Gordana Kovacevic

Testing for viral material in water of public bathing areas of the Danube during summer, Vojvodina, Serbia, 2014.

From August to September 2014 a water quality study was conducted on five popular public Danube beaches in Vojvodina, Serbia. To assess the safety of Danube water for bathing, physical, chemical, bacteriological tests were performed. While many parameters for monitoring the quality of water are regulated by law, there are neither national nor international legislations addressing the presence of viruses in recreational waters. In this study, we performed analyses that surpassed national requirements, and investigated if adenovirus, enterovirus or rotavirus genetic material was present in samples of recreational water collected for quality monitoring. Of 90 water samples obtained during the study, enterovirus material was not found in any sample, but adenovirus and rotavirus genetic materials were respectively detected in 60 and 31 samples. Statistical analyses showed a significant correlation between adenovirus DNA and total coliforms in the water. Even when water samples were adequate for recreational use, adenoviruses were detected in 75% (57/76) of such samples. Our results indicate that implementation of viral indicators in recreational water might be helpful to better assess public health safety. This might be particularly relevant in areas where urban wastewater treatment is insufficient and surface waters affected by wastewater are used for recreation.

Frequency of twelve carcinogenic human papilloma virus types among women from the South Backa region, Vojvodina, Serbia

BACKGROUND/AIM The aim of this study was to determine the presence and age distribution of different oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) types in women in the South Backa region and its relationship to Pap results. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a group of 1087 women with normal and abnormal cytology, the commercial HR HPV Real-TM kit (Sacace Biotechnologies, Italy) was used. RESULTS Overall, 50.5% of the women were HPV positive. The presence of HPV types 18, 31, 51, and 58 was significantly influenced by age, while the presence of HPV types 16 and 45 was significantly influenced by cervical cytology. Results of the LSD test show a wide spectrum of high risk HPV among women with normal cytology and women with a low grade cervical lesion rate (atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance (ASCUS) and low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). The most prevalent HPV types found were 16, 31, 51, 18, and 52. In the HSIL group the most prevalent HPV types were 16 and 45. CONCLUSION The reported results provide new data on the circulation of oncogenic HPV genotypes and frequency of multiple infections among women in Vojvodina and suggest that a prophylactic vaccine against HPV 16 and 18 has the potential to prevent approximately half of the high-grade lesions.

P3.052 Frequency of Multiple HPV Genotypes in Women from Vojvodina, Serbia

Background Persistent infection with high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) types is necessary for cervical cancer development. The risk is much higher for women infected with multiple genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV). The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of single and multiple HPV infection in relation to age and results of Pap smear cytology. Methods From January to December 2012, frequency of HR HPV was analysed among 398 women from Vojvodina. In determination of the presence HPV DNA commercial HR HPV Real-TM kit (Sacace Biotechnologies, Italy) were applied. PCR was performed and products were detected using ABI 7500 Real-Time PCR instrument. Results The overall prevalence of HPV infection among studied women was 61.3%. Single HPV genotypes were found in 150 (65.3%) and multiple genotypes in 94 (34.7%) of 244 HPV DNA positive samples. The most frequent genotype was HPV 16, followed by HPV 31, 51.52 and 18. Proportion of multiple HPV infection decreased significantly according to age and severity from 48.9% in women under 30 years of age, 39.7% in women from 30 to 40 years of age, 21.3% in women older than 40. Among all women with normal cytology multiple HPV infections were found in (22.4%), (34.9%) among women with ASCUS cytology, (17.0%) in LSIL cytology and (17.9%) in HSIL cytology. Conclusion In the present study, we observed a very high prevalence of multiple (22.4%) of HPV infection among women with normal cytology and (34.9%) in women with indeterminate Pap test, as ASCUS cytology. Sensitive and specific detection methods, as well as, real-time PCR genotyping HPV are required and helpful for triage of women with ASCUS cytology.

Significance of screening tests in diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis

The investigation included 91 patients in who an acute or previous EBV infection was established by ELISA test. All patients were also subjected to the Paul-Bunnell-Davidsohn test, while 20 patients were tested by the rapid screening test Clearview IM. The diagnosis of acute infective mononucleosis was in 61 patients (67%) confirmed by the Elisa test, and in 12 patients (19.67%) by the Paul-Bunnell-Davidsohn test, while the rapid screening test Clearview IM demonstrated too low a detection of heterophile antibodies. The rapid screening test was not reliable. In 25% cases, the test was invalid, at early infection stages the rapid test failed to diagnose any case of the EBV virus infection. Paul-Bunell-Davidsohn was often negative, especially with young children. Therefore, priority should be given to virology tests based on the detection of specific antibodies to EBV antigen.