Evaluation of a combined tetravalent diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell pertussis and hepatitis B candidate vaccine administered to healthy infants according to a three-dose vaccination schedule.

A vaccine combining hepatitis B with diphtheria, tetanus and whole-cell Bordetella pertussis (DTPwHBV) would facilitate the attainment of universal vaccination of infants against hepatitis B. A candidate vaccine was administered to 42 infants beginning at 7-15 weeks of age. Antibodies were measured from pre- and postvaccination blood samples.

[Epidemiology of acute leukemia of childhood in Greece (author's transl)].

A retrospective study of 151 aged less than 15 years children suffering from acute leukaemia is reported, the parameters studied were male: female ratio, type of leukemia, age and seasonal distribution of the illness. The disease started in spring in 53 children (35,1%), in summer in 34 (22,6%), in autumn in 36 (23,8%) and in winter in 28 (18,5%). The difference between spring and winter was statistically highly significant (X2 = 10,54, P less than 0,005).

Chromosomal aberrations in infective hepatitis.

Structural chromosomal aberrations, in the form of breaks, were found in a significantly higher proportion of bone marrow cells in patients with infective hepatitis than in controls. These anomalies were observed during the first and third weeks after the onset of jaundice but had subsided by the sixth week. Chromosomal aberrations did not appear to be related to the severity of infective hepatitis or to the sex or age of the patients.