[Update on HIV infection in the province of Cosenza. HIV infections and respiratory disease]. / Attualità in tema di infezione da HIV nella provincia di Cosenza. Infezioni da HIV e patologia respiratoria.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence of HIV infection and concomitant pathologies, paying special attention to those involving the respiratory tract, in the Province of Cosenza through a retrospective study of patients monitored by the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Pneumology with the collaboration of the Virology Unit of the United Hospitals of Cosenza. The results obtained show that there is a lower incidence of AIDS and HIV-correlated respiratory pathologies in this area compared to the rest of Italy but, in spite of this, the authors highlight the need in Calabria for those centres and structures that have been planned but never completely realised (Law 135/90; DPR 7/4/94; etc.) which would enable infected subjects to be identified and the necessary measures for prevention, diagnosis and treatment to be implemented.

[The lung in AIDS]. / Il polmone nell'AIDS.

The aim of this study was to underline the important role played by respiratory tract pathologies in HIV-infected subjects and to evaluate the incidence of respiratory pathologies in HIV-positive subjects in the province of Cosenza. After examining recently reported data, the authors analyse the patients studied by the Infectious Disease and Pneumology Divisions of the United Hospitals of Cosenza with the collaboration of the Virology Unit over the two-year period 1992-1994. As well as the lower incidence of HIV infection in this area compared to the rest of Italy, the paper highlights the reduced percentage of concomitant respiratory pathologies. The authors attempt to interpret the significance of these results.

A multicentre study: Staphylococcus and Enterococcus susceptibility to antibiotics.

A multicentre study to evaluate the susceptibility of Gram-positive cocci isolated from clinical samples, was performed by six centres working in different areas of Italy. We examined 4,544 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, 4,381 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci and 2,478 strains of enterococci. The following antibiotics were tested: penicillin G, ampicillin, amoxicillin, piperacillin, imipenem, oxacillin, ofloxacin, pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin, netilmicin, rifampicin, clindamycin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, vancomycin and teicoplanin. Oxacillin-susceptible staphylococci confirmed their susceptibility to many other antimicrobial agents while oxacillin-resistant strains confirmed their multiple and frequent resistance to antibiotics. Resistance to oxacillin, cotrimoxazole and chloramphenicol was more frequent in coagulase-negative staphylococci than in Staphylococcus aureus. Aminoglycosides, rifampicin and quinolones were more active against coagulase-negative staphylococci than against Staphylococcus aureus. Enterococci were susceptible to penicillins and imipenem, and moderately susceptible to ciprofloxacin. Susceptibility of 70-79% was observed with high levels of aminoglycosides. Excellent results against staphylococci and enterococci were observed with vancomycin and teicoplanin.

The role of carcinoembryonic antigen in the postmastectomy follow-up of primary breast cancer and in the prognostic evaluation of disseminated breast cancer.

Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were evaluated in 145 patients with breast cancer. There were 107 patients with "indolent" disease: 8 had previous metastases in complete posttherapeutic remission and were CEA-negative; CEA became positive in 2 of 3 of these cases who subsequently relapsed. The other 99 patients were without clinical evidence of disease after mastectomy. Of these, 82 were disease-free and CEA-negative, 2 relapsed and simultaneously became CEA-positive, 4 had recurrences but remained CEA-negative, 4 became CEA-positive but without clinical signs of metastases, and 7 became CEA positive before the clinical-instrumental diagnosis of metastasis. CEA was positive in 23 of 38 patients (60.5%) with "active" disease. Response to medical therapy occurred in 6.6% of CEA-negative patients compared to 55.0% of CEA-positive patients. Among CEA-positive patients, there was a similar percentage of response to medical therapy in patients with small (50.0%) or large (56.5%) tumor burden. A response to medical therapy was observed in all patients with a disease-free interval equal to or greater than 24 months and CEA-positive.

[Advances in the field of antiviral vaccines]. / Aggiornamenti in tema di vaccini antivirali.

Some problems concerning the use of antiviral vaccines are reviewed. Particularly various aspects regarding both intensively used vaccines (small-pox, polio and influenza) and selectively used vaccines (measles, mumps, rubella, parainfluenza and Adenovirus) as well as vaccines under testing (anti-V-Z and hepatitis) are evidenced.

[Compared evaluation of The "in vitro" activity of some aminoglicosides with semi-automatic method (author's transl)]. / Valutazione comparata dell'attivita' "in vitro" di alcuni aminoglicosidi con un metodo semiautomatico.

It is valued the antibacterial activity in vitro of amikacin, tobramicin and gentamicin on 154 bacterial Gram-negative urinary strains using a semi-automatic method ("Abac"). This evaluation is after that one on its accuracy comparing the results with those of the agar diffusion test (Kirby-Bauer).