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Biomedical subjects

D Barua

Publications and source records attributed to D Barua.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Control of diarrhoeal diseases.

During its early years, WHO was primarily concerned with epidemic control, standardization and quality control of vaccines, and administration of the International Sanitary Regulations. Among the acute enteric infections, cholera received the greatest attention because of its propensity for rapid epidemic spread. When the seventh pandemic of cholera began in 1961, WHO responded with a greatly expanded programme of activities which included cooperation with countries in training and control efforts, and research on treatment and prevention, especially vaccine development. At the same time, numerous training courses were held on enteric infections and a series of controlled field trials established the degree of protection conferred by existing typhoid and paratyphoid vaccines. In 1970, when the cholera pandemic spread to Africa, the emergency assistance programme was reactivated, with increasing attention to the provision of appropriate treatment, especially oral rehydration therapy, rather than the supply of ineffective vaccines. The requirement of cholera vaccination for international travel in the International Health Regulations was abolished in 1973 by the World Health Assembly. Another public health problem of importance during the 1970s was the increase in antibiotic resistance of enteric bacteria, especially Shigella dysenteriae 1 and Salmonella typhi, first in Central America and Mexico and later in Asia. There was a notable acceleration in research on diarrhoeal disease and especially on cholera during this period, with the discovery of several new viral and bacterial agents of diarrhoea, advances in knowledge of intestinal immunity indicating that better protection might be achieved with oral vaccines, and the demonstration of the effectiveness of a single formulation of oral rehydration salts (ORS) in the treatment of all diarrhoeas including cholera.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cholera↗
PubMed1986

Local and systemic antibody responses to naturally acquired enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli diarrhea in an endemic area.

Fifteen patients hospitalized with acute, watery diarrhea and with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) detected from stool samples were studied to evaluate the extent to which natural ETEC diarrhea induces local and systemic antibody responses to E. coli heat-labile toxin (LT), homologous lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and colonization factors (CFA/I and CFA/II). Specific IgA and IgG antibodies to LT, CFA I and II, and each patient's homologous LPS were determined by ELISA in serum, saliva, breastmilk, and intestinal lavage fluid. The majority of patients had greater than a twofold rise in local levels of IgA antibodies in the intestine: 80% of LT+ patients responded to LT, 63% of CFA+ patients responded to CFA, and 78% of all toxin-positive patients responded to the LPS of their infecting strain. Local antibody responses in the intestine were associated with responses in breastmilk and saliva, but relationships were not clear-cut, and the usefulness of these secretions as proxy measures of local intestinal antibody production remains unclear. Antibody responses in serum also occurred in most patients and were significantly more frequent in cases than in controls. This study demonstrates that natural ETEC disease results in local IgA responses to LT, CFA, and LPS in the gut and also in immune responses in breastmilk, saliva, and serum.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Predisposition for cholera of individuals with O blood group. Possible evolutionary significance.

At the Matlab Hospital of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the authors examined the blood groups of patients hospitalized between January and September 1979 for diarrheal disease due to a variety of bacterial and viral agents. A significant association was identified only for cholera, in which cholera patients were twice as likely to have blood group O and one-ninth as likely to have blood group AB as community controls. A follow-up study of family contacts of cholera patients, carried out between September 1980 and July 1982, indicated that blood group did not affect an individual's risk of having a culture-proven infection with V. cholerae 01 but was directly related to the severity of disease. Individuals with the most severe diarrhea compared with those with asymptomatic infection were more often of blood group O (68% versus 36%, p less than 0.01) and less often of AB (0% versus 7%, p less than 0.01). It was not possible to identify the molecular basis for this genetically related protection using biologic models of cholera that are currently available. The constant selective pressure of cholera against people of O blood group may account in part for the extremely low prevalence of O group genes and the high prevalence of B group genes found among the people living in the Gangetic Delta.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1977

ABO blood groups and cholera.

The ABO blood group of 87 bacteriologically proven cases of cholera and 33 bacteriologically negative cholera-like diarrhoea cases was determined. When compared with the normal blood group distribution in the population of the Philippines of the same racial group to which the patients belonged, a relatively larger number of cases were found to occur in individuals of group O and a lesser number in those of group A. A plea is made for further studies on these lines to explain the host susceptibility in cholera and other acute enterotoxigenic diarrhoeas.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1972

Vibriocidal antibodies induced by Yersinia enterocolitica serotype IX.

Yersinia enterocolitica serotype IX has been found to stimulate the production of vibriocidal antibody against Vibrio cholerae, particularly in Inaba serotype, in experimental rabbits and infected man to a significant degree. This activity could be absorbed by both Inaba and Yersinia antigens from anti-yersinia sera, but Yersinia antigen could not absorb vibriocidal activity from the anti-cholera sera, indicating a unilateral relation.Vibrio agglutinating antibody, particularly against Ogawa, in anti-yersinia rabbit or human sera was found to be less liable to non-specific stimulation.V. cholerae, while removing vibriocidal antibody, could not absorb the Yersinia agglutinin from anti-yersinia sera, suggesting that there is a different determinant for these two types of antibody activities.The non-specific production of vibriocidal antibody by Y. enterocolitica type IX indicates the need for caution in the interpretation of the results of vibriocidal tests where such organisms are prevalent.

Agglutination Tests↗