Browsing by Author "Buzgan, T"

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Chronic Hepatitis Delta Virus Infection in Eastern Turkey
(Elsevier Science Bv, 2003) Turkdogan, MK; Bozkurt, H; Tuncer, I; Uygan, I; Irmak, H; Buzgan, T; Akdeniz, H
Cutaneous Findings, Encountered in Brucellosis and Review of the Literature
(Wiley, 2001) Metin, A; Akdeniz, H; Buzgan, T; Delice, I
Background Human brucellosis is an infectious disease produced by Brucella species: small, coccoid or rod-like, aerobic, Gram-negative bacteria. The infection is common in developing countries, and can also affect the skin. Its prevalence is high in our region of where stockbreeding is one of the main economic sources, compared with the Turkey, industrially developed areas of Turkey, and dermatologic complaints due to brucellosis, are fairly common. Materials and methods One hundred and three patients with serologically and clinically confirmed brucellosis were studied in order to investigate the prevalence of cutaneous findings and their variability in brucellosis. Fifty-two (50.49%) were males and 51 (49.51%) were females with an age range of 4-70 years (mean, 30.45 +/- 15.08 years). Results Of these patients, 14 (13.59%) had cutaneous findings probably related to brucellosis. These findings were more frequent in females (11 cases) than males, and most of the females (eight cases) were housewives; three were students. Urticaria-like papules, and plaques were the most common findings; they were seen in six (35.3%) patients. One case had livedo reticularis and another palmar erythema, which have not been reported previously. No relationship was observed between the serologic, values and the cutaneous findings. Conclusions Cutaneous findings in our cases were more prevalent than in other reported studies. It is important to emphasize that cutaneous lesions are not specific to brucellosis and may be seen in a variety of other dermatologic diseases caused by many agents; therefore, these agents should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis.
Cutaneous Manifestations of Anthrax in Eastern Anatolia
(Okayama Univ Med School, 2003) Irmak, H; Buzgan, T; Karahocagil, MK; Sakarya, N; Akdeniz, H; Çaksen, H; Demiröz, P
Anthrax is essentially a disease of grazing herbivorous animals. The most common form of the disease is cutaneous anthrax, which accounts for 95% of all cases. We report here 39 cutaneous anthrax cases in humans that were seen in Eastern Anatolia over a six-year period. The clinical presentation was malignant edema in 16 of the cases (41%) and malignant pustule in 23 (59%). A secondary bacterial infection was present in 13 patients (33.3%) in the vicinity of the lesions. The agent was observed using Gram-stained smears in 25 patients (64%), and Bacillus anthracis was isolated from 15 patients (38.5%). All of the patients were treated with penicillin G or penicillin procaine, except one patient who had a penicillin allergy. One patient with cervical edema (2.5%) died as a result of laryngeal edema and sepsis syndrome. In conclusion, we found that the appearance of the skin lesion of cutaneous anthrax may vary, and this fact, combined with the rarity of this disease, which contributes to a general lack of experience among medical personnel, may make diagnosis difficult in nonagricultural settings.
The Effect of Levamisole Combined With the Classical Treatment in Chronic Brucellosis
(Tohoku Univ Medical Press, 2003) Irmak, H; Buzgan, T; Karahocagil, MK; Evirgen, Ö; Akdeniz, H; Demiröz, AP
Levamisole is an immunopotenciator drug which is used as an antihelmintic drug as well as very effective remedy on cellular immunity compared with humoral immunity. A total 71 patients (37 men, 34 women) who referred to our department between March 1997 and December 2001, with a history of the disease for about I year, were diagnosed as having chronic brucellosis through those tests brucella serum agglutination test (SAT), SAT with Coombs and SAT with 2-mercaptoethanol. The patients were randomly divided into levamisole group (36 patients) and control group (35 patients). All patients were given rifampicin 600 mg/day + doxycycline 200 mg/day for 6 weeks as a standard classical combined therapy for brucellosis. In the levamisole group, oral levamisole 80 mg every other day for 6 weeks was added to the treatment. There was a statistically significant difference between two groups, in complaints of arthralgia, fatigue and sweats before and 6 months after treatment, as well as in erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein elevations and lymphomonocytosis finding. While it was provided both clinical and serological improvement in all patients in the levamisole group; 11 patients in the control group did not improve both clinically and in view of specific and nonspecific laboratory findings and a recurrence occurred in one case, in this group. In conclusion, levamisole added to classical antibiotic therapy in treatment of chronic brucellosis was found quite efficient in all patients in providing adequate clinical and laboratory response in comparison to classical antibiotic therapy alone. -chronic brucellosis; levamisole; treatment (C) 2003 Tohoku University Medical Press.
Hematological Manifestations in Brucellosis Cases in Turkey
(Okayama Univ Med School, 1998) Akdeniz, H; Irmak, H; Seckinli, T; Buzgan, T; Demiroz, AP
The hematological findings of 233 patients with brucellosis are presented and the possible pathologies discussed. Anemia was present in 128 patients (55%), leukopenia in 49 (21%) and thrombocytopenia in 59 (26%). Bone marrow aspirates of 18 patients (8%) with pancytopenia were examined. The bone marrow was hypercellular in 15 and normocellular in 3 patients. Granulomatous lesions were detected in 12 cases (67%), and slight to moderate cytophagocytosis of erythrocytes, granulocytes and platelets existed in all patients. Blood cell counts reverted to normal within 2-3 weeks of initiating chemotherapy with recovery from the disease.
Use of the Brucella Igm and Igg Flow Assays in the Serodiagnosis of Human Brucellosis in an Area Endemic for Brucellosis
(Amer Soc Trop Med & Hygiene, 2004) Irmak, H; Buzgan, T; Evirgen, Ö; Akdeniz, H; Demiroz, AP; Abdoel, TH; Smits, HL
The clinical utility of two complementary tests for brucellosis, the Brucella IgM and IgG flow assays, was evaluated in a hospital in eastern Turkey. The results show that the flow assays are convenient diagnostic tests for use in endemic areas. A positive result in the flow assays was obtained in 91% and 97% of the admission sera from adult and pediatric patients with brucellosis, respectively, and the sensitivity at admission was 100% for culture-confirmed brucellosis. The assay system performed equally well in diagnosing patients at different stages of illness including patients with acute, subacute, or chronic disease and with relapse. The results of the flow assays correlated well with those of a serum agglutination test at a cut-off greater than or equal to1:160. The agreement was 92%. Application of the flow assays on serum samples collected during a village survey for brucellosis after an outbreak demonstrated their diagnostic potential as field tests.