Human T cell lymphotropic virus type I infection among female sex workers in Peru.

Four hundred female sex workers attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Lima, Peru, were interviewed for demographic information and medical, contraceptive, and sexual practice histories. Cervical cultures were done for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis, and serum was tested for antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus, human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), Treponema pallidum, C. trachomatis, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), and Haemophilus ducreyi.

Respiratory disease among military personnel in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether respiratory disease due to crowded living conditions and high levels of suspended and blowing sand had a major adverse impact on US military personnel during Operation Desert Shield.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was administered to 2598 combat troops stationed in Northeast Saudi Arabia for a mean of 102 days. Samples of surface sand from seven different locations were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction.

Prevalence of antibody to the variant repeat of the circumsporozoite protein of Plasmodium vivax in Peru.

Individuals living in a malaria-endemic area in northern Peru were found to have antibodies to the variant repeat sequence of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of Plasmodium vivax. The presence of IgG antibody to the predominant repeat sequence GDRAA/DGPA represented by the recombinant protein NS1(81) V20 (V20), and the variant repeat sequence ANGAGNQPG contained in the synthetic peptide Pvk247, was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. IgG antibodies to the repeats were present in 78 (26%) of 298 serum samples; 56% of the positive serum samples had antibodies to V20 and 60% had antibodies to Pvk247.

Acute sporadic hepatitis E in Sudanese children: analysis based on a new western blot assay.

A newly developed Western blot assay for antibody to hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV) was used to evaluate 39 cases of acute pediatric hepatitis and 39 control patients in Khartoum, Sudan. The mean age of cases was 6.5 years (range, 2-14); 64% were male.

[Outbreak of paratyphoid fever among Peruvian naval personnel].

A retrospective epidemiological study was conducted in connection with an outbreak of paratyphoid fever at a Peruvian naval installation in Callao. The study sought to determine the magnitude of the outbreak, the source of infection, the attack rates, the persistence of bacilli excretion, and the clinical picture of the disease. The source of Salmonella paratyphi B infection had been a meal of chicken and rice served to around 400 members of the naval police.

Antibody response to the circumsporozoite protein of Plasmodium vivax in naturally infected humans.

The circumsporozoite (CS) protein of Plasmodium vivax consists of a central repeat region flanked by highly conserved non-repeat regions. Serum samples from 33 individuals with naturally acquired infections of P. vivax were tested for antibodies to four antigens representing the vivax CS protein.

Hepatitis B in a highly active prostitute population: evidence for a low risk of chronic antigenemia.

The epidemiology of hepatitis B in female prostitutes was studied in a cross-sectional survey of 467 prostitutes and 510 control prenatal clinic patients from Lima and Iquitos, Peru. Prostitutes reported a mean of 8.8 +/- 6.