[Comparison of the use of antibodies in 1975 and 1978 in a regional hospital]. / Confronto tra l'uso di antibiotici nel 1975 e nel 1978 in un ospedale regionale.

The budget for the total amount of antimicrobial drugs was in 1975 in Parma Hospital 205 millions lire. In 1976 a big increase of 30% was found while in 1978 expenses have been reduced to the 34% of 1975 and th 54% of the 1976 respectively. 2,000 clinical charts of in-patients in the last three months of 1975 and 2,000 of the last three months of 1978 have been examined to show if the reduction in the use of antibiotics was generalized or if some more rational choice had been made. The results showed a decrease of prophylactic use. Tetracyclines and rifampicin were no longer prescribed, and clinicians preferred to employ beta-lactams. Influence of the antibiotic policy to restricting sensitivity reports and of the microbiological consultation, which both started at the end of 1976, is discussed.

[Diagnostic value of antibody-coated bacteria in urine sediment (author's transl)]. / Significato diagnostico della presenza di anticorpi sulla superficie di batteri contenuti nel sedimento urinario.

An immunofluorescence test for detection of antibody-coated bacteria in urinary sediments of patients with significant bacteriuria was carried out. According to previous data antibody-coated bacteria were not observed in urines from patients with cystitis, while they were observed in urine specimens from patients with pyelonephritis. These results confirm that the immunofluorescence test can be useful in distinguishing infection of kidney from infection of the bladder.

[Bacteriuria detection by dip-slide test (author's transl)]. / Note sull'impiego delle strisce reattive nella determinazione della batteriuria.

A new dip-inoculum method markated as Microstix for detecting bacteriuria was studied to evaluate its usefulness as a screening procedure. This test was found to be reliable when compared with the standard pour plate method. However, antimicrobial agents often present in the urine samples rendered this procedure unsuitable for indiscriminate application in large hospital laboratories. This technique might conceivably be employed in mass screening programs where urine specimens are less likely contamined by antimicrobial drugs.

[Further researches on antimicrobial agents involvement in urine bacteriological analysis (author's transl)]. / Ulteriori ricerche sull'influenza di agenti antimicrobici nell'analisi batteriologica delle urine

A further investigation on about 2700 urine samples for testing the presence of antimicrobial drugs (spot-test) has been carried out. Bacteriostatic agents were present in 35% of all samples analysed, Of these, 47% were urines producing no growth on culturing, 10% had a bacterial count of 10(4) and 43% of 10(5) or more. The frequency of the spot-test positive samples was correlated to the origin from the different Hospital Departments. Gram-positive bacteria were the most represented in the samples without antimicrobial agents, while the frequency of Pseudomonas aeruginosa rised in samples with antimicrobial drugs. Under both conditions no significant variation in the antibiotic-sensitivity pattern was noted in organisms isolated from the urines. Only indole-positive Proteus appeared to be more sensitive when isolated from samples containing no antimicrobial agents.