The Role for the Small Cryptic Plasmids As Moldable Vectors for Genetic Innovation in subsp. .

In subsp. , a bacterium that causes fish disease, there are two types of small plasmids (<15 kbp): plasmids without known function, called cryptic plasmids, and plasmids that bear beneficial genes for the bacterium. Four among them are frequently detected in strains of subsp.

Surveillance of influenza in Switzerland between 1987 and 1995.

During 8 years of continuous influenza surveillance in Switzerland (1987 to 1995), influenza A viruses predominated during 5 seasons and influenza B viruses during 3. The most severe outbreaks occurred in the 1988/89 season (A/H1N1 subtype), in the 1989/90 season (A/H3N2 subtype) and in the 1994/95 season (simultaneous outbreak of influenza A/H3N2 and B). From 1987 to 1993, peak activity of influenza A viruses was observed during December and January (for 8 weeks on average) while influenza B viruses were most active between February and March (ordinarily for 6 weeks).

[A look back at 2 mumps outbreaks].

Two studies are presented. The first one concerns a mumps outbreak in a kindergarten in Geneva in June 1991. Of 26 children, nine (34.

The relationship between influenza vaccine-induced specific antibody responses and vaccine-induced nonspecific autoantibody responses in healthy older women.

The effect of aging on human humoral immunity was investigated by studying in vivo the relationship between influenza specific antibody responses and nonspecific vaccine-induced autoantibody responses in 32 independent, well-nourished older women volunteers (mean age 86 yr, range 74-97) and 23 young women volunteers (mean age 34 yr, range 23-46). Anti-influenza A/Taiwan/1/86(H1N1) antibody titers were determined by a hemagglutination inhibition test (HI-test), and serum anti-dsDNA antibodies were measured by ELISA prior to, 15, and 30 days after influenza vaccination. The mean postvaccination fold increase (FI) of the anti-influenza antibody response was significantly lower in elderly individuals as compared to younger individuals.

Immunohistochemical detection of chlamydiae in formalin-fixed tissue sections: comparison of a monoclonal antibody with yolk derived antibodies (IgY).

Immunohistological detection of chlamydiae in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections of various organs from several species is described. In a retrospective study, two antisera, a commercially available monoclonal murine antibody (IgMur) and vitelline immunoglobulins (IgY), extracted from the egg yolk of immunized hens, were compared and tested for their applicability under routine condition. Both antisera were applied to tissues from which chlamydiae had been isolated or in which the presence of chlamydiae had been suspected in specially stained sections.

Isolation of swine-like influenza A(H1N1) viruses from man in Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were isolated from two people in Switzerland and one in the Netherlands in early 1986. In haemagglutination-inhibition and neuraminidase-inhibition assays, the three viruses were closely related to one another and to the A/New Jersey/8/76 strain. The Swiss patients showed only mild symptoms, whereas the Dutch patient suffered from severe pneumonia.