ABSTRACT
Fifty seven babies with ophthalmia neonatorum had conjunctival smears examined by microscopy and bacterial culture, and by immunofluorescence, to find out which was the best method of diagnosing chlamydial conjunctivitis. The positive (33%) and negative (70%) predictive values of microscopy and culture were too low for us to accept it as an adequate method of detecting the presence of Chlamydia trachomatis.
Subject(s)
Conjunctivitis, Inclusion/diagnosis , Bacteriological Techniques , Chlamydia trachomatis/isolation & purification , Conjunctiva/microbiology , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Predictive Value of TestsABSTRACT
An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was modified and used to detect heat-labile (LT) enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) from specimens of faeces sent to a routine diagnostic laboratory. Strains of LT ETEC were detected in eight of 250 (3.2%) diarrhoeal stools but were not found in 110 non-diarrhoeal stools. All eight patients found to have LT ETEC were travellers returning with diarrhoea. LT ETEC was the most common bacterial pathogen found (15.4%) in this group of patients, exceeding Campylobacter sp. (5.8%) and Salmonella sp. (7.7%). The ELISA technique was simple to perform and visual readings were found to be reliable.
Subject(s)
Enterotoxins/analysis , Escherichia coli Infections/diagnosis , Feces/microbiology , Adult , Child, Preschool , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Escherichia coli , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
One hundred and sixty-five patients presented in a 4-year period: 68 (41.2 per cent) had had previous anorectal sepsis and in 56 of these patients (82.3 per cent) the presenting sepsis was at the site of the previous abscess. The abscesses were drained and pus was sent for culture; any fistula, if found, was laid open. A second examination under anaesthesia was performed within 7--10 days if no fistula had been found. The pus from 114 patients grew bowel-derived organisms; 62 (54.4 per cent) fistulas were found. The pus from 34 patients grew skin-derived organisms but no fistula was demonstrated in this group. It is suggested that a second examination need only be performed if culture of the pus grows bowel-derived organisms: anorectal abscesses which grow skin-derived organisms are not associated with a fistula.
Subject(s)
Abscess/microbiology , Anus Diseases/microbiology , Rectal Diseases/microbiology , Rectal Fistula/etiology , Abscess/complications , Adult , Anus Diseases/complications , Female , Humans , Male , Rectal Diseases/complications , Recurrence , Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purificationSubject(s)
Malaria/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Emigration and Immigration , England , Humans , Male , TravelABSTRACT
Specimens from eye and genital tract were cultured in parallel in irradiated and non-irradiated McCoy cells and the frequency of isolation of chlamydia using these culture methods was compared. There was a significant difference between the frequencies of isolation; irradiated McCoy cells produced a greater number of positive results.
Subject(s)
Bacteriological Techniques , Cells, Cultured , Chlamydia/isolation & purification , Cells, Cultured/radiation effects , Conjunctiva/microbiology , Female , Humans , Male , Radiation Effects , Urogenital System/microbiologyABSTRACT
A case of meningitis due to a group B streptococcus in a newborn baby is described. Treatment was successful; it depended upon the bacteriological diagnosis and sensitivity testing. Only a few such cases are reported in the British literature, but this type of infection may be more common than these reports would suggest.
