Comparison of intuitive versus systematic strategies for aetiological diagnosis of pericardial effusion.

In an attempt to elucidate better the various aetiologies of pericardial effusion, we developed a diagnostic protocol that incorporated a battery of systematic tests including blood cultures, throat swab cultures and serological tests for various infectious agents and estimation of serum antinuclear antibodies and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone. Over a 2-y period ending May 2000, we evaluated prospectively and diagnostic usefulness of our strategy in a cohort (n = 136) of patients with pericardial effusion treated at Hospital Timone (HT), Marseille. We compared our findings with those observed in a retrospectively (May 1998-May 2000) drawn cohort (n = 127) of patients treated at Hospital Louis Pradel (HLP), Lyon and in which the laboratory investigation towards establishing an aetiological diagnosis was undertaken intuitively.

Cardiac valves in patients with Whipple endocarditis: microbiological, molecular, quantitative histologic, and immunohistochemical studies of 5 patients.

The pathological features of Whipple endocarditis, which is caused by Tropheryma whipplei, were histologically evaluated in cardiac valves from 5 patients. We used quantitative image analysis to compare the valvular fibrosis, calcifications, vegetations, inflammation, and vascularization due to Whipple endocarditis with those due to non-Whipple endocarditis and degenerative valves. We also studied the presence of T.

Mycoplasma endocarditis: two case reports and a review.

We describe 2 patients with endocarditis for whom blood cultures and cardiac valve cultures were repeatedly sterile. Broad-range eubacterial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification performed on cardiac valve specimens from these 2 patients detected DNA of Mycoplasma hominis, for one patient, and of Ureaplasma parvum, for the other patient. Three other cases of infective endocarditis caused by mycoplasmas were identified in the literature.

Neutralization of Staphylococcus aureus Panton Valentine leukocidin by intravenous immunoglobulin in vitro.

Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) may be responsible for pulmonary necrosis in necrotizing Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, a highly lethal infection. Commercial intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) preparations containing antibodies against PVL might have therapeutic value in this setting, as an adjunct to antimicrobial chemotherapy. To test this possibility, we determined anti-PVL antibody titers in commercial IVIg and the capacity of IVIg to prevent the cytopathic effects of PVL in vitro.

Culture of Tropheryma whipplei from human samples: a 3-year experience (1999 to 2002).

The culture of Tropheryma whipplei, the bacterium responsible for Whipple's disease, has been established only recently. Our objective is to describe, based on our experience, the culture of T. whipplei in HEL cells detected by immunofluorescence staining.