W przeprowadzonych badaniach wykazano, że stopień pokrewieństwa genetycznego szczepów wirusa wścieklizny ze szczepem szczepionkowym PM ma swoje odbicie w sile reaktywności przeciwciał nim indukowanych z białkami szczepów reprezentujących różne genotypy i warianty wirusa wścieklizny. Potwierdzono także, że wyniki testu ochrony czynnej z zastosowaniem szczepu CVS nie są w pełni obiektywnym miernikiem skuteczności szczepień ze względu na bliższe pokrewieństwo szczepu CVS ze szczepami szczepionkowymi niż z krążącymi w środowisku szczepami ulicznymi.
EN
The aim of these studies was the estimation of the influence of genetic divergence of reactivity with sera of people vaccinated against rabies of Polish rabies strains. Genetic similarity between CVS strain and street rabies strains of genotype 1 is relatively high. However, CVS strain showed the highest reactivity with standard immunoglobulin and sera of antirabies vaccinated people (measured by western blot method). It was completely different from street viruses. Cluster method based on genetic and serologic features indicated high difference between CVS strain and street rabies strains belonging to genotype 1 and genotype 5. On this basis CVS strain was classified as a separate cluster. The genetic divergence of rabies strains circulating in Poland suggests the need of permanent epidemiological and virological surveillance. Strains different in their genotypic and biotypic characteristics should be estimated according to their antigenic similarity to vaccine strain. In practice neutralisation test using mono- and policlonal sera should be performed. Strains isolated from new or atypical animal species should be studied first of all.
Charakterystyki szczepów dokonano na podstawie analizy sekwencji nukleotydów odcinka genu nukleoproteiny wirusa wścieklizny o długości 400 par zasad, zlokalizowanego na końcu aminowym białka N (nukleoproteina). Przeprowadzone badania wykazały zróżnicowanie genetyczne szczepów izolowanych od zwierząt naziemnych na terenie Polski. Ustalono, że szczepy genotypu 1 izolowane na terenie kraju należą do czterech grup filogenetycznych: NEE, CE, WE i EE występujących na terenie Europy. Określono także pokrewieństwo filogenetyczne pomiędzy referencyjnymi szczepami laboratoryjnymi i polskimi szczepami ulicznymi genotypu 1 i 5 wirusa wścieklizny.
EN
The aims of these studies were: genetic characteristic of street rabies virus strains isolated from different animal species in Poland and determination of phylogenetic relationships to reference laboratory strains of the street rabies viruses belonging to genotype 1 and 5. The variability of rabies isolates and their phylogenetic relationship were studied by comparing the nucleotide sequence of the virus genome fragment. The Polish strains of genotype 1 belong to four phylogenetic groups (NE, CE, NEE, EE) corresponding to four variants: fox - racoon dog (F-RD); European fox 1 (F1); European fox 2 (F2) and European fox 3 (F3). On the Polish territories there are no rabies strains representing the variant dog-wolf and typical for arctic fox variant. The similarity of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of street rabies strains belonging to genotype 1 and laboratory strain CVS is very high. It is about 91% similarity at nucleotide level and 95% at amino acid level. Rabies strain CVS is similar to genotype 5 bat strains (EBL 1) only in about 69% and 74% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively. The genetic divergence of rabies strains circulating in Poland raised the need of pernament epidemiological and virological surveillance. The genotype and variant of isolated strains should be determined (using PCR and RLFP methods).
Since the XIX century human trichinellosis has remained an unsolved problem of public healthcare in Poland. This paper describes the past situation and analyses current changes in the epidemiological pattern of trichinellosis in Poland. Epidemiological data from the last 60 years, point out that the number of human cases as well as the number of deaths caused by trichinellosis has decreased significantly. Up to 90s the main source of Trichinella infection for people was pork. Among other implemented control measures, the introduction of the artificial digestion method in the early 80s to detect trichinellosis in pigs resulted in a shift in the sources of Trichinella infection in humans - pork was replaced with wild boar meat. In the years 1990-1995 the number of outbreaks due to pork consumption was 3.5-times higher than in the years 2000-2005. In the early nineties pork was the source of infection causing about 71% of all outbreaks; in 2000-2005 that number has fallen to only 12%. On the other hand wild boar meat was responsible for 23% of the outbreaks in 1990-1995 and as many as 88% of all outbreaks in the years 2000-2005. Moreover the number of persons infected in the outbreaks significantly decreased. The study of wild animals demonstrated that wild boars in Poland are infected not only with T. spiralis but also with Trichinella britovi. These results and EU recommendations indicate a requirement of determining the Trichinella species which cause infections in outbreaks. In the 3 trichinellosis outbreaks in 2005 the infected meat products were examined with molecular tools. T. spiralis species larvae were the etiological agents of infection in all these outbreaks. The current epidemiological situation of trichinellosis in Poland indicates a need of increasing the awareness of risks related to wild boar meat consumption among the general public. Introducing the artificial digestion method as an obligatory method for wild boar meat examination is also necessary.
The three age groups of people from Warsaw: children, young adults and elderly people were examined for the prevalence of infection with Pneumocystis jirovecii. Nested PCR was used to amplify fragment of mitochondrial large subunit rRNA of the fungus in samples of oropharyngeal swabs. Nineteen (12.8%) of the 148 examined samples were positive for DNA of P. jirovecii. The samples collected from children were more often positive than the samples from young adults (p = 0.003) or from both groups of adults (p = 0.0029). Moreover, among adults (n = 99) proportion of infected women (n = 6; 12.5%) was significantly higher than men (n = 1; 2%). Results of the research confirm the high prevalence of Pneumocystis infection in children and indirectly point out to children as a possible source of infection for older people.