UVA School of Medicine

Collateral damage during antibiotic treatment of C. difficile infection in the aged host: Insights into why recurrent disease happens.

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is one of the most common causes of healthcare-associated infections but an even bigger problem for the aging population. Advanced age leads to higher incidence, higher…

Innate Immune Response and Outcome of Clostridium difficile Infection Are Dependent on Fecal Bacterial Composition in the Aged Host.

BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a serious threat for an aging population. Using an aged mouse model, we evaluated the effect of age and the roles of innate immunity…

Hearing loss with Kanamycin treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Bangladesh.

High frequency hearing loss from Kanamycin in MDR TB treatment: not if, but when?

Determination of plasma concentrations of levofloxacin by high performance liquid chromatography for use at a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis hospital in Tanzania

Therapeutic drug monitoring may improve multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment outcomes. Levofloxacin demonstrates significant individual pharmacokinetic variability. Thus, we sought to develop and validate a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with…

Early interventions for diabetes related tuberculosis associate with hastened sputum microbiological clearance in Virginia, USA

Diabetes complicates tuberculosis (TB) treatment including a prolonged time of sputum culture conversion to negative growth. Since 2013 in Virginia, interventions early in the treatment course have used therapeutic drug…

Two lytic transglycosylases in Neisseria gonorrhoeae impart resistance to killing by lysozyme and human neutrophils

Symptomatic infection by Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gc) produces a potent inflammatory response, resulting in a neutrophil-rich exudate. A population of Gc can survive the killing activities of neutrophils for reasons not…

Inhibition of Amebic Lysosomal Acidification Blocks Amebic Trogocytosis and Cell Killing

Entamoeba histolytica ingests fragments of live host cells in a nibbling-like process termed amebic trogocytosis. Amebic trogocytosis is required for cell killing and contributes to tissue invasion, which is a hallmark…

Efficacy of raltegravir, etravirine and darunavir/ritonavir for treatment-experienced HIV patients from a non-urban clinic population in the United States

BACKGROUND: The regimen of raltegravir (RAL), ritonavir-boosted darunavir (DAR/r), and etravirine (ETR) for HIV treatment-experienced patients in a non-clinical trial setting in the rural/semi-urban United States had not been evaluated.…

From bacterial killing to immune modulation: Recent insights into the functions of lysozyme

Lysozyme is a cornerstone of innate immunity. The canonical mechanism for bacterial killing by lysozyme occurs through the hydrolysis of cell wall peptidoglycan (PG). Conventional type (c-type) lysozymes are also…

Pathogenesis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the female reproductive tract: neutrophilic host response, sustained infection, and clinical sequelae

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gonorrhea is a major global health concern, caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The main clinical feature of acute gonorrhea is neutrophilic influx that is unable to…