[Epidemiological and clinical study of Mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory infections in children hospitalized in a pediatric ward between 1999 and 2005 at the Reims University Hospital].

Object: To determine the frequency, clinical features, and morbidity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

Method: Retrospective study of 76 consecutive children under 16 years of age hospitalized at the Reims University Hospital from 1999 to 2005 with M. pneumoniae pneumonia.

Association of respiratory picornaviruses with acute bronchiolitis in French infants.

Background: Human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses (Picornaviridae) are suspected to be major viral etiological causes of bronchiolitis in infants.

Objectives: In the present study, we assessed the potential role of the respiratory picornaviruses as causative agents of bronchiolitis in French infants.

Study Design: From September 2001 to June 2002, we prospectively selected 192 infants < or =36 months of age and hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis.

[A case of influenza A community-acquired pneumonia in an elderly subject hospitalised in intensive care unit].

Influenza pneumonia and influenza-associated severe exacerbation of pre-existing heart and lung disease are responsible for major complications that may require intensive care unit admission. Here, we report the case of a diabetic 70 year-old man hospitalised in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the University Medical Center of Reims (France) for a severe bilateral and alveolar pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation. This patient had received a classical antibiotic treatment by amoxycillin (3 g/24 hours per os); 48 hours later, he was admitted in ICU for a respiratory failure that evolved rapidly towards an acute respiratory distress syndrome.

[Prevalence of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections among high-risk patients attending a free anonymous HIV-screening center].

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among patients attending an anonymous HIV Screening Center.

Patients And Methods: This prospective study was performed in the HIV Screening Center of University hospital in Reims (France) from May 1997 to December 1997. The inclusion criteria were the asymptomatic clinical presentation and the presence of risk factors for sexually transmitted infections referring to WHO criteria.

Natural polymorphism of cytomegalovirus DNA polymerase lies in two nonconserved regions located between domains delta-C and II and between domains III and I.

We described the natural polymorphism of cytomegalovirus DNA polymerase in 42 unrelated isolates susceptible to ganciclovir, foscarnet, and cidofovir. All variations, including an eight-amino-acid deletion, were located between domains delta-C and II and between domains III and I, suggesting that these specific residues are not involved in enzymatic functions.