ABSTRACT
We report the case of an infant in whom congenital syphilis was diagnosed at the age of 5 weeks. The case is remarkable because of (a) the negative venereal disease laboratory test from the cord blood, (b) the incidental diagnosis of the disease in the fifth week of life, (c) pneumonia alba being one of the symptoms, (d) the occurrence of a mild Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction after initiation of penicillin therapy and (e) the successful treatment of infection related anaemia with recombinant human erythropoietin.
Subject(s)
Neonatal Screening/methods , Syphilis, Congenital/diagnosis , False Negative Reactions , Fetal Blood/microbiology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Pneumonia/diagnostic imaging , Pneumonia/drug therapy , Pneumonia/etiology , Radiography , Syphilis, Congenital/complicationsABSTRACT
Since the end of May 1985 registered Viennese prostitutes are regularly screened for HTLV-III/LAV antibodies. Up to the end of January 1986 839 prostitutes had been investigated and 7 of them (0.8%) revealed positive test results. 5 persons are intravenous drug addicts, whilst 2 only admitted connection to drug addicts. Furthermore, HTLV-III antibodies were detected in 1 non-registered prostitute and in 5 men (3 homosexuals, 2 drug addicts). 11 out of these 13 seropositive patients have confirmed lymphadenopathy syndrome, whilst latent infection has to be assumed in the remaining 2 cases.
