Journal of School of Public Health and

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Severe Acute Respirators&apos Syndrome (SARS), an emerging infectious disease first reported from the Chinese province of Guangdong, has already caused one worldwide outbreak. The syndrome spread across the globe by travelers. The etiologic agent was unknown at the beginning, but because of the rapid spread of the disease, an infectious agent with high transmission potency was suspected. Later workers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) succeeded in isolating a new coronavirus with a distinct genome from SARS patients. This new virus spread all over the world in a few weeks and the epidemic peaked in March and April. Within a short period of lime, the epidemic inflicted huge economic losses on the involved countries, especially in Asia. Finally the outbreak was contained in July, 2003. But is this really the end of SARS? The are no easy answers.
Considering this new disease and the probability of its reemergence, it is necessary for all health care workers to be familiar with some features of the syndrome (clinical and laboratory findings, approach to patients, routes of transmission, pre and post-travel recommendations and ways to control the infection).
We will provide you with some important information about this new emerging disease from a variety of sources.

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Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis of broad geographic distribution. This disease is caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. The most important ways to diagnose the disease are the serological techniques such as IFA and ELISA. The aim of this consideration, was comparison between the two methods, IFA and ELISA, in order to determine the incidence of antibody against Toxoplasma in pregnant women. In this descriptive-cross sectional study, from 600 pregnant woman whom have referred to Alzzahra and Izadi maternity hospitals of Qom, during four months (from Sep.2001 to Jan.2002), the specimen of blood have been prepared. After bloodletting and parting of serum, IFA and ELISA have tested its specimens. From 600 specimens of serum, from the tested mothers by IgG-ELISA method, 257 individuals (%42.8) and by IgG-IFA method, 246 individuals (%41) had Specific IgG antibody. Also, The comparison between the two methods, IFA and ELISA, demonstrates that 246 cases (%41) were positive in both methods, and 343 cases (%57.2) were negative in both methods, and only 11 cases (%1.8) were positive in ELISA and negative in IFA technique. In this study, the effect of different factors has been studied, in which deal with the prevalence rate of Toxoplasma infection. Although, these results shows that transmission of Toxoplasma infection in this city, like other parts of world and Iran has been done, but considerable percent of pregnant women (%57.2 by ELISA method and %59 by IFA method) lacking any type of acquired immunity against of this infection. Therefore, considering secure status and accomplishing exclusive experiments before marriage and also training and informing the people of region especially pregnant women with educational programs and supervision in pregnant period is necessary. On the other hand, with regard to the rate of concordance of the two tests (%98.2), The ELISA because of its high sensitivity and specificity, easier technique and lower expense it is preferred in order to screening Toxoplasma infection.

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Background and Aim: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important human pathogens. A major clinical concern is the high rate of antibiotic resistance among Staphylococcus aureus strains. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains are a major cause of community- and hospital-acquired infections. Therefore, genetic investigation of S. aureus strains isolated from patients with staphylococcal infection is crucial not only for tracking of infections but also for nosocomial infection control.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 103 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were collected from Tehran University of Medical Sciences hospitals. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the isolates were determined using a panel of 13 antibiotics by the disk-diffusion method. The isolates were investigated for hvr by the PCR method.
Results: According to the antibiotic susceptibility testing, 21 antibiotype profiles were detected. Sixty-four out of the 103 isolates were resistant to methicillin. PCR results showed 10 different patterns of hvr.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed high rates of antibiotic resistance and variations of hvr among the Staphylococcus aureus isolates. The high degree of hvr variation can be a good tool to use for molecular typing of this bacterial strain. Further investigation of antibiotic susceptibility patterns and genetic features of this bacterium is highly recommended for controlling community- and hospital- acquired infections.