Peripheral facial palsy: antibody levels to Borrelia in serum and CSF.

Serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi antigen were determined in 71 consecutive patients with an acute peripheral facial palsy. The study was conducted for one year in a south western coastal region in Sweden. Twenty-one per cent of the patients had significantly elevated serum levels of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi antigen. CSF was examined in 13 of the sero-positive patients. In three of these (23%) Borrelia antibodies were found. Another five patients had a pathological protein and cell pattern in the CSF. No seasonal differences were observed. Four of the sero-positive patients had a long-term history of dermatological neurological manifestations compatible with the late third stage of the disease.

High fluorine water to wether sheep maintained in pens. Aluminum chloride as a possible alleviator of fluorosis.

The experiment reported here, gave the following answers to the questions asked (see introduction): a. Water with 30 ppm F gave deleterious effects on wethers. A considerable difference was observed as compared to animals given about 1 ppm F in their water, see Table IV. b. The toxicity was slightly less from bore hole water containing 30 ppm F, as compared to Nairobi tap water with added fluorine to 30 ppm F. The difference in toxicity may be due to the very high content of minerals in the bore hole water, see Table I. c. More fluorine was excreted in faeces when aluminum chloride was added to the diet, as compared to animals which did not receive aluminum chloride. Aluminum chloride had no alleviating effect on fluorosis, but apparently decreased gut absorption of fluorine and also reduced fluorine retention in the bones, se Table VII. Under the conditions of this experiment, toxic levels of fluorine were considerable lower than the quoted safe levels in the literature.