[When should a stool culture be done in adults with nosocomial diarrhea?].

Objective: To assess the diagnostic efficacy, cost and possible corrective measure of the indications for routine stool cultures in nosocomial diarrhoea in adults.

Methods: A retrospective study over a 10-month period of 660 standard stool cultures, 256 of which were conducted after the 3rd day of hospitalisation, conducted in 528 patients at the hospital centre in Pau.

Results: The positivity rate of the stool cultures was of 26/336 patients (7.

[Vibrio vulnificus septicemia transmitted through a wound caused by a crustacea].

Introduction: Vibrio vulnificus proliferates during the summer in salt water where it infects the crustaceans. Expression of its pathogenicity depends on the underlying condition and mode of contamination.

Observation: A 65 year-old man presented with a Vibrio vulnificus septicaemia of cutaneous origin, transmitted when he cut himself with a crawfish.

Assisted reproduction in HIV-1-serodifferent couples: the need for viral validation of processed semen.

Background: Many HIV-infected men and women have a strong desire for a child. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are an option for HIV-serodifferent couples to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from an infected man to the woman. Potential HIV contamination of selected spermatozoa after semen processing is an important issue in this context.

Detection and quantification of HIV-1 in semen: identification of a subpopulation of men at high potential risk of viral sexual transmission.

Background: To assess HIV burden in both acellular and cellular fractions of semen in men with different levels of blood plasma HIV RNA by a cross-sectional study.

Patients: Fifty-two HIV-1-seropositive men (21 receiving antiretroviral therapy) with CD4 cell counts ranging from 1 to 1170 x 10(6)/l.

Methods: Semen was separated into seminal plasma and fractions enriched in motile spermatozoa or non-spermatozoal cells.

Detection of HIV-1 in seminal plasma and seminal cells of HIV-1 seropositive men.

It is of critical importance to precisely understand the modalities of HIV presence in semen, especially with regard to procreation. In this study, paired blood and semen samples from 31 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-positive men were assessed for cell-free HIV-RNA load in blood plasma (BP) and seminal plasma (SP), and for detection of HIV by culture, PCR and RT-PCR in semen cellular fractions separated by centrifugation on Percoll gradient. HIV-RNA was detected in 94% of BP and 84% of SP samples.

Evaluation of clinical case definitions of influenza: detailed investigation of patients during the 1995-1996 epidemic in France.

Using clinical predictors, we evaluated clinical case definitions of influenza during the 1995-1996 outbreak in France. Thirty-five general practitioners collected virological specimens and clinical data. Predictors of influenza virus infection were selected with logistic regression models.

Field investigation of influenza vaccine effectiveness on morbidity.

Our objective was to evaluate influenza vaccine effectiveness during an influenza epidemic by means of a matched case-control study. The study was performed by 35 general practitioners who collected specimens for influenza virus testing from 610 patients who consulted for infectious syndrome: 168 (28%) were influenza-positive. Two designs were used for selecting controls to take into account the high incidence-rate of influenza-like illness and the various possible protective effects of the vaccine.

Longitudinal study of plasma HIV-1 RNA concentrations during the asymptomatic stage of HIV infection measured using AMPLICOR HIV monitor and NASBA HIV-1 RNA QT tests. ACCTES Association.

The predictive value of two methods for measuring HIV RNA concentration in plasma was assessed in relation to CD4 lymphocyte counts during the asymptomatic period of infection. The design was a retrospective longitudinal case-control study for a mean period of 60 months involving 20 asymptomatic patients included in the French National prospective survey. The CD4 counts in these patients during the last 36 months of the study were stable (non-progressors) or declined (progressors).

Influenza and influenza-like illness in general practice: drawing lessons for surveillance from a pilot study in Paris, France.

Background: There are two types of inflenza surveillance techniques: qualitative laboratory-based surveillance and quantitative medical practice-based surveillance. The former is of great importance in isolating new strains of the virus, which helps in the decision-making process concerning the composition of the vaccine, and the latter provides estimates of morbidity, mortality or economic impact as a result of infection from the influenza virus. Rapid methods such as immunoflourescence (IF) or immunocapture assays (ICA) are now available for diagnosis of influenza infections.