Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus bacteremia.

Eight patients with Campylobacter fetus bacteremia, six of them with serious underlying diseases, were seen in a two-year period. Besides fever, which was observed in all cases, the most frequent clinical manifestation was lower extremity phlebitis and cellulitis (four patients). In one of these patients, it had the peculiar aspect of bilateral pretibial cellulitis. One patient had vertebral osteomyelitis, a complication, to our knowledge, not yet described. Two patients, both with advanced underlying diseases, died. The five patients who completed a two- to three-week course of erythromycin gluceptate, all had initial clinical improvement. However, one patient suffered a relapse at the end of treatment, and progression of vertebral osteomyelitis while on erythromycin therapy was observed in another patient. These clinical and bacteriologic failures occurred despite the in vitro sensitivity to erythromycin of the two strains. This suggests that erythromycin might not be adequate therapy for C fetus septicemia.

Influence of (+)-cyanidanol-3 on the leukocyte migration inhibition test carried out in the presence of purified protein derivative and hepatitis B surface antigen.

It has been shown that (+)-cyanidanol-3, therapeutically administered during the course of acute hepatitis B, is able to favor the elimination of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) from the blood. This observation suggests that (+)-cyanidanol-3 might stimulate the cell-mediated immune response, since it is known that this type of response is responsible for elimination of the virus. In the present study, the possible action of (+)-cyanidanol-3 on this type of immunity was investigated by adding the substance in vitro to leukocyte migration inhibition tests, performed with the antigens purified protein derivative (PPD) and HBsAg and with leukocytes from individuals sensitized to these antigens. In normal individuals sensitized to PPD, the addition of (+)-cyanidanol-3 amplified the inhibition of migration by 7.0% (P less than 0.05). In patients previously infected by hepatitis B virus and sensitized to HBsAg, the addition of (+)-cyanidanol-3 amplified the migration inhibition by 10.5% (P less than 0.05). A trend to a dose-response relation was observed with the antigen PPD. (+)-Cyanidanol-3 did not modify leukocyte migration in the absence of an antigen. (+)-Cyanidanol-3 therefore seems capable of amplifying the cell-mediated immune response as measured by the leukocyte migration inhibition test. It is thus possible that it favors the elimination of HBsAg in patients by this mechanism.