An experimental examination of the perceptual paradox surrounding police canine units.

Objectives: To experimentally examine public perceptions of police canine units.

Methods: As part of the between-subjects paradigm, participants were randomly assigned to view and rate an image of a police officer either with a police dog (i.e.

[Hepatitis epidemic among drug addicts in Esbjerg from July 1993 to May 1994].

During 11 months from July 1993 to May 1994 the Department of Internal Medicine at Esbjerg Centralsygehus saw 19 patients with acute hepatitis A, B and/or C. In a normal year one to three patients are admitted with acute viral hepatitis. Sixteen of the patients reported intravenous drug use, half of them only sporadically, i.

[Is methicillin better than cloxacillin in serious infections caused by strong penicillinase-producing staphylococci (phage-type 94/96)?].

An intravenous drug addict was treated with cloxacillin for septicaemia with Staphylococcus aureus because of pneumonia and suspected endocarditis. After 51 days of treatment Staphylococcus aureus was still found in blood and expectorate despite continued treatment with intravenous cloxacillin 1 g three and later four times daily and oral rifampicin. The staphylococcal isolates were all of phage type 94/96.

[Leptospirosis in the Ribe County 1980-1991].

Though only 4.2% of the Danish population live in Ribe County, 12 cases of leptospirosis (22% of the Danish total) were found in the county between 1980-1991. Nine cases were associated with fresh water angling or fish farming.

Henoch-Schönlein purpura associated with Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. Case report.

After an episode of enteritis caused by C. jejuni a 15-year-old boy developed Schönlein-Henoch purpura. Because of continuous proteinuria a renal biopsy was performed.

Aerosolized pentamidine for primary prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia: a controlled, randomized trial.

The objective was to assess the efficacy of a biweekly dose of 60 mg aerosolized pentamidine (AP) for primary prophylaxis (PP) of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and the impact of prophylaxis on survival in HIV-infected patients. Participants were AIDS patients with no history of PCP, patients with a CD4 count < or = 0.200 x 10(9)/L, or patients belonging to the CDC group IVC2, irrespective of CD4 count.

Adjunctive corticosteroid therapy for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in AIDS: a randomized European multicenter open label study.

Fifty-nine human immunodeficiency virus type-1-infected patients with a microscopically proven first episode of moderate to severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) were enrolled into a randomized European multicenter study. The effect of adjunctive corticosteroid (CS) therapy was assessed on (a) survival to discharge, (b) need for mechanical ventilation, and (c) survival at day 90. CS was given within 24 h of standard therapy as intravenous methylprednisolone 2 mg/kg body weight daily for 10 days.

Severe Rhodococcus equi pneumonia: case report and literature review.

Rhodococcus equi is an aerobic, gram-positive, non-motile pleomorphic bacillus infecting immunocompromised patients. Forty-nine cases of Rhodococcus equi infection have been reported, mainly in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A case in which Rhodococcus equi caused severe pulmonary infection, the most common presentation, is described.

[Future prospects of the specialty of infectious diseases].

Infectious diseases were established as a subspecialty of internal medicine in Denmark in 1982. Ten permanent senior positions in Danish hospitals are at present held by specialists in infectious diseases. Simultaneously, seven specialists in infectious diseases employed in junior positions are qualified for senior positions.

Nosocomial outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in AIDS patients.

Objective: To describe a nosocomial outbreak of cryptosporidiosis during four months after June 1989.

Setting: A department of infectious diseases in Copenhagen, seeing about half the patients with AIDS in Denmark.

Subjects: 73 HIV antibody negative subjects and 60 antibody positive subjects admitted as inpatients during the transmission period of the outbreak (20 June-14 August), of whom 18 (17 with AIDS, one with AIDS related complex), developed cryptosporidiosis.

Symptomatic polyneuropathy in human immunodeficiency virus antibody seropositive men with and without immune deficiency: a comparative electrophysiological study.

Symptomatic polyneuropathy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was studied in ten men with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in ten men without the immune deficiency. In both groups of patients electrophysiological signs of polyneuropathy of the axonal type were present in the sural, median and peroneal nerves. The AIDS patients had a greater reduction of the mean (SD) sural nerve action potential, 3.

T-cell subset alterations and lymphocyte responsiveness to mitogens and antigen during severe primary infection with HIV: a case series of seven consecutive HIV seroconverters.

Seven consecutive patients who presented with a severe acute mononucleosis-like illness associated with HIV seroconversion were evaluated by T-cell subset enumerations and measurements of lymphocyte transformation responses to mitogens and antigen during both their primary illness and a 1-year follow-up period. We observed a characteristic pattern of response to primary HIV infection; initial lymphopenia was followed by CD8 lymphocytosis and inversion of the CD4:CD8 ratio. During follow-up, the CD8 count gradually returned to normal, whereas the CD4:CD8 ratio remained inverted because of a relatively low number of CD4 lymphocytes.

Markers of human immunodeficiency virus infection in high-risk individuals seronegative by first generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

A total of 228 stored serum samples from 140 high risk individuals was examined for serological markers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection by second generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunoblot, and HIV antigen assay. All the samples were negative in first generation enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Seventy-four of the serum samples had been obtained from 40 sexual partners of HIV antibody positive individuals.

Progressive neurological dysfunction during latent HIV infection.

OBJECTIVE--To determine whether the delayed conduction through the spinal cord and peripheral nerves seen in patients with AIDS is related to infection with HIV or to the presence of an immunodeficient state. DESIGN--Two year prospective follow up study of electrophysiological measurements in subjects positive for HIV antibody but without AIDS. SETTING--HIV screening clinic and clinical departments in a university hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clinical course of primary HIV infection: consequences for subsequent course of infection.

Objective: To investigate the impact of the clinical course of the primary HIV infection on the subsequent course of the infection.

Design: Prospective documenting of seroconversion, follow up at six month intervals, and analysis of disease progression by life tables.

Patients: 86 Men in whom seroconversion occurred within 12 months.

The development of AIDS or AIDS-related conditions in a cohort of HIV antibody-positive homosexual men during a 3-year follow-up period.

One hundred and thirty-three homosexual men seropositive for the antibody against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were enrolled in a prospective study in 1984-85. The 3-year cumulative incidences of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions, by life-table analyses, were 18% and 34%. The cumulative incidence of immune deficiency defined as CD4 lymphocytes less than 0.

The value of lymph node histology in human immunodeficiency virus related persistent generalized lymphadenopathy.

Histological changes in lymph nodes were evaluated in a prospective study of 124 homosexual men who presented with generalized lymphadenopathy. The histological changes were classified according to a classification system with three stages. HIV antibodies were present in 88% of the patients.

Serological markers of primary HIV infection.

39 persons with an incidentally discovered seroconversion from HIV antibody negative (Ab-) to antibody positive (Ab+) state as measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were investigated for the presence of (1) HIV antigen (Ag) and (2) immunoblotting test (IBT) Ab in serum samples collected within the year before seroconversion. 13 (33%) of the patients were HIV Ag+ at some time before seroconversion. However, the collection of samples was not done systematically and the samples from patients who had at least 1 sample collected within 3 months before seroconversion were thus compiled separately.

Prognostic value of immunologic abnormalities and HIV antigenemia in asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals: proposal of immunologic staging.

The prognostic value of various immunologic tests was investigated in 150 HIV-seropositive homosexual men, who were initially without HIV-related symptoms or AIDS and who were followed for a median of 12 months (range 3-28 months). The laboratory investigations included HIV antigen in serum, total lymphocyte count, T-helper (CD4) and T-cytotoxic/suppressor (CD8) counts, and lymphocyte transformation responses to the mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and to antigenic extracts from Candida albicans and cytomegalovirus. 24 individuals developed HIV-related symptoms or AIDS (11 cases).

Computed tomography of the lungs in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. An early indicator of interstitial pneumonia.

Computed tomography of the chest was performed on 42 occasions as part of the diagnostic work-up in 26 homosexual men with, or suspected of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In 17 cases both the chest radiographs and the lung scans were abnormal, and bronchoscopy and/or lung biopsy established an etiologic diagnosis in the majority of these cases. In 9 cases CT of the lungs revealed unequivocal interstitial infiltration in the presence of a normal chest radiograph, and subsequently an etiologic agent was demonstrated in all these cases.

Clinical and electrophysiological studies of human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive men without AIDS.

Motor weakness and ataxia of lower limbs and abnormalities of somatosensory evoked potentials occur in many patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). We studied 15 human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive subjects without AIDS and found no clinical neurological abnormalities. The mean latency of the brainstem auditory evoked potential (peak V) was increased, suggesting a central defect.