frequently among men who have sex with men; the epidemic being concentrated over particular areas in China. We also discuss the fact that diverse HIV-1 subtypes have been found throughout the entire country and that recombinant subtypes became predominant. We also explore other topics such as the possibility of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR), including primary and secondary resistance, with the use of free high activity antiretroviral therapy (HAART); the integrated strategy of HIVDR surveillance and individual clinical HIVDR testing as a new attempt in China. For many years both policy-makers and professionals (including non-governmental organizations) have expressed strong commitment to prevention, control, and care of HIV/ sexual transmission infection (STI), promoted the research and conducted different actions to slow the rising trend of the HIV epidemics. Although China is facing many challenges, its citizens need to be persistent on continuing the campaign of the State Council titled “Information of Strengthening Work on Prevention and Control of AIDS”.
As human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients gradually progressed to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) these years, the lethal cases of HIV patients have increased markedly, and have surpassed the mortality of rabies, ranking first among all mandatory reporting infectious diseases. Decreasing the mortality of HIV/AIDS patients is one of the big challenges we are facing. The following issues are critical: strengthen strict adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among patients, increase new kinds of drugs to facilitate expanding ART coverage, encourage HIV screening for early diagnosis and early ART and comprehensive treatment of complications. The implementation of these interventions need efforts from different disciplines.
Laboratories—General Requirements for Biosafety（GB 19489-2008） required “Exhaust high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter of Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory (BSL-3) should be sterilized in situ”. Exhaust HEPA filter is an important defensive line to ensure the biosafety of BSL-3 laboratory facilities and also the main line of defense to ensure the non-leakage of infectious aerosols generated in the experimental procedure. In situ disinfection of the HEPA filter is needed in order to protect the safety of personnel. This study designed and produced a cycle disinfection prototype (with the function of formalin volatilization, gas humidification and air circulation supply). The prototype with the disinfection interface of HEPA filter’s exhaust box were connected. And then the steam cycle of formalin was driven through the HEPA filter by air circulation supply system. Thus the in situ disinfection was realized. The results showed that formalin vapor concentration at room temperature was 16 mg/L, and the relative humidity was 70%. After 12-hour continuous fumigation cycle running through, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus stearothermophilus were completely disinfected. As a consequence, the in situ disinfection of HEPA exhaust-air filter in both equipment and methodology is achieved.
The present paper aims to establish a rapid detection method for Bacillus anthracis . The primes were designed according to Bacillus anthracis strain-specific gene fragment, and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was used to establish the detection method. The results showed that LAMP can effectively identify the specific target bacteriawith sensitivity of 102-103 CFU/ml. It is suggested that LAMP is simple and fast in detection of bioterrorism bacteria such as Bacillus anthracis in acidic, alkaline and viscous media. High-salt environment influences LAMP results, so it is necessary to effectively remove salt out of nucleic acid before application of LAMP.
The present paper aims to compare the hemagglutinin antigen (HA)gene of a seasonal influenza A(H1N1) virus isolated in 2011 with the gene from reported seasonal influenza A(H1N1) viruses. The HA fragment and full-genome of A/Shanghai/1167/2011(H1N1) were amplified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Molecular biology software was used to analyze the sequencesand draw the phylogenetic tree. The anti-virus antibody level in healthy people was detected by hemagglutination inhibition test. The results showed that the HA gene of A/Shanghai/1167/2011(H1N1) was similar to the HA genes from previous reported seasonal influenza A(H1N1) virus, with homology of 99.2% to the 2008-2009 seasonal A(H1N1) vaccine strain A/Brisbane/59/2007(H1N1), and 72.4% to the A/California/07/2009 vaccine strain respectively. The HA cleavage site was PSIQSR↓QSR, and highly pathogenic molecular characteristics had not appeared yet. HA fragment, encoding 557 amino acids, has nine potential glycosylation sites. Its amino acid sequence was compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine strains of influenza A/New Caledonia/20/1999(H1N1), A/SolomonIslands/3/2006(H1N1), and A/Brisbane/59/2007(H1N1) respectively. The identified amino acid differences were 15, 12, and 4 respectively , and part of thesedifferences (5/15, 5/12 and 2/5) were located inside the critical epitope clusters (Sa, Sb, Ca1, Ca2 and Cb) Our results indicated that in 2011, 34.33% of healthy people carry antibodies against the isolated strain in their serum, and the geometric mean titer (GMT) was 10.38. A/Shanghai/1167/2011(H1N1) is a seasonal influenza A(H1N1) strain isolated in Shanghai in 2011. Although no significant differences were identified when comparing it to seasonal influenza A(H1N1),, its detection after A(H1N1)pdm09 was identified as the predominant strain should arouse people’s attention. Its antibody level in population is low, and can easily cause a pandemic. The monitoring of such strains in influenza-like population should be improved.
This study aims to evaluate the immunological effects of mycobacterial protein subunit vaccine of Ag85a-interferon γ (Ag85a-IFN-γ). Firstly the plasmid pET28a-Ag85a-IFN-γ with the open reading frame of mature encoding sequence of Ag85A and IFN-γ was constructed, then expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) (DE3) BL21 cells. C57BL/6 mice were immunized by Ag85a-IFN-γ three times by subcutaneous injection biweekly. Two weeks after the last immunization, lymphocytes from spleens and sera were separated and detected for assessing the immunological effects. Serum antibodies against Ag85a (IgG, IgG1, and IgG2c) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and spleen lymphocytes subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. The results demonstrated that the titers of antibodies (IgG, IgG1, and IgG2c) against the fusion protein Ag85a-IFN-γ in mice were higher than those in single antigen vaccinated mice and induced a T helper 1 (Th1) cell-mediate immunity response based on the ratio of IgG2c/ IgG1. The ratio of CD8+/CD4+ in Ag85a-IFN-γ vaccinated group was the highest among all groups. The results indicate that the fusion protein Ag85a-IFN-γ would be a promising subunit vaccine candidate for tuberculosis prevention.
With the increasing threat of bioterrorism and biological warfare , the concept of microbial forensics has been proposed. The main task of microbial forensics is to track down the source of a microbe, whether in a criminal investigation of bioterrorism attacks or a study of naturally occurring disease outbreak， and to determine the genetic relationship of microbes through microbiology, immunology, molecular biology, analytical chemistry and other technical means. In recent years, great progress has been made in the areas of pathogen identification, national computer networks multispecies identification methods, and quality control.. In this paper, the research progress on microbial forensics has been reviewed.
Hepatitis C, caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV), is an important infectious disease。 Unfortunately，no effective vaccines are available now for the high variability of HCV and various viral evasions as the major obstacles. Candidate vaccine are being tested in clinical trails for safety and efficacy. . The research and development stages of HCV vaccine are reviewed in the present paper.
Typhoid fever is a classical human systemic infection caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. typhi). It was identified one hundread years agoand continues asa persistent global health problem. In addition to the disease burden and mortality, the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of S. typhi now pose a new level of challenges. Because S. typhi is a human restricted pathogen, typhoid fever research has been limited due to the lack of appropriate animal models. Recently, humanized immune system (HIS) mice and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) knockout mice emerge as two useful tools in the study of pathogenesis of S. typhi and immune responses. The merit and shortage of HIS and iNOS mice are reviewed in this article.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the major human pathogens for tuberculosis, with one-third of the world population being infected. Although this bacterium can infect and cause diseases in many animals, humans are the natural host. For the purpose of studying the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, as well as the immunopathology of host responses against this pathogen, suitable animal models play a pivotal role. In this paper, the research models widely used in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection are elucidated, and their limitations and advantages are discussed.
The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) has always been the key to control this pandemic. A fast, robust, specific, sensitive and affordable test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is needed urgently. The laboratory diagnostics of tuberculosis has been developed and improved, such as FASTPlaque-TBTM Assay, Amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct Test, AMPLICOR® MTB, AccuProbe，T-SPOT.TB and QuantiFeron-Gold test. Recently, a number of commercial diagnostic kits approved by World Health Organization (WHO) or U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been used widely, such as BacT/Alert 3D and MGIT 960 systems which are based on liquid culture, the polymerase chainreaction (PCR)-based reverse hybridization line probe assay including INNO-LiPA Rif.TB, GenoType® MTBDRplus and GenoType® MTBDRsl systems, and simple and rapid immunochromatographic assay such as Capilia TB. They all have been used in clinic for diagnosis of tuberculosis. Even some newer technology, such as Xpert® MTB/RIF system and light emitting diode (LED) microscopy also have been promised for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These methods are reviewed in the present article.
