Publications by authors named "Hederstedt B"

Borreliosis is known to be a common cause of peripheral facial palsy in Stockholm and its vicinity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency and characteristics of borreliosis among patients with peripheral facial palsy in different parts of Sweden. All serological tests were performed in one laboratory.

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Little is known about the long-term effects of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection in untreated patients with peripheral facial palsy. We investigated 12 patients with elevated serum Bb antibody levels, with a median follow-up time of 11 years, during which 3 of the 12 still exhibited intrathecal antibody production of antibodies against Bb flagellar antigen, and 2 of the 3 had normal serum Bb antibodies. Four of the 12 had elevated serum antibody titres at the late follow-up examination.

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Objectives: To elucidate whether recent syphilis infection is significantly more prevalent among women with mid-trimester miscarriage than among antenatal care attenders in midtrimester pregnancy.

Design: Two categories of pregnant women were compared regarding serological signs of syphilis. Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) analyses were done in Mozambique and Veneral Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) tests in Sweden.

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Serum samples taken at the delivery from 27 syphilitic mothers in Mozambique, 16 with stillborn babies and 11 with healthy babies were tested upon presence of IgM antibodies against T. pallidum by the solid-phase haemadsorption assay (SPHA). Fourteen out of the 16 serum samples from mothers with stillborn babies but only one out of the 11 samples from mothers with healthy babies were found positive by the SPHA test.

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The prevalence of viral and bacterial sexually transmitted diseases were studied in 101 men attending a dermatovenereal outpatient clinic in Mogadishu. A control group of 103 healthy adult men were included for the serological part of the study. Serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) were studied.

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A monovalent pertussis toxoid vaccine (JNIH-7, Biken, Japan) was evaluated for reactogenicity and immunogenicity in 20 healthy adults (phase 1 study). Fever of greater than or equal to 38 degrees C was recorded in 2/20; local reactions started in 2/20 on day 1 (early onset) and in 3/20 on day 7 (late onset). All 15/15 subjects tested showed a significant antibody response to pertussis toxin by neutralization or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

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Total IgG subclass levels, anti-viral, anti-myelin basic protein (anti-MBP), and anti-ganglioside 1 (anti-GM1) IgG subclass levels were measured in 6 patients with herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE), 16 with borreliosis, 8 with other bacterial infections, 12 with multiple sclerosis (MS), 13 with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), 5 with glioblastoma and 12 controls. Total IgG1 levels were elevated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from all patient groups (but not in the controls), IgG2 in bacterial infections, IgG3 in HSVE and borreliosis and IgG4 in some SSPE patients. The anti-viral (anti-measles, varicella zoster virus and rubella) IgG antibodies in MS were restricted to IgG1, anti-measles IgG to IgG1 and sometimes IgG4 in SSPE, anti-borrelia IgG to IgG1, IgG2 and IgG3.

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In Mogadishu, Somalia 223 women of childbearing age, including prostitutes, were tested for serum markers for syphilis by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test and the Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA). Sera reactive in either of these tests were tested for IgM antibodies by solid phase haemadsorption assay (SPHA). Three per cent of sera from 67 pregnant women and none of those from 71 educated women gave positive results that were confirmed with the TPHA.

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Two hundred and three women who disclaimed vaccination against diphtheria were divided into four groups and injected with either 2.0 or 6.25 Lf of a routine diphtheria toxoid or of a more purified preparation.

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Two groups derived from 97 children three-four months of age were vaccinated with diphtheria and tetanus vaccines containing either a routinely prepared diphtheria toxoid or a more purified preparation. Two injections were given with an interval of one month and a third injection was given one year after the first. Prior to the third injection no child was without protection against diphtheria, i.

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The antibody response against a Borrelia strain isolated from Swedish Ixodes ricinus ticks was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens from 45 patients with chronic meningitis. Probable Borrelia etiology could be demonstrated in 41 of 45 (91%) patients with clinical symptoms of chronic meningitis. Approximately 25% of the patients had significantly elevated titer of antibody to the spirochete in CSF but not in serum.

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In the southern parts of Sweden a Borrelia infection transmitted by the tick Ixodes ricinus may affect man, In the present study antibodies to Borrelia spirochetes were studied in sera from 58 cows, 68 calves and 13 lambs from areas in southern Sweden where Ixodes ricinus occurs. For comparison, serologic studies were also performed on 88 cows and 10 lambs from the northern parts of Sweden. Serum titers of > 80 were found in 14 of the calves and 23 of the cows from southern Sweden but in only 1 of the cows from northern Sweden.

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To establish the prevalence of syphilis in pregnant women in Mozambique and evaluate present diagnostic methods, 1468 pregnant women in eight of the country's 10 provinces were examined using the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test. Positive serum samples were also analysed using the Treponema pallidum haemagglutination (TPHA) assay and one group was also analysed using the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorbed (FTA-ABS) test. The prevalence of VDRL seroreactivity was found to be between 4.

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The antibody response against a spirochetal strain isolated from Swedish Ixodes ricinus ticks was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence assay of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens from 45 patients with chronic meningitis. Samples of CSF, serum, or both from patients with various infections of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis, syphilis, or infectious mononucleosis and from healthy individuals served as control samples. Probable spirochetal etiology could be demonstrated for 41 of 45 (91%) patients with clinical symptoms of chronic meningitis.

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To determine whether antibodies to Borrelia spirochetes were present, sera from 88 patients with uncomplicated erythema chronicum migrans Afzelius (ECMA), from 9 patients with ECMA-related extracutaneous complications and from 26 patients with acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) were submitted to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an indirect immunofluorescence (IF) assay. The assays were calculated to be 95% specific. There was good correlation between the IF test with a polyvalent conjugate and IgG ELISA.

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We studied 35 patients with chronic meningitis. The neurological abnormalities included aseptic meningitis, cranial neuropathy (mostly facial palsy), motor and sensory peripheral radiculoneuropathy, and myelitis. Neurological symptoms were sometimes preceded by erythema chronicum migrans or an insect bite and were often accompanied by fever, malaise, profound fatigue, and weight loss.

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We have obtained spirochetes from Ixodes (I.) ricinus ticks collected in different areas in Stockholm where erythema chronicum migrans Afzelius (ECMA) cases are known to occur sporadically. Titers of antibody against spirochetal isolates, cultured in modified Kelly's medium, from Swedish I.

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Spirochetes were recovered from the skin lesion of 1 out of 10 acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans patients (ACA). Spirochetes from this skin isolate and from Ixodes (I.) ricinus and I.

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Antibody responses in human sera against Bordetella pertussis during natural infection were investigated by a microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a purified fimbrial haemagglutinin preparation as antigen. Significant rises of specific IgG, IgM and IgA were demonstrated in paired sera. A secondary type of antibody response was found in most children and adults.

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