[Association of bacterial endocarditis and alcoholic cirrhosis in 9 patients].

Ten cases of bacterial endocarditis were observed in cirrhotic patients. In 7 cases, endocarditis was due to group D Streptococcus, 5 of which were Streptococcus D. bovis.

Late prosthetic valve endocarditis. Bacteriological findings and prognosis in 29 cases.

Of 296 incidences of infectious endocarditis seen between 1971 and 1980, 29 cases of late prosthetic valve endocarditis (10%) occurred in 26 patients who had undergone valve replacement more than two months previously. The prosthesis was mitral in 8 cases, aortic in 9 cases, and multiple in 12 cases. The clinical picture consistently associated fever together with a regurgitation murmur in 12 cases (41%), a splenomegaly in 7 cases, a neurologic accident in 13 cases and other signs of endocarditis in 10 cases.

[Infectious arteriopathies].

After reviewing the physiopathology, the authors report the principal features of infectious arterial disease observed in a department of infectious diseases. Excluding iatrogenic arteritis, particularly after vascular surgery, and some vasculitis in which an infectious agent may play a role, only the classical but now rare causes are described: rickettsial disease, syphilis and typhoid. The most commonly observed problem at present is infectious aneurysms: primary aneurysms secondary to atherosclerosis in which salmonella is by far the predominant organism, before the staphylococci and streptococci.

[Extensive cellulitis during chicken-pox. Six causes (author's transl)].

The authors report 6 cases of extensive cellulitis, in 6 children with chicken-pox. This is a rare complication during this disease. If streptococcal etiology is not always proved, clinical aspect and the dramatic reponse to treatment by penicillin G, characterize this kind of complication.

[The rheumatism of acne conglobata (author's transl)].

The authors report a case of painful joint, para-articular and muscular involvement accompanying acne conglobata. Fifteen other cases of rheumatism associated with this very special type of acne have been reported. The patients affected are young men suffering from acne conglobata (severe form of acne characterised by its ulcerating course and the possibility of its being accompanied by systemic manifestations), who suddenly develop fever, an altered general state and assymetrical arthralgia involving mainly the large joints, accompanied by signs of muscular involvement.

[Acute purulent meningitis of traumatic origin. 16 cases].

The current frequency of road accidents leads to the necessity to seek a possible head injury in the past history of patients suffereing from acute purulent meningitis. This investigation must be all the more assiduous in the presence of a meningitis which is pneumococcal in origin and recurrent. Rhinorrhoea is a sign of primary importance.

[Indications and choice of antibacterial treatment in patients receiving immunosuppressive agents and antimitotic drugs (author's transl)].

Bacterial infections are the most common cause of death in patients with malignant blood diseases. After recalling the main bacteria responsible and the factors which predispose patients to infection, the authors consider various forms of treatment, including antibiotic therapy, transfusions of white blood cells, gammaglobulins, etc., and prophlyactic measures, such as antibiotics by mouth, isolation in a sterile ward, etc.