An open, randomized, phase III clinical trial of mefloquine and of quinine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in the treatment of symptomatic falciparum malaria in Brazil.

The clinical and parasitological response of adult male patients to mefloquine and to a combination of quinine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine during the treatment of falciparum malaria was compared. These patients were from an area in Brazil where Plasmodium falciparum is showing increasing resistance to quinine and to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. The drugs were administered to 100 patients (50 in each group), based on a randomized study design.

The chemotherapy of onchocerciasis V. A standard method for the determination of microfilarial density in skin snips.

The microfilarial density in 400 skin snips from 100 patients was determined using the standard technique of the Onchocerciasis Chemotherapeutic Research Centre (OCRC method), the method used by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP method), and also after collagenase digestion. The OCRC method was fairly consistent and detected 84% of the total microfilariae. The OCP method gave a density which was consistently 20% less than the OCRC method, indicating that the increase in weight in skin snips following incubation in saline was fairly predictable.

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in Africa. 1. Isolation and identification.

In tropical and subtropical countries, the presence of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria may invalidate case-finding programmes; experience has shown that many of the acid-fast bacilli discovered on examination of sputum specimens are non-tuberculosis mycobacteria-either photochromogens, scotochromogens, unpigmented or rapid growers (Groups I to IV, respectively, of Runyon's classification) or saprophytes.Studies have recently been undertaken to determine the frequency of various types of non-tuberculosis strains in different parts of Africa. This paper describes the first of these studies, devoted to the isolation and identification of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria from seven countries.

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in Africa. 3. Formamidase activity--its evaluation and practical application.

The third study in a series on the prevalence of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in Africa is devoted to the investigation of the formamidase activity of 288 cultures of mycobacteria, already typed by a battery of standard tests as pathogenic or atypical (184 strains) and saprophytic (104 strains). Of the latter, 96 (92.3%) were formamidase-positive, as compared with only 6 (3.