The review of imported visceral leishmaniosis in the Czech Republic.

Background: From the late 1950s through 2000, a total of 8 cases of imported visceral leishmaniosis (VL) were registered in the Czech republic.

Objectives: The authors were made to point to the issue of imported VL by the fact 3 cases of this disease (imported from East Africa, Croatia, and southern Italy) were reported in 1999, plus another one (again imported from Croatia) in 2000.

Methods: The case reports of 4 cases of imported VL are presented.

[Clinical picture and treatment of alveococcosis].

A brief account of the clinical picture and treatment of alveococcosis which is the most serious parasitic disease in Central Europe is presented. Early diagnosis, surgical intervention and long-term chemotherapy considerably improved the prognosis of the disease recently.

[Cysticercosis in the Czech Republic].

The authors report 10 cases of cysticercosis registered by the National Reference Laboratory for tissue helminthiasis. Six Czech citizens and four foreigners contracted the disease. Four of 6 Czech citizens were contaminated abroad.

Trachoma, an imported disease.

The authors review the incidence of trachoma in the Czech Republic during the last 20 years. Trachoma has become almost exclusively an imported disease. In 1989-1990 the authors treated 34 foreign nationals with imported trachoma at the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Prague.

[Acute hemorrhagic viral conjunctivitis].

Two cases of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis are described, in which the enterovirus Coxsackie 24 was found by serological examination to be the etiological agent. The virus was important from Nigeria. The patients suffered by the acute hemorrhagic keratoconjuntivitis with transient iritic irritation without the systemic symptoms.

[Cryptosporidium species in persons with HIV infection].

Oocysts of Cryptosporidium sp. were detected in the faeces of 65 subjects with the HIV virus, using the concentrating flotation method in a sugar solution and differential staining with methyl violet. In positive cases (a total of 16 subjects) continuous as well as intermittent excretion of oocysts in faeces was recorded, the longest excretion period being up to 15 months.

[Larval stages of the filaria Mansonella (Dipetalonema) perstans in a student from Africa].

Microfilariae were found in blood samples of a 32 year-old-student from Guinea-Bissau (Africa). Based on parasite morphology as well as some other features the microfilariae were identified as Mansonella perstans. The course of infection was asymptomatic (except for slight urticarial skin lesions).

Serological diagnostics of imported malaria in Czechoslovakia.

Two serologic techniques for malaria detection were compared in this study; the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test used in 214 persons (38 Czechoslovak citizens returning from visits to tropical countries and 176 foreign visitors arriving to Czechoslovakia from areas endemic for malaria) and the indirect hemagglutination (IHA) test employed in 125 persons (29 Czechoslovak citizens and 96 foreigners). Comparisons revealed poor correlation between the IFA test and IHA test data. Of the two tests the IFA test appeared to be distinctly more reliable, more sensitive and more specific, the IHA test turned out to yield both false positive and false negative results.

A case of human cryptosporidiosis in Czechoslovakia.

A case of human cryptosporidiosis, the first one reported in Czechoslovakia, is described. The disease was diagnosed by the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in the feces. The methods used independently to identify oocysts were the fecal flotation technique employing a saturated solution of sucrose and the microscopic examination of stained fecal smears.