A therapeutic trial of the use of penicillin V or erythromycin with or without rifampin in the treatment of psoriasis.

Background: After the publication of an uncontrolled trial of nine patients with streptococcus-associated psoriasis who appeared to benefit from a course of oral penicillin or erythromycin with the addition of rifampin in the last 5 days, we wished to confirm or refute the validity of this observation.

Objective: Our purpose was to confirm the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of streptococcus-associated psoriasis.

Methods: Twenty patients were placed randomly into two groups.

Use of a Chinese hamster ovary cell cytotoxicity assay for the rapid diagnosis of pertussis.

A cytotoxicity assay with Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) capable of detecting 750 pg of pertussis toxin was assessed for use as a rapid test for the diagnosis of pertussis and compared with direct immunofluorescence (DFA). With pure bacterial cultures and simulated clinical specimens, the CHO assay detected as few as two colonies of Bordetella pertussis; no cytotoxicity occurred with other respiratory tract microorganisms. Next, nasopharyngeal aspirate secretions and nasopharyngeal cultures harvested after 72 h of incubation from 57 culture-positive and 201 culture-negative patients were examined.

Evaluation of culture, immunofluorescence, and serology for the diagnosis of pertussis.

Nasopharyngeal culture, direct immunofluorescence, and serology of acute-phase and paired serum specimens were compared for the laboratory diagnosis of infections due to Bordetella pertussis in a community-based pediatric population with both high vaccine usage and high pertussis incidence. In 77 (37%) of 210 patients evaluated, one or more tests were positive for pertussis. A clinical illness compatible with pertussis was present in 52 (71%) of 73 pertussis test-positive and 42 (35%) of 119 test-negative patients (P less than 0.

Evaluation of a rapid method for the detection of vaginal group B streptococci in women in labor.

Group B streptococci infection is an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Effective therapeutic intervention has been prevented to date by our inability to rapidly detect vaginal colonization. Material obtained from the lower vagina of 414 women in labor was cultured, incubated in modified Islam serum starch broth and observed on the ward for the production of orange carotenoid pigment specific for group B streptococci.

The latex agglutination test versus counterimmunoelectrophoresis for rapid diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.

A modified latex agglutination (LA) test was compared with Gram-staining and counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) for the rapid detection in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of antigen to Haemophilus influenzae type b, Neisseria meningitidis groups A, B and C, Escherichia coli K1, Streptococcus pneumoniae and group B streptococci, seven frequent causes of bacterial meningitis in children. Of 50 CSF samples from patients with culture-proven bacterial meningitis 90% were correctly shown by the LA test to contain antigen of the responsible organism. Gram-staining revealed organisms in 80% of 45 of these samples.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of pertussis immunoglobulin A in nasopharyngeal secretions as an indicator of recent infection.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for detection of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody to Bordetella pertussis (PsIgA) in nasopharyngeal secretions as an indicator of recent infection. Secretion specimens submitted for pertussis culture were examined for PsIgA by this technique. Of 348 specimens tested, B.

Prevention of group-B beta-haemolytic streptococcal septicaemia in low-birth-weight neonates by penicillin administered within two hours of birth.

Between January, 1969, and May, 1974, 11 of 1208 low-birth-weight infants had early onset group-B streptococcal septicaemia. All 11 infants were of less than 35 weeks gestational age and 9 presented with the clinical and radiological signs of idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome. 10 died.

Characteristics of a strain of Clostridium carnis causing septicaemia in a young infant.

Clostridium carnis is a species which is only rarely isolated from man or animals and is occasionally found in the soil. This paper is an account of a single isolate found in blood cultures obtained from an 8-week-old boy who was suffering from gastroenteritis.

Observations on group-F streptococci from human sources.

In a 4-year study, 22 strains of group-F streptococci were isolated from children and puerperal women. All were isolated in mixed culture but were associated with sepsis or other pathological conditions. It appears that this organism may be an opportunistic pathogen and that its habitats include the gastrointestinal tract and the vagina as well as the throat.

Hemophilus parainfluenzae meningitis.

Although Hemophilus influenzae is a common cause of meningitis, other members of the Hemophilus genus are rarely the infecting organism. Of 56 cases of meningitis due to Hemophilus species obseved at one hospital in the period 1970-74, 53 were due to H. influenzae and 3 to H.

A CRITICAL STUDY OF IMMUNOLOGICAL METHODS FOR PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS.

Immunological methods of pregnancy diagnosis using both tanned red cell and latex particles are compared in a series of women (up to the fourteenth week of gestation) and also in negative controls. The tanned red cell test showed slightly more accurate and sensitive results throughout the trial. In 31 samples also submitted for the Hogben test the immunological test showed marginal superiority.

DISSEMINATED HERPES SIMPLEX IN NEWBORN INFANTS.

Six cases of disseminated herpes simplex virus infection in newborn infants have been collected. The morbid anatomical and histological findings are described for the various tissues of the body. For the first time, the typical lesions were found in the lung.