A therapeutic trial of the use of penicillin V or erythromycin with or without rifampin in the treatment of psoriasis.

Background: After the publication of an uncontrolled trial of nine patients with streptococcus-associated psoriasis who appeared to benefit from a course of oral penicillin or erythromycin with the addition of rifampin in the last 5 days, we wished to confirm or refute the validity of this observation.

Objective: Our purpose was to confirm the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of streptococcus-associated psoriasis.

Methods: Twenty patients were placed randomly into two groups.

Use of a Chinese hamster ovary cell cytotoxicity assay for the rapid diagnosis of pertussis.

A cytotoxicity assay with Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) capable of detecting 750 pg of pertussis toxin was assessed for use as a rapid test for the diagnosis of pertussis and compared with direct immunofluorescence (DFA). With pure bacterial cultures and simulated clinical specimens, the CHO assay detected as few as two colonies of Bordetella pertussis; no cytotoxicity occurred with other respiratory tract microorganisms. Next, nasopharyngeal aspirate secretions and nasopharyngeal cultures harvested after 72 h of incubation from 57 culture-positive and 201 culture-negative patients were examined.

Evaluation of culture, immunofluorescence, and serology for the diagnosis of pertussis.

Nasopharyngeal culture, direct immunofluorescence, and serology of acute-phase and paired serum specimens were compared for the laboratory diagnosis of infections due to Bordetella pertussis in a community-based pediatric population with both high vaccine usage and high pertussis incidence. In 77 (37%) of 210 patients evaluated, one or more tests were positive for pertussis. A clinical illness compatible with pertussis was present in 52 (71%) of 73 pertussis test-positive and 42 (35%) of 119 test-negative patients (P less than 0.

Evaluation of a rapid method for the detection of vaginal group B streptococci in women in labor.

Group B streptococci infection is an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Effective therapeutic intervention has been prevented to date by our inability to rapidly detect vaginal colonization. Material obtained from the lower vagina of 414 women in labor was cultured, incubated in modified Islam serum starch broth and observed on the ward for the production of orange carotenoid pigment specific for group B streptococci.