[Antimalarial vaccination: advances and controversies].

Since 1993 the new worldwide position of WHO is to encourage the development of an anti-malaria vaccine. The antigenic complexity of the parasite makes such development difficult. Twenty or more candidate molecules are being tested with different stages of development.

[Markers of lipid peroxidation, inflammatory proteins and plasma tocopherols in homozygotic and heterozygotic sickle cell anemia].

Lipoperoxidation final products represented by the TBARS (substances reacting with the Thiobarbituric acid), inflammatory reaction proteins and sera tocopherol have been studied in homozygous forms as well as in heterozygous forms of sickle cell diseases. The significant increase of TBARS (P < 0.001) measured by spectrofluorimetry, the considerable decrease of the sera alpha gamma tocopherol, measured by HPLC (P < 0.

[Information and education interventions on hygiene levels of a population in which trachoma exists in a hyperendemic and serious form].

The aim of this work is to develop information and education methods in order to obtain better hygienic conditions in Tissint Zaouia (Moroccan province of Ouarzazate). 41% of the population is affected by trachoma with a rate of 18% of active trachoma, 1.6% of the population has a blindness of corneal origin.

[Oxidative stress and malaria. Apropos of 24 cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria].

Oxidative stress has been suggested to be implicated in malaria. But it is not clear whether its major role is to kill intraerythrocytic parasites or to cause damage to host tissues. We have studied it in 24 European subjects hospitalized in Saint-André hospital, Bordeaux, France for Plasmodium falciparum access returning from a tropical trip, and in a group control of 16 subjects.

Cardiac complications of halofantrine: a prospective study of 20 patients.

Halofantrine, increasingly used for treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, is a normally well-tolerated amino-alcohol with very few side-effects, but torsades de pointes ventricular tachycardia due to halofantrine has been reported in a few patients with a congenital long QT interval (Romano-Ward syndrome). We performed a prospective study of the cardiac effect of halofantrine in 20 patients with 48 h ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring; the halofantrine levels in their serum were also determined. Minimal ECG changes were noted, with lengthening of the QT interval without clinical symptoms.

Relationship between red blood cell antioxidant enzymatic system status and lipoperoxidation during the acute phase of malaria.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between oxidative stress and aggrevation of the disease in patients with malaria.

Methods And Results: In the present study lipoperoxidation was demonstrated during the acute phase of malaria by a significant decrease in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The lowest values of PUFA were obtained for C20:4 and C22:6, which were the main targets of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when parasitemia was higher than 1%.

[Sweet syndrome and Yersinia enterocolitica infection. 2 cases].

Sweet's syndrome is an acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis. Although it frequently appears as an idiopathic disorder, it may occur in association, often as presenting sign, with malignancy or more rarely with infections. We report two cases of Sweet's syndrome preceded by digestive infection due to Yersinia enterocolitica, affirmed by significant rises in serum antibody titers.

Concurrent herpes simplex type 1 necrotizing encephalitis, cytomegalovirus ventriculoencephalitis and cerebral lymphoma in an AIDS patient.

Unlike cytomegalovirus (CMV) ventriculoencephalitis, herpes simplex virus type 1 necrotizing encephalitis has only rarely been observed in AIDS patients. A 40-year-old bisexual man was followed for an HIV1 infection from 1987 onwards. In June 1993 he was referred for sudden confusion, left hemiparesia and fever.