Giornale di batteriologia, virologia ed immunologia最新文献

HCMV infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality following kidney transplantation. Clinical diagnosis is difficult, and rapid and sensitive diagnostic methods are needed since antiviral therapy is available. One hundred-forty-five consecutive kidney-transplanted patients were studied during a period of three months after transplantation. For laboratory diagnosis of HCMV infection, we looked for the presence of pp-65 antigen in polymorphonuclear leukocytes, HCMV-DNA and IgM. Demonstration of HCMV pp-65 antigen by immunofluorescence and HCMV DNA by PCR in leukocytes were efficient methods for early diagnosis of infection.

The AA have isolated a new serovar of Genus Salmonella S.V 13.22:r:-, from a cockroach Periplaneta Americana, captured near the municipal slaughterhouse of Messina and near the Faculty of Veterinary Science. This fifth original report fift in the vast subject of the environmental pollution, where the cockroaches, as widely documented, unwind a primary importance part as spreader of Salmonella, too.

The authors made some diagnostic investigation into a serious case of diarrhoea observed in an infant in the pediatric ward of the University hospital of Messina (Sicily). They brought into evidence some of the causes of the world wide spread of salmonella infection, in particular the spread of new serum-types, such as S. mbandaka, which was involved in this case.

The authors considered the microbiological and clinical aspects of the thoracic empyemas caused by anaerobic bacteria observed at the Ivrea-Castellamonte Hospital, Turin, over a period of 78 months. In this period 321 patients were subjected to thoracentesis in order to take samples of the pleural fluid (PF) which was in turn subjected to culture investigations. 31 patients (9.6%) had one or more cultures which were positive for bacterial growth. A good 12 patients (38.7%) had cultures which were positive for anaerobes alone or associated with aerobes. The average age of these patients (8 male, 4 female) was 62.5 years (range, 42 TO 84 Y.). Underlying diseases and predisposing conditions were as follows: malignancy (4 patients), neurological disorders (4p), severe hypoalbuminemia (5 p), bronchial obstruction (3 p), previous gastroenteric or chest surgery (3 p), diabetes mellitus (2 p), alcoholism (2 p), atherosclerosis (1 p), alveolar hypoventilation caused by chest wall disorder (1 p). The etiopathogenesis of the empyema was as follows; postpneumonic, 5 cases (41.7%); postsurgical, 4 cases (33.3%); esophageal fistula, 1 case (8.3%); idiopathic, 2 cases (16.7%). In 5 cases (441.7%) empyema developed in hospital, in 7 cases (58.3%) in community. Forty-one percent of the empyemas were described as foul-smelling. The anaerobic bacteria most frequently isolated were Bacteroides spp, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Peptostreptococci in this order. Thoracentesis was performed on 6 patients, chest tube drainage was required in 6, and antibiotics were administered to all the patients. Length of Hospitalization averaged 33>2 days. Three patients (30%) died. These patients died during the same hospitalization period while empyema was an active problem.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bacteria were the first living beings to appear on our planet: the most ancient fossils available, all of them were procaryotic microorganisms, developed 4, 5 billion years ago. The paleomicrobiological studies made on that kind of fossils, which are by now several hundreds in each continent, proved bacteria to have constantly evolved and to have originated the modern Eubacteria as well as the Archebacteria and the Cianobacteria. These last appeared about 2 billion years ago and, having acquired the oxygen-type photosynthesis, have caused the formation of a large amount of organic material, afterwards used by the younger organisms, and have modified the atmosphere introducing oxygen in it and conditioning in this way the other living being's evolution. From Bacteriaceae and Cyanobacteria derive the eucaryotic microorganisms (algae, fungi, protozoa, mould) and, little by little, all the other organisms both vegetable and animal subjected to the evolutionary pressures. Nevertheless bacteria undergo more frequently than all the others the evolution law because of their short reproductive time; this is the reason why bacteria are favourite compared with the other organisms. In fact each species is subjected to a genetic mutation every 10(5)/10(6) generations: in the vegetables and animals the consequences of a genetic mutation will be evident after millennia whereas in the bacteria the mutation happens in a short time. We ourselves have witnessed the revolution which took place in the bacteria populations during the last half century when numerous antibiotic-resistant strains appeared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alpha Interferon showed effective in the treatment of chronic type C hepatitis, but a consensus has not been reached about the selection of patients and therapy schedules so far. We treated 36 patients with chronic type C hepatitis in the outpatient ward of the 1st Infectious Diseases Dept., "Amedeo di Savoia" Hospital, Torino (Head of Dept.: Prof. W. Grillone) in the period 1990-1992. Alpha IFN 1-6 MU thrice weekly for 6-12 months was used. The average follow up period after therapy was 8.5 months. Four patients dropped out during the treatment period. The clinical response was evaluated using serum transaminases: 9 patients showed a full response, 9 patients had a hepatitis relapse after stopping the treatment, 6 patients had a partial response, and 9 were treatment failures. A better response was observed in young patients, drug addicts, with chronic persistent hepatitis and high transaminases levels. Side effects of the treatment were very frequent, but usually short lasting, and seldom responsible for dropping out.

The authors describe briefly the protocol for isolating a new serovar of Salmonella from the stools and the sand of a cage-shield of a python (Python regius (Shaw, 1802), kept as pet animal by a family in Messina. Such a finding is considered within the complex and wide investigation programme which we have been carrying out for years in our Institute of Veterinary Infectious Diseases, and within the problems rising from the Health and Hygiene field for the ever increasing diffusion of Enterobacteriaceae, by now limited to the ones collected and belonging to the Genus Salmonella.

NK Lymphocytes were first identified by their cytotoxic and cytolytic activity against tumor cells. However there is now increasing evidence that these cells are also mediators of natural resistance against viruses, fungi, protozoa and bacteria. The purpose of this review is to summarize the data on the antimicrobial activity of NK cells and to discuss the influence of corticoids and of other molecules interfering with innate resistance against pathogenic micro-organisms.

In this study the in vitro susceptibility of 1,009 Gram-positive strains isolated from 4,505 positive urocultures was evaluated towards the following chemotherapeutic agents: oxacillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, imipenem, cefalotin, cefotaxime, amikacin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, vancomycin, rifampicin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. The results indicate that vancomycin is the most active antibiotic against all the strains, including enterococci often involved in serious infections caused by invasive techniques.

The in vitro activity of imipenem against 3,496 Gram-negative strains isolated from 4,505 positive urocultures was determined. The effectiveness of imipenem was then compared with that of ampicillin, amoxycillin + clavulanic acid, ticarcillin, piperacillin, aztreonam, cefalotin , ceftazidime, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, trimethoprim + sulfamethoxazole. Imipenem was active against all isolates, including Pseudomonas spp. known to account for a large portion of nosocomial infections and resistance to antibacterial drugs.