ABSTRACT
Early Acanthamoeba keratitis was diagnosed in two soft contact lens wearers. Both patients had initially been diagnosed as having herpes simplex keratitis and treated with antiherpes drugs. In one patient, slit-lamp examination disclosed dendritiform epithelial keratitis, subepithelial opacities, linear stromal infiltrate along the corneal nerve (radial keratoneuritis), and marked swelling and hyperemia of the limbal conjunctiva. Acanthamoeba castellanii was cultured from the corneal scrapings and contact lens case. The second patient also showed dendritiform keratitis and subepithelial opacities, with swelling of the limbal conjunctiva. Cultures were positive for A. polyphaga from the contact lens case, but negative from the corneal scrapings. The patients were cured of Acanthamoeba keratitis with medical therapy consisting of topical fluconazole and miconazole, systemic fluconazole, and topical corticosteroids. Recognition of distinctive characteristics of the clinical findings in early Acanthamoeba keratitis can lead to the early diagnosis of the disease.
Subject(s)
Acanthamoeba Keratitis/diagnosis , Acanthamoeba/isolation & purification , Acanthamoeba Keratitis/drug therapy , Acanthamoeba Keratitis/pathology , Adult , Animals , Conjunctiva/pathology , Contact Lenses/adverse effects , Dexamethasone/administration & dosage , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Fluconazole/administration & dosage , Humans , Male , Miconazole/administration & dosageABSTRACT
A small type of Cryptosporidium oocysts was isolated from a naturally infected cat and its biological nature was investigated. In cats experimentally inoculated with Cryptosporidium oocysts, long-lasting shedding of the oocysts occurred after a prepatent period of 8-10 days, and a number of peaks of oocyst count appeared at intervals of several days to a few weeks, earlier in the infection course. Cryptosporidium infection in cats is likely to pass from an acute to a chronic stage. During the chronic stage, prednisolone injection into the cats gave rise to a recurrence of proliferation of the parasite along with a marked increase in the number of oocysts shed. None of the infected cats showed clinical symptoms. Infection experiments using Cryptosporidium oocysts were unsuccessful in several species of animals such as mice, rats, guinea pigs, dogs, suckling mice and mice previously injected with prednisolone or hydrocortisone.
Subject(s)
Cat Diseases/parasitology , Cryptosporidiosis/parasitology , Cryptosporidium/physiology , Acute Disease , Animals , Cats , Chronic Disease , Cryptosporidiosis/transmission , Cryptosporidium/isolation & purification , Dogs , Feces/parasitology , Female , Guinea Pigs , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Parasite Egg Count/veterinary , Prednisolone/pharmacology , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Time FactorsSubject(s)
Carbon/pharmacology , Murine hepatitis virus/drug effects , Water Microbiology , Animals , Female , Filtration , Mice , Silver/pharmacologyABSTRACT
A field study was conducted in August 1974 at Bireuen, Indonesia, at the type locality of Brugia malayi from where the parasite was first described by Lichtenstein (1927) and Brug (1927), in order to determine the pattern of the microfilarial periodicity. From the results, it has been demonstrated that both the microfilariae of B. malayi as well as those of W. bancrofti in man from Bireuen area are the nocturnally periodic form. The microfilaria rates observed in the present survey were much lower than those recorded by Lichtenstein (1927) some 50 years ago in the same areas.
