Medicine
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Forty-nine patients with disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) hospitalized at Boston City and University Hospitals over a 7-year period were studied. Patients with clinical manifestations of DGI and with cervical, urethral, rectal, pharyngeal, synovial or blood cultures positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae were separated into two groups based on the presence or absence of suppurative arthritis. There were 19 cases of suppurative arthritis (Group II) and 30 cases with only tenosynovitis, skin lesions, or both (Group I). ⋯ Eighteen of 24 Group I strains (75%) versus 9 of 19 Group II strains (47%) resisted killing by all normal human sera tested (p less than .05). Likewise, convalescent sera from Group II patients were able to kill their infecting strains more often than did sera from Group I patients (70% vs 17%) (p less than 0.01). Thus, variations in the clinical expression of disease in patients with DGI may be explained, in part, by differences in certain phenotypic and immunologic features of infecting strains.
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Comparative Study
Serological findings in patients with "ANA-negative" systemic lupus erythematosus.
Serological studies were performed on sera from 66 patients with the clinical picture of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). These sera failed to give a positive antinuclear antibody test when tested on cryostat sections of mouse liver and thus these patients' sera appear to be ANA negative. Precipitating antibodies to the cytoplasmic antigen Ro were found in 41 cases and of the remaining 25 sera, 18 were found to have antibodies to single stranded DNA detectable by radioimmunoassay. ⋯ The clinical picture of these patients was dominated by a severe photosensitive dermatitis but more than half of the patients had widespread multisystem disease. As a group these patients had a low frequency of nephritis and neuropsychiatric disease. Detection of these antibodies relates these patients serologically to other SLE patients and suggests that they are best perceived as part of the clinical spectrum of SLE.
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A case of acquired C1INH deficiency with angioedema is described. Fifteen cases are thus far recorded. The clinical syndrome of angioedema in these patients closely resembles hereditary angioedema (HAE). ⋯ Most cases have appeared in patients with an underlying lymphoproliferative or autoimmune disease. Therapy is directed at the underlying disorder, but androgen therapy may be helpful in preventing attacks. Future potential therapeutic approaches are discussed.