Age-dependent nasal immune responses in non-hospitalized bronchiolitis children.

Bronchiolitis in children is associated with significant rates of morbidity and mortality. Many studies have been performed using samples from hospitalized bronchiolitis patients, but little is known about the immunological responses from infants suffering from mild/moderate bronchiolitis that do not require hospitalization. We have studied a collection of nasal lavage fluid (NLF) samples from outpatient bronchiolitis children as a novel strategy to unravel local humoral and cellular responses, which are not fully characterized.

Tuberculosis recurrences: reinfection plays a role in a population whose clinical/epidemiological characteristics do not favor reinfection.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) recurrences can be due to either reactivation by the same strain (standard assumption) or reinfection by a new strain. Reinfection has mainly been studied in selected populations with a high risk of reexposure to TB. Our aim was to analyze the role of reinfection in TB recurrences in unselected populations, without the clinical/epidemiological circumstances that favor the involvement of a new different strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the recurrence.

Extra-abdominal infections due to Gemella species.

Objectives: To understand the role of Gemella species as a pathogen causing extra-abdominal infections in the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón.

Materials And Methods: Between 1994 and 1998, one or more isolates of Gemella sp. were found in 128 patients.

Differential characteristics of HIV-infected penitentiary patients and HIV-infected community patients.

Purpose: To identify particular characteristics of HIV+ patients from correctional facilities (CF) compared with an HIV+ population from the community to better detect variables for intervention.

Method: In our hospital, HIV+ patients are admitted to an infectious diseases ward (IDW) when they come from the community or to a penitentiary unit (PU) when they are transferred from CF. We retrospectively reviewed admissions of those patients in both areas during 1999.