Small Colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a patient with infective endocarditis: a case report and review of the literature

Staphylococcus aureus produces a particular morphological variant called small colony variant [SCV] which is responsible for persistent subclinical infections in predisposed individuals and is usually resistant to aminoglycosides and cell wall active antibiotics. Infections by SCV of S. aureus are an upcoming problem due to difficulty in laboratory diagnosis and resistance to antimicrobial chemotherapy. We here report a case of infective endocarditis caused by SCV of Staphylococcus aureus in a pediatric patient.

Prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Calcutta and suburbs--a hospital based study for three years.

A total of 752 subjects were tested randomly for detection of antitoxoplasma antibody and its titre. Of these 752 subjects, 170 i.e. 22.6% showed seropositivity for antitoxoplasma antibody. However the titre varied between 1:2 to 1:1024, but in most cases its was 1:128.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of cervical lymphadenopathy with special reference to tuberculosis.

One hundred eighty cases of cervical lymphadenopathy have been studied by fine needle aspiration cytological examination followed by histopathologic examination of the excised lymph nodes. The diagnostic accuracy was 84.4% for tuberculous lymphadenitis by fine needle aspiration cytological examination. Observation of caseous necrosis (84.2%) and epithelioid cells (73.6%) were the most characteristic diagnostic features in the aspirated smears. Acid-fast bacilli were observed in 45.6% cases. Metastatic carcinoma also yielded a high diagnostic accuracy ie, 89%. Fine needle aspiration cytology has been found to be safe, quick, inexpensive with high diagnostic accuracy in cervical lymphadenopathy.

Serological study of human toxoplasmosis in Calcutta.

A total of 248 randomly selected subjects from urban, semiurban and rural areas of Calcutta was studied serologically for the prevalence of antibody to Toxoplasma gondii using latex agglutination technique. Fifty-nine (23.79%) out of these 248 subjects were found to possess anti-toxoplasma antibody. Seropositivity was found to be higher in females (25%) as compared to males (22.32%). Agewise highest positivity (30.5%) for toxoplasma antibody was observed in the third decade and lowest in the first decade of life, though all the age groups were involved by this protozoal infection. Sexwise distribution of anti-toxoplasma antibody showed highest positivity rate in the third decade in males and in the fourth decade in females. Twenty-five per cent of the subjects had history of contact with cat and/or soil and most of the subjects belonged to the middle and low income groups.