Journal of

Background and Aim: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis that affects 0.6% to 4.8% of the general population. Our aim was to compare the effect of narrow band UVB (NB-UVB) on normal flora of cutaneous plaques and normal skin in psoriatic patients.

Methods: Twenty psoriatic patients without any contraindication of phototherapy were enrolled in this study. Samples from psoriatic lesions and adjacent normal skin, before and after phototherapy with NB-UVB were taken. Patients were treated with NB-UVB three times weekly until complete remission. Finally, quantity of normal cutaneous flora on normal and involved skin, before and after treatment was compared.

Results: The mean±SD of the NB-UVB sessions and the mean cumulative dose were 26.35±4.95 and 2.05±0.57 J/cm², respectively. The number of Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus and diphtheroids on psoriatic plaques reduced after phototherapy.

Conclusuion: The quantity of normal cutaneous flora on normal skin is less than psoriatic plaques, and it reduced on normal and involved skin after phototherapy.

Background and Aim: Pemphigus is a chronic autoimmune blistering disease characterized by intraepidermal blisters.
These blisters damage the skin barrier and increase the risk of life-threatening infections. Nasal colonization of
Staphylococcus aureus can increase the risk of infections and delay the wound healing process.The aim of this study was to
determine the frequency of staphylococcal carriers in hospitalized patients with pemphigus.
Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, medical records of 72 hospitalized patients with pemphigus in the
period from March 2013 to March 2014 were reviewed.Samples were collected from anterior nares and cultured at the
time of admission and one week after hospitalization for evaluation of S. aureus colonization and Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) types.
Results: Forty-five patients (62.5%) were male and 27 patients (37.5%) were female. The frequency of S. aureus
carriers was 58.3%. Thirty patients had colonization at the time of hospital admission among them, 22 (73.3%) patients
had MRSA. In forty (55.6%) patients colonization were found one week after hospitalization. Thirty-three (82.5%) patients
in this group were MRSA positive. There was no significant difference between S. aureus colonization at the time of
admission and one week after hospitalization (P>0.05).
Conclusion: S. aureus and MRSA carriers (communityacquired and hospital-acquired carriers) were prevalent
among patients with pemphigus. With identifiction and isolation of carriers of S. aureus in pemphigus patients, not
only could prevent spreading S. aureus and MRSA associated infections, bul also would facilitate wound healing. More
robust studies are required to assess the role of potential riskfactors.

Background and Aim: Bacteria are one of the causes of nail infections. Although nail infections are not always associated with a major health problem, their treatment, particularly in immunosuppressed patients could be chalenging. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of bacterial agents in patients with dystrophic nails referred  to mycology laboratory of Razi Hospital, Tehran.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on patients with dystrophic nail. Samples were examined by both direct examination and culture. Blood agar and eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar media were used to culture and differentiate bacteria.

Results: Of 700 dystrophic nail samples, 183 (26.1%) samples were diagnosed as onychomycosis. One hundred and four (56.8%) of the patients were female. One hundred and eighty-one patients had bacterial nail infection (25.9%), of whom 109 (60.2%) were female. Forty-six (6.6%) patients had both bacterial and fungul infections, of whom 32 (69.6%) were female. The most common detected agent was Staphylococci.

Conclusion: Bacterial infections can result in dystrophioc nails. If these infections remain untreated they can lead to nail loss. In most cases, treatment of bacterial nail infections is easier than fungul nail infections.

Background and Aim: Staphylococcus aureus is the second cause of hospital acquired infections, and responsible for 80% of purulent infections, and majority of skin infections. About 30 to 50 percent of normal people carry staph in their nose or groin and armpits. VanA, VanB, VanC1, VanC2/C3, VanG, VanL, and VanX are genes responsible for encoding resistance to vancomycin, TychoPlanyn and Avoparcyn, among them vanBand vanAare the most common cause of resistance that could be located on a plasmid or a chromosome and can be transferred via conjugation. The aim of this study was to The aim of this study was to investigatethe role of VanA and VanB genes in Cefoxitin resistant Staphylococci aureuscausing skin infections in patients admitted to Razi Hospital in Tehran using real time PCR method.

Methods: The samples were collected from Khordad 1394 for one year in the Microbiology Department of the Clinical Laboratory of Razi Hospital. Exudative skin lesions were sampled by sterile swab and cultured on the blood agar and EMB medium. Then catalase, oxidase and coagulase tests were performed on the gram-positive cocci and the sensitivity to vancomycinin Cefoxitin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was determined using the E-test method. The presence of vanAand vanBgenes were investigated by Real Time PCR.

Results: Out of 978 patients with infected skin lesions, 733 samples of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated. Of these, 124 were Cefoxitin resistant, among them 8 samples had a high response rate of 3, and 5had high response above 16. But VanA and VanB genes were not responsible for resistance in any of them.

Conclusion: Due to the development of resistant strains of Staphylococcus in skin and hospital infections, identification of its encoding genes are necessary in order to use appropriate antibiotics to reduce the course of treatment and the side effects of taking antibiotics.