Highlights ► S. aureus is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections. ► Commensal organisms and antimicrobial peptides protect against S. aureus skin colonization. ► Neutrophil recruitment to ...the skin promotes bacterial clearance. ► S. aureus possesses virulence factors that contribute to skin colonization and infection.
Background. Listeria monocytogenes is among the most virulent foodborne pathogens, with 20% of clinical infections resulting in death. To explore listeriosis-associated mortality in the United States ...and to evaluate prevention efforts, we reviewed vital records over a 16-year period to assess demographic, temporal, and seasonal trends. Methods. Nonperinatal listeriosis-associated deaths from 1990 through 2005 were identified from multiple-cause–coded death records and were combined with US census data to calculate mortality rates. Poisson regression was used to model time trends, and logistic regression was used to identify comorbid conditions associated with listeriosis on the death record. Results. Of the 37,267,946 deaths occurring in the United States during the 16-year study period, 1178 included listeriosis on the death record. Listeriosis-related mortality rates decreased annually by 10.74% from 1990 through 1996 and by 4.26% from 1996 through 2005. Seasonal trends show a distinct peak in mortality from July through October. After adjustment for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, listeriosis was positively associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (odds ratio, 4.19; 95% confidence interval, 3.06–5.73), lymphoid and hematopoietic cancers (odds ratio, 5.27; 95% confidence interval, 4.47–6.22), and liver disease (odds ratio, 2.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.54–2.73) on the death record. Conclusions. Nonperinatal listeriosis-associated deaths in the United States have decreased, paralleling a decreasing trend in incidence. Strict monitoring of food manufacturing processes, as well as improved treatment for HIV infection, may have played influential roles in preventing human infections. Health care providers should be aware of seasonal listeriosis patterns, as well as conditions predisposing individuals to severe infection and death due to L. monocytogenes infection, to guide strategies for disease management and prevention.
Staphylococcus aureus
is an important human pathogen that is responsible for the vast majority of bacterial skin and soft tissue infections in humans.
S. aureus
can also become more invasive and ...cause life-threatening infections such as bacteremia, pneumonia, abscesses of various organs, meningitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, and sepsis. These infections represent a major public health threat due to the enormous numbers of these infections and the widespread emergence of methicillin-resistant
S. aureus
(MRSA) strains. MSRA is endemic in hospitals worldwide and is rapidly spreading throughout the normal human population in the community. The increasing frequency of MRSA infections has complicated treatment as these strains are more virulent and are increasingly becoming resistant to multiple different classes of antibiotics. The important role of the immune response against
S. aureus
infections cannot be overemphasized as humans with certain genetic and acquired immunodeficiency disorders are at an increased risk for infection. Understanding the cutaneous immune responses against
S. aureus
is essential as most of these infections occur or originate from a site of infection or colonization of the skin and mucosa. This review will summarize the innate immune responses against
S. aureus
skin infections, including antimicrobial peptides that have direct antimicrobial activity against
S. aureus
as well as pattern recognition receptors and proinflammatory cytokines that promote neutrophil abscess formation in the skin, which is required for bacterial clearance. Finally, we will discuss the recent discoveries involving IL-17-mediated responses, which provide a key link between cutaneous innate and adaptive immune responses against
S. aureus
skin infections.
To examine the incidence of retinoblastoma for regional variations by race.
Age-adjusted incidence rates, rate ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were determined in 109 regions from 1993 to 1997 ...using compiled data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The rate ratio was 1.12 (range: 0.35 to 4.15) between white populations in the United States and Europe/Australia, 0.98 (range: 0.37 to 2.65) between Hispanic populations in Spain and the United States, and 1.44 (range: 0.29 to 1.79) between Hispanic populations in Uruguay and the United States. The rate ratio between Hispanic and white populations within the United States was 0.94 (range: 0.33 to 2.56). No differences were significant.
Because retinoblastoma is a genetic disease, its incidence is similar among varied populations.
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