Journal of hygiene, epidemiology, microbiology, and immunology最新文献

At the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of a Brno hospital, 133 Klebsiella strains were isolated from 23 mothers and 58 neonates during a period of increased incidence of Klebsiella and 73 strains were examined in the laboratory. The control group was comprised by 78 Klebsiella strains isolated at three other Brno hospitals. Four prevailing Klebsiella types were identified using bacteriocinotyping and phagotyping. Different bacteriocinotypes and phagotypes were found to prevail at certain intervals both at the examined clinic and in control patients from Brno hospitals. The findings suggest circulation of certain Klebsiella types and their introduction to hospitals. Most infants (37 out of 45, i.e. 82%) were colonized by Klebsiella, their mothers remaining without colonization. The factors influencing the onset and transmission of nosocomial infections in infants are discussed.

In a model experiment, the use of specific hyperimmune globulins (SHG) alone failed to protect mice against infection with homologous and heterologous P. aeruginosa serotypes. However, the therapeutic potential of SHG dramatically improved after its conjugation with A1(OH)3, used as a biological carrier. The binding of SHG to this carrier proved to be the most effective and stable combination in the treatment of acute pseudomonad infections in mice.

A sample comprising 40 H. influenzae and 74 H. parainfluenzae strains was used to verify methods for determining susceptibility to antibiotics. Modified Levinthal agar proved to be suitable for the agar dilution and agar diffusion method, while brain heart infusion with the thermally released components of sheep blood (X and V factor) and lysed horse blood performed well in the dilution micromethod. The iodometric method served well for beta-lactamase production. A substantial proportion of strains was resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, roxitromycin and sulfamethoxazole. Ampicillin susceptibility was of crucial importance. Resistance was largely due to beta-lactamase production. Since there are ampicillin-resistant strains which fail to produce beta-lactamase, it is necessary either to determine the MIC value or use a disk with 2 micrograms ampicillin. A disk containing 10 micrograms ampicillin may yield a false positive result.

Examination of 2,876 persons in fourteen communities was carried out for clinical onchocerciasis on the Taraba river valley, Nigeria, where parasitological findings indicate unusually high endemicity. Forty-five percent of the population had at least one type of skin lesion or the other, the commonest of which was pruritus. Thirty-two percent had nodules. Some of the nodules were located in unusual sites such as the mammae, anus. Nodule carriage and nodule-load as well as lymphatic enlargement were higher than those recorded elsewhere in Nigeria and tended to increase with increase in age. When subjected to regression analysis, the relationship between skin lesion, nodule carrier rate, nodule load, scrotal enlargement and microfilaria rate (mf) on one hand and microfilaria density (mfd) on the other showed a near-perfect correlation. The findings of this study suggest that certain clinical manifestations of onchocerciasis may be a reliable and more rapid alternative to the parasitological approach in the assessment of the prevalence and severity of the disease in communities with similar socioecological characteristics.

Main antibacterially active agents obtained from plants-Cajeput essential oil--1,8 cineol, linalool, alpha-terpineol and terpinen-4-ol, for example from Melalleuce leucadendron (Myrtaceae) as well as essential oil from Ocimum gratissimum (Labiatae) were combined in tests in vitro with selected antibiotics. Above mentioned plant products were found to be effective medicaments for local application in modern medical practice. Combinations with antibiotics potentiated their therapeutical action. On the basis of tests in vitro the synergistic action of these two kinds of medicaments, i.e., preparations traditionally used for a few last decades--antibiotics--might be well applied for therapeutical needs.

The susceptibility to rubella of a group of Mexican females of childbearing age was determined. Members of the group were selected based on the highest probability of having been exposed to the virus they were older than 15, and from a low socio-economic urban stratum. Anti-viral antibodies were determined by hemagglutination inhibition. Concentration was expressed as International Units of IgG anti-rubella hemagglutinin (IU). Antibody concentrations lower than 15.6 IU/ml were regarded as non-protective. A 16% susceptibility was found.

A simple method for screening urine specimens for significant gramnegative bacteriuria is presented, in which microtitration plates, a vertical-beam photometer used for reading ELISA and an inexpensive microcomputer are employed. The wells of the plate containing brain-heart infusion broth are inoculated with urine. Every hour turbidity is measured and the values are compared with the original ones. The whole examination is terminated in five hours. At the actual prevalence of 0.27, specificity is 0.97, the predictive value of a negative result is 0.97 and false positives 0.03. The method is used for rapid reporting to the ward, and for subsequent differentiated standard cultivation.

The present paper is an overview of the experimental research into the effects of flue magnesite dust in the magnesite industry in which the raw material (magnesite) is processed into refractory magnesite clinker. The issues related to dust are divided into two problem areas: a) dust aerosol arising in the process of ore mining and consisting largely of magnesite (MgCO3) and b) dust aerosol originating during ore baking in rotatory furnaces and made up mostly of MgO. Thus, larger groups of people become exposed to these aerosols as a result of solid particles escaping into the atmosphere than in the case of occupational exposure. Experimental research carried out on laboratory animals after chamber exposure provided findings on the deposition, retention and elimination of magnesite dust, on impaired balance between magnesium and calcium leading to damage of biological membranes, on how the immune profile or reproduction and embryogenesis is impacted as well as on the possible interaction with sodium salicylate as a result of an impaired acid base balance. These findings are followed up by evidence produced in the course of biological monitoring (Part II).

Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was done for the detection of antibodies to Cysticercus cellulosae in 135 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and 152 serum samples from patients suspected clinically of neurocysticercosis (NC), neurological disorders other than NC and controls by the use of crude cyst extract antigen. This assay was compared with the standard technique of indirect haemagglutination test (IHA). The results of the two techniques were matched with retrospective analysis of proven diagnosis of these patients. ELISA and IHA was found to be positive respectively in 88 and 84 percent of CSF and 92 and 87.2 percent of serum samples from proven NC patients. The IHA technique was found to be absolutely specific for the detection of antibodies in CSF samples while cross reactions were observed with ELISA technique in CSF from 5 patients, one each suffering from disappearing CT scan lesion, tubercular meningitis (culture negative), chronic meningitis, benign intracranial hypertension and non compressive myelopathy. However possibility of neurocysticercosis cannot be absolutely ruled out in such patients. Both the techniques were found to be highly non specific for the detection of antibodies in serum samples. The study suggests that either of the two techniques may be used for the detection of antibodies in CSF samples from clinically suspected NC patients with high degree of sensitivity and specificity.