The increasing threat of Rift Valley fever virus globalization: strategic guidance for protection and preparation.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) (Bunyavirales: Phlebovirus) is a prominent vector-borne zoonotic disease threat to global agriculture and public health. Risks of introduction into nonendemic regions are tied to changing climate regimes and other dynamic environmental factors that are becoming more prevalent, as well as virus evolutionary factors and human/animal movement. Endemic to the African continent, RVFV has caused large epizootics at the decadal scale since the early 20th century but has spread to the Arabian Peninsula and shows increasing patterns of interepizootic transmission on the annual scale.

Identifying Meningitis During an Anthrax Mass Casualty Incident: Systematic Review of Systemic Anthrax Since 1880.

Background: Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, is a potential bioterrorism agent. Anthrax meningitis is a common manifestation of B. anthracis infection, has high mortality, and requires more aggressive treatment than anthrax without meningitis.

Russian honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies: Acarapis woodi (Acari: Tarsonemidae) infestations and overwintering survival.

Honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), colonies infested by parasitic mites are more prone to suffer from a variety of stresses, including cold temperature. We evaluated the overwintering ability of candidate breeder lines of Russian honey bees, most of which are resistant to both Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman and Acarapis woodi (Rennie), during 1999-2001.

Orally administered cefpodoxime proxetil for treatment of uncomplicated gonococcal urethritis in males: a dose-response study.

An open-label, dose-response study of cefpodoxime proxetil (CPD), an expanded-spectrum cephalosporin, was conducted with 58 males with uncomplicated Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections with single doses of 600, 400, 200, 100, or 50 mg of CPD administered orally by tablet. CPD eradicated N. gonorrhoeae in all 50 evaluable patients (10 per group) at all doses studied.

Stroboscopic nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy of arterial blood flow.

NMR microscopy was used to obtain transverse flow profiles of arterial blood flow in the rat carotid artery at 33 microns resolution. The images were gated to the EKG and correspond to identified regions of diastole. The profiles show that flow is laminar during this part of the heart cycle.

Stroboscopic NMR microscopy of the carotid artery.

The non-invasive measurement of vascular dynamics and elasticity is critical in understanding haemodynamic conditions of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis. Although there are numerous invasive and in vitro techniques for such measurements, until now non-invasive methods have been limited. We have now obtained stroboscopic NMR images of the carotid arteries of 80-g rats.

Exchange transfusion in severe falciparum malaria.

Three cases of severe falciparum malaria with high parasitaemia, one of them complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulation, were treated with exchange transfusion in addition to conventional chemotherapy. All three made a good recovery. There are few previous reports of this treatment which deserves wider attention and further assessment.

Endotoxin in meningococcal infections.

26 children with meningococcal infections were studied to find out the relationaship between plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of endotoxin, the clinical outcome, the level of antigen in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid, and indices of complement activation and disseminated intravascular coagulation. No association was found between endotoxin levels and the other factors. A high cerebrospinal fluid antigen level in patients with meningitis was associated with a poor prognosis.

The management of penicillin resistant gonococcal urethritis in Northern Nigeria.

Forty-five men, with acute gonococcal urethritis, were treated with a single dose regime of Probenecid 1 gm and Procaine penicillin, 4.8 mega-units, yielding a cure in 97 per cent. Multiple antibiotic resistance was noted in 69 per cent of 28 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates, and of 19 isolates tested for precise penicillin sensitivity, 58 per cent were resistant to greater than 2 i.

Obstructive jaundice and portal vein calcification.

Two patients with extrahepatic portal vein obstruction are described in whom calcification within the thrombus was identified during investigation for obstructive jaundice. Evidence from percutaneous cholangiography in one, and endoscopic cannulation of the common bile duct in the other, supported the view that the common bile duct was being partially compressed by the calcified cavernoma.

Arsine toxicity aboard the Asiafreighter.

Eight sailors on board the Asiafreighter were exposed to arsine that had escaped from a cylinder in the cargo hold. Four suffered severe toxicity and within a few hours had developed fever, weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and haemoglobinuria. These patients had pronounced intravascular haemolysis, which in one patient was complete.