Bollettino dell'Istituto sieroterapico milanese最新文献

335 human sera of western Sicily were examined with an ELISA method for the prevalence of antibodies anti-Toxocara canis. The results (13% pos. in psychiatric patients,9.4% in farmers, 1.9% in children and 1.2% in blood donors) seem to indicate a strong correlation between style of life and infestation risk.

The in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of staphylococci isolated in two different communities, Camiri and Javillo, of the Santa Cruz region in south-eastern Bolivia was tested by the agar diffusion technique and by a micro dilution susceptibility test to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations. Staphylococcal strains isolated from hospital staff of the Camiri Hospital were compared to that isolated from healthy people of Javillo, a very small community isolated in the jungle. In the Camiri Hospital, staphylococci showed a high prevalence of penicillin resistance, 100% for S. aureus strains and 73.5% for coagulase-negative staphylococci. Among coagulase-negative strains we found a high rate of multiresistant strains, mainly to ampicillin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. In the rural population of Javillo we found staphylococcal strains highly susceptible to all the antibiotics tested.

Author's report a case of visceral amebiasis in a 26 year old woman, clinically characterized by pericarditis, without any other symptoms related to organs usually interested in such disease. It was possible to reach an etiological diagnosis by indirect hemagglutination assay. The successful treatment with metronidazole confirmed the etiology "ex adjuvantibus".

A peptide (called A-15) composed of 15 amino acids of the gp41 (from position 599 to position 613 of the sequence encoded by the env gene) of HIV-1 has been used as an antigen to search for antibodies in 347 sera of at-risk for HIV-1 infection subjects. The purpose was of comparing the prevalence of these antibodies with that of HIV-1 total EIA antibodies and HIV-1 immunoblotting antibodies. Assuming immunoblotting test as reference test for detecting a HIV-1 infection, the antibodies against peptide A-15 show the same sensitivity and specificity when compared with other HIV-1 total EIA antibodies tests.

In four girls, selected during three years of ambulatory observations, the evolution of repeated upper respiratory tract infection events, under the immunologic aspect, has been studied. The group of girls, with age between 13 and 16 years, practically formed a small casuistry, as an experimental recruitment. With the aim to find the causes of the told infectious events, firstly were checked numerous immune functions, successively were evaluated only the ones that had resulted altered (percentage number of "NK" cells, complement "C3" fraction and "T4" lymphocytes). Particularly significative variations, toward diminution, of the "NK" cells number related to the most compelling school attendance periods were recognized. What observed could let hypothesize that stress and emotions , correlated to scholastic events negatively influence some immune functions, peculiarly the number of "NK" cells. To the lowering of these cells could correspond a facilitation and higher frequency of upper respiratory tract infections (with pharynx as an epicenter), likely by viral aetiology. The subsequent vicarious and/or compensatory intervention by other immune functions could allow, however, the spontaneous recovery, without chemotherapeutic recourse, of the infectious events, that could arise with higher frequency but, most likely, with lower seriousness than could happen when "NK" cells normally act.

We have evaluated several commercial monoclonal antibodies, specific for human IgG subclasses, for their reactivity in an ELISA test for the characterization of subclasses of IgG anti- Salmonella typhi lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antibodies. Four monoclonals, each specific for a single IgG subclass, were chosen for their good reactivity. In 19 typhoid and non-typhoid serum samples, the sum of the ELISA values obtained with the four subclass-specific monoclonals was highly correlated with the ELISA values obtained with a monoclonal anti-total IgG. Moreover, there was no competition among the various IgG subclasses of anti-LPS antibodies. These data indicate that the subclass distribution of IgG anti-LPS antibodies, calculated on the basis of ELISA values in the subclass-specific assays, is likely to reflect the actual distribution of the different subclasses in whole serum. Different subclass patterns of IgG anti-LPS antibodies were observed in serum samples from 11 patients with typhoid fever, with IgG1 and IgG2 being the most represented subclasses. The ELISA method described here will be useful to elucidate the factors that influence the anti-LPS subclass profile during the humoral immune response to Salmonella typhi.

During the last eighteen years (1970-1987) at the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the University of Pavia, Ospedale Policlinico S. Matteo, IRCCS, Pavia (referral Center for hepatitis in our district: 502534 inhabitants) we observed 4238 patients (2706 M = 63.8%; 1532 F = 36.2%) admitted with presumptive diagnosis of hepatitis. The male to female sex ratio was 1.78 and average age was 38 (1-90) years. Acute viral hepatitis was diagnosed in 3238 patients (76.4%), 1960 of which were males (60.5%) and 1278 (39.5%) females, with an average age of 35 (1-88) years. The possible route of transmission was: drug addition in 487 patients (15%), blood transfusion in 464 (14.3%), other (sexual, professional, familiar) in 332 (10.3%), unknown in 1955 (60.4%). Chronic hepatitis (CH) was diagnosed according to the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and to the International Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL) in 848 patients (20%), 704 M(83%) and 144 F (17%) with an average age of 48 (2-90) years. 463 patients (54.5%) were biopsied during admission, 385 (45.5%) received definitive diagnosis by clinical and previous histologic records. CAH was found in 268 (57.9%), CPH in 161 (34.8%) and CLH in 20 (4.3%) patients. Other liver diseases (steatosis, cirrhosis, HCC) were identified in 152 subjects (3%). The prevalence of A, B, NANB and Delta hepatitis virus and HI virus in the acute disease was respectively of 5.4%, 54.8%, 33.9%, 0.28% and 0.77%. In CH the HBV aetiology accounted for 49.1%, NANB virus for 44.5%, co/super infection with HDV for 15%. Among factors involved in pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis we focused attention on drug addition which was found in 129 (28.7%) patients, blood transfusion in 70 (15.6%), HIV infection in 35 of 166 (21.1%). The data still demonstrate the high prevalence of HBV aetiology of CH and existence of co-factors in the pathogenesis of chronicity. The lack of markers for NANB infection persists as the main problem in the diagnosis of liver disease. This work was supported by grant 40% from M.P.I.: "Epatiti virali acute e croniche"....

The Authors describe a scrub typhus case imported from Indo-China and observed in Milan, which is probably the first case reported in Italy. The patient, on holiday journey, exposed herself unwisely to the danger of catching the infection. The diagnosis was based on clinical grounds and Weil-Felix reaction. The problems of the diagnosis reliability and of the imported diseases are briefly discussed as well.

We studied gamma interferon (IFN) production in vitro by lymphocytes from 5 patients with AIDS and 2 with advanced AIDS-related complex (ARC) before and during treatment with r-alpha 2a IFN at low doses, for up to 12 months. Patients were divided in responders (three) and non responders according to clinical data after six months of treatment. No immunological parameter was predictive of the clinical results. We found that subpopulations of T lymphocytes and lymphoproliferative response were not significantly modified in responders, while severely decreased in non responder patients. In 5/7 cases we observed a small but significant increase of gamma IFN production after six months of therapy, which rose to normal values after 12 months in responders.