Treatment Failure in a UK Malaria Patient Harboring Genetically Variant Plasmodium falciparum From Uganda With Reduced In Vitro Susceptibility to Artemisinin and Lumefantrine.

Background: Recent cases of clinical failure in malaria patients in the United Kingdom (UK) treated with artemether-lumefantrine have implications for malaria chemotherapy worldwide.

Methods: Parasites were isolated from an index case of confirmed Plasmodium falciparum treatment failure after standard treatment, and from comparable travel-acquired UK malaria cases. Drug susceptibility in vitro and genotypes at 6 resistance-associated loci were determined for all parasite isolates and compared with clinical outcomes for each parasite donor.

Novel external quality assurance scheme for drug susceptibility testing of non-tuberculous mycobacteria: a multicentre pilot study.

Objectives: Our aim was to conduct a multicentre study involving laboratories participating in the European TB Reference Laboratory Network aiming to develop a pilot external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for drug susceptibility testing (DST) of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM).

Methods: The study comprised a survey using a structured questionnaire followed by a pilot EQA round using identical panels of 10 Mycobacterium avium (MAV) and Mycobacterium abscessus (MAB) isolates. EQA results were received from 16 laboratories utilizing the broth microdilution method.

Phase 1 clinical trial of live attenuated Shigella dysenteriae type-1 DeltaicsA Deltaent Deltafep DeltastxA:HgR oral vaccine SC599 in healthy human adult volunteers.

Twenty-eight adults received between 10(2) and 10(8)colony forming units of live Shigella dysenteriae type-1 vaccine SC599, attenuated by deletion of invasion (icsA), iron chelation (ent, fep) and shiga toxin A-subunit (stxA) genes, followed by ciprofloxacin on day 4. Dose-independent diarrhea or change in bowel habit was seen in 3 subjects, without dysentery, vaccinaemia or serious adverse events. Hematology and biochemical parameters were unchanged.

Epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease in Kumasi, Ghana.

There are few data on the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease in Africa. We undertook a prospective study of these infections in Kumasi, Ghana, collecting clinical data on all patients with laboratory-confirmed pneumococcal meningitis, pneumonia or systemic sepsis associated with bacteraemia. A total of 140 cases were identified in the period from January 2002 to April 2005.

Haemophilus influenzae type b reemergence after combination immunization.

An increase in Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in British children has been linked to the widespread use of a diphtheria/tetanus/acellular pertussis combination vaccine (DTaP-Hib). We measured anti-polyribosyl-ribitol phosphate antibody concentration and avidity before and after a Hib booster in 176 children 2-4 years of age who had received 3 doses of DTP-Hib (either DT whole cell pertussis-Hib or DTaP-Hib) combination vaccine in infancy. We also measured pharyngeal carriage of Hib.