Ultrastructure of gonococci in acute, chronic, and asymptomatic gonorrhoea.

The authors have made an electron microscope study of material from patients with acute, chronic, and asymptomatic gonorrhoea both before and during treatment with penicillin and kanamycin. Some features of the structure of the gonococcus, e.g.

Further studies of Trichomonas Vaginalis with transmission and scanning electron microscopy.

Under the scanning electron microscope, the body surface of trichomonads appears ruffled and creased, with numerous crater-like depressions, which should probably be interpreted as the initial stage in the formation of digestive vacuoles or pinocytotic vesicles. Having contacted epithelial cells, trichomonads engulf them totally or partially. Various micro-organisms also become a prey of the protozoon.

Treponema pallidum in nerve fibres.

Ultrathin sections of a rabbit scrotal syphiloma were examined by electron microscopy. Treponemes were observed in the endo-, peri-, and epineurium of the nerve fibre. The significance of these findings, in that infection may be transmitted via the nerve fibres and pain reduced by damage to the afferent fibres, are discussed.

Ultrafine structure of te cell elements in hard chancres of the rabbit and their interrelationship with Treponema pallidum.

Investigating the interrelationship between Treponema pallidum and the host cells, the authors have studied under the electron microscope ultrathin sections of cellular elements of rabbit chancres and the condition of the treponemes. A description is given of the structure of the basic cellular elements found in the chancres, particularly the plasma cells since it is in them that the main immunological processes take place.The morphology of the treponemes varies in the course of the pathological process as well as with the type of cell harbouring them.

Morphology of Treponema pallidum.

In recent years many investigations have been carried out on the morphology of Treponema pallidum by means of the electron microscope, and the use of ultra-thin sections has shown up a number of structural details. However, there is still need for much more evidence before the internal structure of treponemes can be elucidated fully and the functions of the structures interpreted. To provide such evidence, the authors have examined under the electron microscope negative-stained treponemes and ultra-thin sections, using both cultivated strains and treponemes obtained direct from syphilids in people suffering from fresh secondary syphilis.

A simplified method of performing the Treponema pallidum immobilization test.

The standard TPI test is a complicated technique that can be performed only by highly qualified staff in well-equipped laboratories. This has greatly restricted its application. The author describes a simplified method that does not require complicated apparatus or the use of a gas mixture.

Long-acting and therapeutic properties of some Soviet and other penicillin preparations in experimental conditions.

The authors describe the results of studies carried out in rabbits infected with syphilis on the therapeutic properties and duration of penicillinaemia of a number of penicillin preparations manufactured in the USSR and of certain others from Czechoslovakia and the USA. These products were studied after intramuscular administration, mainly in doses of 42 000, 84 000 or 168 000 units per kg of body-weight.With all the preparations tested, the first of these doses proved inadequate.

METHODS OF LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF GONORRHOEA USED IN THE USSR.

In this review of gonorrhoea diagnostic methods in current use in the USSR, the author stresses first the value of the examination of smears for the detection of the typical forms of the gonococcus. Where atypical L-forms are present, as may occur after treatment with antibiotics or sulfanilamide, microscopy may be misleading and a combination of laboratory methods is called for, including the use of culture techniques. Transport media for the maintenance of material for culture have been little used in the USSR so far, but experiments with the Stuart medium and modifications of it have shown promise.

AN APPRAISAL OF THE FLUORESCENT ANTIBODY METHOD IN GONORRHOEA.

Fluorescent antibody procedures have in a short time become valued techniques for the detection of many pathogenic micro-organisms, and are used in syphilis, for instance. A fluorescent antibody test has also been proposed for use in gonorrhoea, but the author of this paper suggests that there are still many questions to be answered before that test can be recommended for widespread practical application. In particular, large-scale further research is necessary on the antigenic structure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and other organisms of the Neisseria group, before reliance can be placed on the strict specificity of this test.