Screening of chronic renal failure patients for cytomegalovirus antibodies before and after hemodialysis

60 chronic renal failure patients have been screened for the presence of Ig[G] and Ig[M] cytomegalovirus [CMV] antibodies, before and after hemodialysis using the ELISA test. Before deciding hemodialysis as a treatment for these patients [predialysis], 45 patients [75%] were seropositive for CMV Ig[G] antibodies, while only 3 patients [5%] were seropositive for CMV Ig[M] antibodies which may be due to recent infection before starting diaIysis. After patients have been on the hemodialysis treatment, 10 of them [16.6%] proved seropositive for CMV Ig[M] antibodies, so 7 cases developed these antibodies post-dialysis in addition to the already 3 positive pre-dialysis cases previously recorded. Four patients of the 60 studied cases [6.6%] were seropositive only for CMV Ig[G] antibodies before hemodialysis treatment, and became positive for CMV Ig[M] after dialysis, which may indicate either reactivation of endogenous CMV infection or development of a new recent Infection. These results mean, in a way, that screening of patients before undergoing hemodialysis is of importance to lower the incidence of machine or blood transfusion transmitted CMV infection. Also pre and post dialysis serum sampling for CMV Ig[M] antibodies is essential for discrimination between recent infection and or reactivation of endogenous infection

Assay of viral antibodies in school children by using saliva samples

Saliva was collected from 234 healthy school children aged from 6 to 12 years to be tested for IgG and IgA antibodies to hepatitis A virus [HAV], rubella, measles, mumps and herpes type I viruses. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] to detect antiviral antibodies by immunoglobulin [Ig] class capture was done. These children who had saliva IgG were 129 [anti-HAV]; 105 [anti-rubella]; 101 [anti-measles]; 66 [anti-mumps] and 56 [anti-herpes]. While those children who had in their saliva virus specific IgA were 114 [anti-HAV]; 82 [anti-rubella]; 78 [anti-measles]; 49 [anti-mumps] and 48 [anti-herpes]. Antiviral antibodies in the 6-12 year age group reflect the efficiency of vaccination and herd immunity through natural infection during childhood. On the basis of the percent positive anti-viral IgG or IgA in saliva detected in this study these immune responses are far from optimum

Comparison of microscopy and culture for diagnosis of gonorrhea in males

The urogenital discharge of 48 male, suffering of pain during intercourse, burning sensation on micturition, morning drop or continuous discharge, was investigated by gramstained smear and culture on Barts modified Thayer Martin medium and Bacto modified chocholate agar medium. Drug sensitivity of the gonococcal isolates were determined. Forty six cases [96%] were positive for N. gonorrhoea by microscopy and 41 [85%] were positive by culture. The Bacto modified Thayer Martin medium gave more positive results than the Barts chocholate agar medium [41 and 37 positive cultures respectively]. The microscopy proved to be more sensitive but less specific than culture. The gonococcal isolates showed the highest sensitivity for seasomycin [95%], cephlex [90%] and erythromycin [83%], least sensitivity for cotrimoxazole [24%], lincomycin [26%] and cloxacillin [29%] and an intermediate sensitivity [73% and 63%] for penicillin G and tetracycline respectively. The examination of gram-stained smear of uretheral discharge of suspected gonorrhoea is a rapid, cheap and highly sensitive method but has a low specificity when compared with culture. It seems to be useful as a screening test which if positive should be coloborated by culture. The other advantage of culture is the possibility of evaluating susceptibility to antibiotics which proved to be essential for effective treatment