TY  - JOUR
A1  - Strobel, Katharina
A1  - Sickenberger, Christina
A1  - Schoen, Christoph
A1  - Kneitz, Hermann
A1  - Kolb-Mäurer, Annette
A1  - Goebeler, Matthias
T1  - Diagnosis and therapy of Mycobacterium marinum: a single-center 21-year retrospective analysis
JF  - Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft
N2  - Background and Objectives
In Europe, infections with Mycobacterium (M.) marinum are rare. We conducted a retrospective single-center study to assess the clinical spectrum of M. marinum infection and its diagnosis, treatment and outcome under real-world conditions.
Patients and Methods
Eighteen patients presenting with M. marinum infections between 1998 and 2018 were identified in the data warehouse of the University Hospital Würzburg and considered for detailed analysis.
Results
Twelve patients reported aquatic exposure. In 16/18 cases the upper extremities were affected. No invasive infections were detected. Mean time to diagnosis was 15 weeks. Histology revealed granulomatous inflammation in 14 patients while mycobacterial cultures were positive for M. marinum in 16 cases. Most patients received antibiotic monotherapy (14/18) while combination therapy was administered in four cases. Treatment (with a median duration of 10 weeks) was successful in 13 patients. Five patients were lost to follow-up.
Conclusions
Our retrospective analysis of M. marinum infections at a German tertiary referral center revealed a considerable diagnostic delay and the relevance of microbiological culture, PCR and histology for diagnosis. Monotherapy with clarithromycin (rather than doxycycline) appeared as a reasonable treatment option while immunosuppressed or -compromised patients and those with extended disease received combination therapy.
KW  - Mycobacterium marinum
KW  - diagnosis
KW  - therapy
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318428
VL  - 20
IS  - 9
SP  - 1211
EP  - 1218
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cucher, Marcela A.
A1  - Mariconti, Mara
A1  - Manciulli, Tommaso
A1  - Vola, Ambra
A1  - Rosenzvit, Mara C.
A1  - Brehm, Klaus
A1  - Kamenetzky, Laura
A1  - Brunetti, Enrico
T1  - Circulating small RNA profiling of patients with alveolar and cystic echinococcosis
JF  - Biology
N2  - Alveolar (AE) and cystic (CE) echinococcosis are two parasitic diseases caused by the tapeworms Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus sensu lato (s. l.), respectively. Currently, AE and CE are mainly diagnosed by means of imaging techniques, serology, and clinical and epidemiological data. However, no viability markers that indicate parasite state during infection are available. Extracellular small RNAs (sRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that can be secreted by cells through association with extracellular vesicles, proteins, or lipoproteins. Circulating sRNAs can show altered expression in pathological states; hence, they are intensively studied as biomarkers for several diseases. Here, we profiled the sRNA transcriptomes of AE and CE patients to identify novel biomarkers to aid in medical decisions when current diagnostic procedures are inconclusive. For this, endogenous and parasitic sRNAs were analyzed by sRNA sequencing in serum from disease negative, positive, and treated patients and patients harboring a non-parasitic lesion. Consequently, 20 differentially expressed sRNAs associated with AE, CE, and/or non-parasitic lesion were identified. Our results represent an in-depth characterization of the effect E. multilocularis and E. granulosus s. l. exert on the extracellular sRNA landscape in human infections and provide a set of novel candidate biomarkers for both AE and CE detection.
KW  - echinococcosis
KW  - small RNA
KW  - extracellular
KW  - circulating
KW  - microRNA
KW  - serum
KW  - tapeworm
KW  - diagnosis
KW  - marker
KW  - Echinococcus
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-319270
SN  - 2079-7737
VL  - 12
IS  - 5
ER  -