title: Peripheral blood natural killer cells in Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The relationship of changes in the peripheral blood lymphocyte subgroups during Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) to prognosis has not been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine peripheral blood lymphocyte subgroups in CCHF patients at the time of diagnosis and relate these to clinical outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Peripheral blood samples were obtained from the patients treated at the Karadeniz Technical University Hospital for CCHF in 2004. Lymphocyte subgroups were analyzed by flow cytometry on these samples and their association with patients' risk group (severe vs. non-severe) and mortality was recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significantly more peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells in severe risk CCHF patients than in non-severe risk group CCHF patients. A positive correlation was found between NK cell count and aspartate transferase (AST), alanine transferase (ALT) and activated partial thromboplastin times (aPTT). In addition, NK cell counts were observed to be higher in two patients who died.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated NK cell counts may be a prognostic marker in CCHF patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. myilmaz1971@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Kemalettin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akdogan
authors.forename: Nurgun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sucu
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sonmez
authors.forename: Serdar Bedii
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Omay
authors.forename: Iftihar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koksal
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D001769:Blood / Q000276:immunology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D003225:Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / Q000276:immunology; D006479:Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D010314:Partial Thromboplastin Time; D011379:Prognosis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase