The marsupial Didelphis albiventris is an improbable host of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis in an endemic area of paracoccidioidomycosis in Minas Gerais, Brazil

To determine whether Didelphis albiventris is naturally infected with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, 20 specimens of this mammal were studied by both direct cultivation of their viscera (spleen, liver and lungs) and by inoculation of Swiss mice by the intraperitoneal route with a suspension of fragments of these viscera. No fungal growth or structures similar to this fungus were detected. Probably D. albiventris is not frequently infected with P. brasiliensis

Visceral abscess in melioidosis.

A retrospective analysis was done in 81 patients with visceral abscess due to melioidosis treated at Khon Kaen Hospital, northeastern Thailand from 1985 to 1993. The clinical presentations were fever 100 per cent, abdominal pain 39 per cent, cough 34.8 per cent, abdominal tenderness 27.5 per cent and palpable mass 24.6 per cent. The laboratory findings were not diagnostic of the etiology. The abscesses were detected by ultrasonography in 97.25 per cent and computed tomography 2.25 per cent. The lesions were found in the spleen 72.8 per cent, liver 45.7 per cent, kidney 12.3 per cent and prostate gland 2.5 per cent. Seventy-six per cent of the patients had diseases in multiple organs (viscera, lungs and others). The preliminary diagnoses were fever of unknown origin, septicemia and urinary tract diseases in one-half of the cases. Patients presenting with fever of unknown origin from an endemic area, like northeastern Thailand, should arouse suspicion of melioidosis and search for the organism is advised. Diagnostic imaging methods, ultrasonography and computed tomography are valuable tools for detection of a solid internal organ abscess.

Characterization of drowning by diatom test.

Examination by the diatom test, of different organs of corpses of individuals who died of drowning revealed the presence of frustules in all the visceral organs. Diatom load of different organs was found to be positively related with breadth/diameter of the frustule. Relatively larger diatoms were encountered in the lungs, heart and kidneys as compared to the other organs. Smaller diatoms up to 10 mu diameter were found in the brain, and bone marrow samples. However, diatoms were also recovered from the lungs, heart and kidneys of corpses of individuals in whom the cause of death was not drowning. Brain and bone marrow were considered reliable samples for executing the diatom test.

Prevalence of Nocardia species in the soil of Patiala area.

Five hundred soil samples were examined for Nocardia species in Patiala area by using paraffin bait technique. Forty (8 per cent) yielded Nocardia species. All the forty isolates identified as Nocardia asteroides were pathogenic to white mice.