Effect of iron and phagocytosis on murine macrophage activation in vitro.

Iron-exposed murine macrophages have a modified bactericidal activity as shown by previous observations. In order to assess the role of iron in macrophage activation, as measured by free radical production and by intracellular bacterial killing, murine peritoneal macrophages were cultivated in the presence of various sources of iron, human iron-saturated transferrin and ammonium ferric citrate, or iron chelators, Desferal, and human Apo-transferrin, and were infected with an enteropathogenic strain of E. coli.

[Biological safety in the laboratory. Biological risk, standardization and practice].

Working with pathogens or genetically engineered micro-organisms is a potential hazard for scientists, health care workers, employees of pharmaceutical industry, and also for the environment. Carelessness, poor technique in the handling of infectious materials, needle sting or infectious aerosol exposure are the cause of laboratory acquired infection. Biosafety, corollary of biocontamination, is based on the combination of good microbiological techniques, facility design of the laboratory and safety equipment.

[Biocontamination, European standardization and pharmaceutical industry].

The coming to light of new concepts in environmental microbiology, particularly the notions of bacterial adhesion and of biofilm or of cells in starvation, conducted to an evolution of the standardization of the controlled contamination area. It is necessary to match to the biocontamination of hazard area the principles governing the quality insurance used in alimentary industry named HACCP (hazard analysis of control critical point). This method will have to be applied wilfully to all the fields where a patient or a product risk a biocontamination.

Relationship between free amoeba and Legionella: studies in vitro and in vivo.

In 1980, Robowtham demonstrated that Legionella multiplies in free amoeba cytoplasm and hypothesized that the amoeba could act as a reservoir of virulent bacteria. In this paper we report various aspects of the relationship between amoeba and Legionella. A liquid medium co-culture method was applied to Acanthamoeba sp.

Comparative efficacy of five antibiotics on experimental airborne legionellosis in guinea-pigs.

The efficacy of preventive and curative treatment of experimental airborne legionellosis in guinea-pigs was studied for erythromycin, rifampicin, minocycline, doxycycline and pefloxacin. The aerosol was produced from a strain of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and dispersed in a chamber maintained below atmospheric pressure. Guinea-pigs were exposed for 30 min to 1 or 10 LD50 (10(3) or 10(4) viable inhaled organisms).