Risk of pneumonia recurrence in patients previously hospitalized for pneumonia--a retrospective study (1998-2000).

Although elderly hospitalized patients, irrespective of the cause of hospitalization, are known to be at a high risk of subsequent development of pneumonia, some studies suggest the risk to be even higher in those hospitalized for pneumonia than in those hospitalized for other diseases. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the association of hospitalization for pneumonia and some other diseases with subsequent pneumonia morbidity and mortality. The risk of recurrent pneumonia in patients hospitalized for pneumonia was investigated.

Improvements for multipurpose bacteriological identification tables to suit the diagnosis of Vibrio cholerae.

The aim of the study was to reduce to key tests the 4 extensive polyvalent diagnostic biochemical tables most widely used in Croatia and to adapt them for the demonstration of Vibrio cholerae and its differentiation from the 3 Vibrios (V. alvinolyticus, V. mentschikovii, V.

An increasing incidence of VDRL serononreactors in an eldery, T. pallidum infected population.

Changes in the proportion of VDRL nonreactors among the people who had come into contact with Treponema pallidum in the course of their lifetime were assessed within the frame of the Diagnostic Proficiency Program covering serologic laboratories for the detection of syphilis in Croatia. Based on the analysis of the CNIPH serologic laboratory records the paper shows a clear increase in the above share over the past 22 years. Data on 491 infected persons (those reactive to the reference TPHA test), mean age 52.

Rabipur: a reliable vaccine for rabies protection.

Rabipur, a vaccine propagated on chick embryo fibroblasts, is one of the 'second generation' rabies vaccines produced by cell culture techniques. It compares in tolerance, immunogenicity and efficacy with the human diploid cell culture vaccines and is significantly more economical to be produced. It has proven to be an excellent vaccine, particularly when employed by the 2-1-1 schedule vaccination.

Bayes' theorem-based assessment of VDRL syphilis screening miss rates.

Background And Objectives: Interlaboratory differences (and conflicting practices) in syphilis screening strategies (serial versus parallel test combinations) prompted us to determine an estimate of the diagnostic miss rate in the detection of (1) infected persons and (2) infected but untreated persons potentially affected by late active syphilis.

Goal: We set out to establish the most efficient syphilis screening strategy for two routine tests (VDRL and Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay [TPHA]) with regard to our tested public health population (average VDRL+ TPHA+ and VDRL- TPHA+ reactor ages being 59.9 years and 50.