Sero-epidemiological survey of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi infection in a rural Thai village.

A sero-epidemiological survey of a rural Thai village demonstrated a 77% prevalence of antibody against Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in adults. Acquisition of antibody occurred very early in life, especially in females, but the prevalence of antibody in the adult population showed no statistically significant sexual distinction. Antibody against all three prototype strains was present in Thailand but antibody titres did not vary by strain type or the age of the individual.

Epidemiology of combat casualties in Thailand.

The small unit warfare fought in Thailand is significantly different from previous conflicts. The heavy use of antipersonnel land mines by insurgent forces has affected both the tactical and the medical responses of government forces. Lower-extremity injuries have come to dominate the military medical care system and tactics have been designed to prevent or minimize the unit and individual disability inherent in this type warfare.

Resistance to penicillin and identification of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae among clinical isolates in Thailand.

Penicillin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae from 405 patients were studied by determination of penicillin minimal inhibitory concentrations an penicillinase production. Eighteen percent were identified as penicillin-producing N. gonorrhoeae and the mean minimal inhibitory concentration, for all except penicillin-producing strains, was 0.805 micrograms/ml.

New paper enzyme-linked immunosorbent technique compared with microimmunofluorescence for detection of human serum antibodies to Rickettsia tsutsugamushi.

A new paper enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for the screening and titration of human serum antibodies against the scrub typhus rickettsia, Rickettsia tsutsugamushi. The objective [corrected] was to provide a relatively simple method for antibody screening which required neither sophisticated laboratory equipment nor a high degree of technological skill. The technique develops an enzyme product from filter paper saturated with a 5-aminosalicylic acid substrate and enzymatically reacted with a commerically available anti-human immunoglobulin G peroxidase conjugate. The product of the enzymatic reaction can be interpreted visually. Comparison of 351 human sera tested by the immunofluorescent and paper enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays against a three-antigen pool of the Karp, Kato, and Gilliam strains of R. tsutsugamushi demonstrated an agreement of 96%. The sensitivity of the paper enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as compared to immunofluorescence was 98.2%, and the specificity was 94.4%.

Maternal carrier rates of potentially pathogenic organisms in Bangkok, Thailand.

One hundred and four healthy women delivering infants at the Royal Thai Army Hospital, Bangkok, were sampled by rectal swab for the laboratory isolation and identification of enteric bacteria of medical importance. Seventeen percent of these women had significant isolates as Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species. Serotypically enteropathogenic Escherichia coli were also identified in 31% of the mothers.

Reduced level of non-esterified fatty acids in sera from patients with infectious respiratory disease.

Sera from 103 fasting individuals 3 to 76 years of age and free of clinical infectious disease and sera from 183 patients with infectious disease were assayed for serum total non-esterfied fatty acids (tNEFA) and compared. Data were also separated into five groups according to age of donor: 3--7, 8--19, 20--35, 36--60, and 61--76 years. The mean group serum levels of tNEFA increased with age. Among patients with infectious diseases sixty-five were diagnosed as having hepatitis, 41 with infectious mononucleosis, 18 with cellulitis, 12 with pulmonary tuberculosis, 11 with non-pneumococcal pneumonia, 9 with pneumococcal pneumonia, 8 with pharyngitis, 6 with pyelonephritis, 6 with aseptic meningitis, 4 with Gram-negative sepsis, and 3 with encephalitis. The sera from 23 non-fasting patients with gonorrhea were also tested. The serum tNEFA levels were found to be altered, in fact depressed from normal group values, only in patients with pneumonia or tuberculosis. This depression may be related to aberrant pulmonary metabolism during pneumonia.