Objective: Measles virus is an unsegmented, single-stranded and negative-polarized RNA virus belonging to Morbillivirus genus in Paramyxoviridae family in the order of Mononegavirales. This study aimed to evaluate measles antibody seropositivity proportions in different age groups from different geographical regions within three years. Material and methods: This retrospective study, IgM and IgG antibodies specific to measles were detected in serum samples with enzyme immunoassay method. Measles IgG antibody seroprevalence was calculated by correlating all data with demographic variables. Results: Median age of patients included in the study was 27 years and while 352 (44.4%) were male. Seropositivity rate of measles IgG antibody was 87.1%. Seropositivity in the age group of 0-18 was 77.7% (p = 0.002). IgG seropositivity rates were 82.8%, 88.8% and 90.7% between 2017 and 2019 respectively (p = 0.05). Seropositivity rate of IgM antibody in all cases was 11.1% and the highest rate was detected in the age group of 0-18 (13.5%) (p = 0.09). IgM antibody seropositivity rate was determined most in the winter months (23.8%) (p < 0.001). While measles IgM positivities were 10.6% and 21.1% in Turkish and foreign patients respectively IgG positivities were 86.9% and 92.3% (p = 0.32, p = 1.00 respectively). Measles IgG seropositivity was the highest in patients living in Aegean region (96.8%). Conclusions: In conclusion, measles IgG seropositivity was 87.1% in this study. This rate was lower in pediatric age group. Increasing regional seroprevalence studies may help enhancement efforts on vaccination program to reach and sustain high population immunity.

Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection is closely associated with the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer. In recent years, the potential impact of viral co-infections on this process has also been investigated. This study investigated the presence of HR-HPV, HSV-1/2, and HHV-8 DNA in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cervical biopsy samples, as well as their association with lesion severity. A total of 276 FFPE cervical tissue samples were evaluated. Viral DNA was detected by real-time PCR. The samples were histopathologically classified as normal/non-dysplastic, low-grade (LSIL), and high-grade (HSIL) lesions. HR-HPV DNA was detected in 112 samples (40.6%), with the highest prevalence observed in the 30–39 age group (51.2%). Among the HPV-positive cases, 46.5% (52/112) had single-type infections, 32.1% (36/112) had multiple-type infections, and 21.4% (24/112) were untypable. Together, these categories accounted for all HPV-positive samples. The most common genotype was HPV-16 (16.7%). HHV-8 and HSV-2 DNA were not detected. HSV-1 DNA was detected in only three non-dysplastic, HPV-negative cervical samples. In conclusion, HR-HPV DNA was detected in 40.6% of cervical biopsy samples and showed a significant association with increasing histological severity, highlighting its critical role in the progression of cervical lesions. Although the absence of HHV-8 and HSV-2 suggests a limited contribution of these viruses to cervical disease, the use of a single real-time PCR assay limits the ability to draw generalized conclusions regarding their clinical relevance. Further large-scale, multicenter studies employing both tissue-based and serological approaches are needed to validate these findings and to better understand the dynamics of viral co-infections in cervical disease.

The increasing antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, responsible for both community-acquired and hospital-acquired infections, is of global significance. The primary mechanisms contributing to resistance development in P.aeruginosa include the increased activity of efflux pumps, decreased permeability of outer membrane porins and the production of carbapenemases. This study aimed to determine the effects of resistance nodulation division (RND) efflux pumps, outer membrane porin D (OprD) outer membrane protein and carbapenemase production on the development of resistance to different antibiotics in P.aeruginosa isolates. Eighty P.aeruginosa isolates obtained from clinical samples in our hospital between 2019 and 2021 were included in the study. Species-level identification of the isolates was performed using MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Daltonics, Germany). Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined using the VITEK (R) 2 (bioM & eacute;rieux, France) system according to the criteria of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). The expression levels of the outer membrane porin protein OprD and the regulatory genes of efflux pumps (mexB, mex C, mex E, and mex X ) were investigated using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (Rt-qPCR). The rpsL gene was used as the reference gene and P.aeruginosa PAO1 strain was used as the control strain in Rt-qPCR. Comparative expression analysis was calculated using the delta-delta cycle threshold (Delta Delta Ct) method. The presence of bla(OXA-48), bla(NDM), bla(VIM), bla(IMP), bla(KPC) and bla(OXA-10) was investigated by PCR. Clonal relationships among the isolates were determined by AP-PCR using the M13 primer. Band profiles were analyzed using GelCompar II (Applied Maths) software. Decreased OprD expression was detected in 63.7% of the isolates and 74% of carbapenem-resistant isolates. The decrease in OprD expression was found to be significant only between the carbapenem-susceptible (n= 30) and carbapenem-resistant (n= 50) groups (p= 0.014). The overexpression rate of mexB was 82% in carbapenem-resistant isolates and 33% in carbapenem-susceptible isolates; 76.6% in multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates and 45.5% in non-MDR isolates (p= 0.001 and p= 0.004, respectively). The overexpression rate of mexX was 68% and 40% in the amikacin-resistant and susceptible groups, respectively; and 64.3% and 40.4% in the gentamicin-resistant and susceptible groups, respectively (p= 0.02 and p= 0.041, respectively). Over- expression of mexX was found in 61.7% of MDR isolates and 30.3% of non-MDR isolates (p= 0.006). No significant difference was found in the expression of mexC and mexE between antibiotic-susceptible and resistant groups. While bla OXA-10 was detected in 32% (16/50) of carbapenem-resistant isolates, bla OXA-48 , bla NDM , bla VIM , bla IMP , bla KPC were not detected in any of the isolates. AP-PCR analysis identified 64 different genotypes and no dominant genotype was observed. The isolates were grouped into 14 different clusters with a clustering rate of 36%. RND efflux systems play a crucial role in the development of antibiotic resistance in P.aeruginosa. This study showed that overexpression of mexB and decreased expression of OprD contributed to the development of carbapenem resistance, while overexpression of mexX contributed to the development of amikacin and gentamicin resistance. Overexpression of mexB and mexX has significant correlation with MDR isolates. The detection of bla OXA-10 in 16 isolates suggests that the presence of this resistance gene may contribute to the development of carbapenem resistance.

Background/Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, yet its role in female infertility remains uncertain. This study aimed to compare HPV prevalence and genotype distribution between infertile and fertile women and to evaluate demographic and clinical factors, together with HPV vaccine coverage, in both groups. Methods: Cervical samples from 200 infertile and 200 fertile women aged 18–45 years were analyzed for 28 HPV genotypes using multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: HPV DNA was detected in 13.5% (27/200) of infertile women and 18.0% (36/200) of fertile women (p = 0.272). The most frequent genotypes were HPV-82 (5/200, 2.5%) and HPV-16 (5/200, 2.5%) in infertile women, and HPV-45 (8/200, 4.0%) and HPV-16 (7/200, 3.5%) in fertile women. Single HPV infections were more common in infertile women (81.5%, 22/27) than in fertile women (63.9%, 23/36). HPV positivity was not associated with reproductive, clinical, or lifestyle factors, and age-stratified analyses revealed no statistically significant differences (all p > 0.05). Among women aged 30–45 years, atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) cytology was identified in eight infertile women, all of whom were HPV-negative, whereas one of nine fertile women with ASC-US was HPV-positive. No low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) cases were detected in the infertile group. The 9-valent HPV vaccine covered 56.2% (18/32) of genotypes detected in infertile women and 45.1% (23/51) of those detected in fertile women. Conclusions: In this study, no significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of HPV prevalence, genotype distribution, or cytology findings. These results suggest that HPV is not an independent risk factor for infertility and highlight the need for further studies focusing on genotype-specific patterns, viral persistence, and biological mechanisms that may influence reproductive outcomes.

Background: This study evaluated the inter-method agreement of an in-house qualitative CMV real-time PCR assay for the detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA in various non-plasma clinical specimen types, in comparison with a commercially available comparator assay. Methods: In this prospective comparative study, 186 clinical specimens—including bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), stool, urine, colonoscopic biopsy, amniotic fluid, and intraocular fluid—were analyzed. A total of 166 samples with valid results from both test systems were included in the inter-method comparison. CMV DNA was detected using the in-house qualitative PCR assay in parallel with the comparator assay (artus^® CMV QS-RGQ kit). Agreement was assessed using positive percent agreement (PPA), negative percent agreement (NPA), overall percent agreement (OPA), and Cohen’s kappa coefficient (κ), in accordance with CLSI EP12-A2 recommendations. Results: Substantial overall inter-method agreement was observed when all specimens were evaluated collectively (κ = 0.66). Agreement metrics were highest in stool, urine, and invasive specimens, whereas BALF samples demonstrated comparatively lower agreement, reflecting potential matrix-related analytical variability. Conclusion: The laboratory-developed qualitative CMV PCR assay demonstrated substantial inter-method agreement with the comparator assay across multiple non-plasma specimen types. The findings highlight specimen-specific variability in qualitative CMV DNA detection and represent analytical concordance between two molecular assays rather than definitive clinical diagnostic accuracy or viral load quantification.