Severe otitis due to Vibrio fluvialis in a patient with AIDs: first report in the world.

A case of waterborne otitis in a patient with AIDS was reported, who got infected with Yibrio fluvialis by swimming in a pool of sea water. This is the first case reported in Cuba and as far as we know in the world. We describe the clinical features associated with this an unusual case and discuss its significance.

[The most frequent bacterial isolates in biological samples from HIV-infected patients]. / Aislamientos bacterianos más frecuentes de muestras biológicas de pacientes infectados con el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH).

A descriptive and retrospective study was conducted aimed at knowing the behavior and the frequency of the bacterial isolations most frequently found in different biological samples (sputum, blood and urine) from patients with HIV/AIDS diagnosis that were seen at the Outpatient Department or that were admitted at the Hospital of "Pedro Kouri" Institute of Tropical Medicine from 1997 to 2001. It was observed that most of the isolations were obtained from sputum samples and that Pseudomonas aeuroginosa was the most isolated microorganism in all samples. Pseudomonas aeuroginosa proved to be the most isolated microorganism in sputum with 28.5%. The bacteria most commonly isolated in blood was Staphylococcus epidermidis with 48.5%. The uropathogenic microorganism most found in urine was Escherichia coli with 43.5%.

[Frequency of Trichomonas vaginalis infection in couples with fertility problems]. / Frecuencia de infección por Trichomonas vaginalis en parejas con trastornos de la fertilidad.

One-hundred and seventy two couples which went for the first time to the Infertility Service of the National Institute of Endocrinology from June 1999 to June 2000, were studied to find out the frequency of Trichomonas vaginalis infection in this group, and determine its interaction with a number of clinical and risk variables. The results yielded that 10.5% were positive to the parasite, the prevailing symptom was leukorrea in women and 96.6% of men showed no symptoms. It was highly significant the fact of having a previous pathological history that might be related to infertility and current T. vaginalis infection. This protozoon was frequently associated with Candida sp. and causative agents of bacterial vaginosis in women and Haemophilus influenzae in men. This parasite seems to play an important role as a likely causative agent to be considered in fertility problems.

[Antimicrobial susceptibility and serotyping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from HIV/AIDS patients]. / Susceptibilidad antimicrobiana y serotipaje de Pseudomonas aeruginosa aisladas de pacientes VIH/SIDA.

Sixty-eight strains from seropositive patients seen at "Pedro Kouri" Tropical Medicine Hospital from October 1996 to September 1997 were analyzed in this study. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests by the Kirby-Bauer method and antigenic study through slide agglutination of the somatic antigen were performed in such strains. The most frequent isolated serogroups were 01(27.9%), 011(10%), 06(8.8%) and 05(7.3%); twenty-one strains of 68 isolates (30.9%) could not be serotyped. All the strains were susceptible to gentamycin and azlocylin; most of isolates were susceptible to ceftazidime (n = 66), and ciprofloxacin (n = 62). On the other hand, 25 of the 68 isolates (35.7%) showed resistance to cefotaxime. No direct relation between antibiotic resistance and serologic results could be proved. According to these results, gentamycin is highly effective for treating analyzed strains. In the forthcoming years, beta-lactams and quinolones should be more rationally used so as to prevent the emergence of multi-resistant strains in Cuba.