Comparison of cell culture with RT-PCR for enterovirus detection in stool specimens from patients with acute flaccid paralysis

Since October 2000, Iran has been declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite the fact that poliomyelitis caused by polioviruses has been eliminated from Iran, the number of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases has not been reduced. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate the other viral agents that may cause AFP (mainly nonpolio enteroviruses, which play a significant role in the etiology of neurological syndromes). Some enteroviruses do not grow in the conventional cell lines that are being used for enterovirus detection. Furthermore, the virus titer is an important factor in the sensitivity of cell culture to detect the virus. The fact that cell culture is a time-consuming procedure is another reason to find a more practical method for enterovirus detection. Therefore, a more sensitive and rapid method should be used to detect enteroviruses as efficiently as possible in the stool specimens of AFP cases. The aim of this study was to evaluate cell culture and RT-PCR in enterovirus detection. Findings have shown that RT-PCR can increase the rate of nonpolio enterovirus detection by up to 10% in comparison with cell culture. Also, the rapid detection of enteroviruses by RT-PCR can decrease both the unnecessary use of antibiotics and the costs in clinical practice. For this reason, we find that RT-PCR is a more practical technique for enterovirus detection.

Vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis in a patient with MHC class II deficiency

Vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) is a rare complication of oral polio vaccine. We describe a fatal case of VAPP in an 8-month-old boy with Major Histocompatibility Class II deficiency. The isolated poliovirus was a Sabin type 2-type 1 recombinant that showed 1.4% VP1 divergence from Sabin type 2.

Prevalence of mucosal types of human papillomavirus in skin lesions in north part of Iran

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) consist of more than 100 types and are known to be associated with numerous malignant tumors, including carcinomas of the mucosal and cutaneous epithelium. Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is the most frequently occurring malignancy worldwide in the Caucasian population. Some studies have shown that NMSC biopsy specimens harbor cutaneous as well as mucosal human papillomavirus, suggesting that mucosal types may play a role in development and progression of the tumor in skin. To investigate the presence of mucosal HPV types in skin lesions, we performed a retrospective study in which 288 paraffin embedded biopsies from benign and malignant skin lesions (NMSC) were collected. Using nested PCR with MY09/11 and GP5+/6+ primers mucosal HPVs were detected in 25.7% of malignant specimens, but just in 0.7% of benign lesions. Direct sequencing revealed HPV18 as the most frequent type, which was found in 75% of HPV-positive specimens. HPV16 and HPV56 were also detected, 22.3 and 2.7%, respectively. These findings suggest that, high-risk mucosal HPV types recently identified as significant risk factors for cervical cancer, may also represent a risk factor for non-melanoma skin cancer.