Journal of clinical microbiology
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Pseudomonas paucimobilis was isolated from blood of a man after surgery for occlusive vascular disease of his lower extremities. Circumstances suggest that the infection was hospital associated and was possibly caused by an organism present in the surroundings of this particularly susceptible host. ⋯ The isolate was susceptible in vitro to carbenicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and was moderately susceptible to amikacin and ampicillin. This case represents the fourth report incidence of infection due to P. paucimobilis.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · May 1981
Frequency of preclumped virus in routine fecal specimens from patients with acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis.
A low-speed centrifugation technique for the preparation of grids after minimal purification of fecal extracts is described for examination of viruses by direct electron microscopy using negative staining. Results showed that adenovirus, astrovirus, rotavirus, and "small round" viruses were frequently shed into the gastrointestinal tract in clumps of variable size. Differential centrifugation study showed that a substantial proportion of the virus in the sample was lost in the initial pellet at the first step of clarification; this finding casts doubt on the validity of immune electron microscopy for direct typing of strains of these viruses from stools. In addition, particle counts based on conventional specimen processing are likely to grossly underestimate the true value.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Nov 1979
Comparative StudyComparison of sputum counterimmunoelectrophoresis and culture in diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia.
The diagnostic value of counterimmunoelectrophoresis performed on sputum was compared with that of sputum culture. The detection of pneumococcal polysaccharide in sputum showed a better correlation with the presence of pneumococcal pneumonia than the recovery of pneumococci by culture. The authors conclude that sputum counterimmunoelectrophoresis can provide diagnostic guidance to physicians awaiting the results of sputum culture and aid in the interpretation of cultural findings.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jul 1978
Noncultivable viruses and neonatal diarrhea: fifteen-month survey in a newborn special care nursery.
During a 15-month period of surveillance, diarrhea developed in 257 of 913 babies (28%) admitted within 2 hours of birth to a special care nursery in Melbourne, Australia. Diarrhea was seasonal, affecting a maximum of 43% of babies admitted during one winter month (July) and a minimum of 13% of babies admitted during one summer month (December). Diarrhea was no more frequent nor more severe in babies of very low birth weight or of very early gestational age. ⋯ A 28-nm virus-like particle was excreted by some babies, but it could not be implicated on epidemiological grounds in the etiology of the diarrhea. Rotavirus infection may be an important cause of endemic diarrhea in nurseries for the newborn. Infection may be difficult to control or eradicate, since it is often asymptomatic and may be influenced by infection in the community at large.
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In our laboratory, culture of sputum was extremely useful in diagnosing the etiology of pneumococcal pneumonia. Of 31 consecutive patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia, 29 (94%) had Streptococcus pneumoniae cultured from sputum. Recovery of pneumococci in culture was enhanced by anaerobic incubation as well as by a plate bile test and an optochin disk on a primary blood agar plate.