Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Nov 2002
Comparative StudyComparison of tafenoquine (WR238605) and primaquine in the post-exposure (terminal) prophylaxis of vivax malaria in Australian Defence Force personnel.
On return from duty in North Solomons Province (including Bougainville Island), Papua New Guinea, 586 Australian Defence Force personnel received either primaquine (14-d) or tafenoquine (3-d) post-exposure malaria prophylaxis. Within 12 months, 6 of the 214 volunteers receiving primaquine and 7 of 378 receiving tafenoquine had developed vivax malaria. Overall, volunteers preferred the shorter course of tafenoquine.
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · May 2002
Antigen-specific activation and proliferation of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes from brucellosis patients.
Salt-extractable antigen from Brucella melitensis 16M (RCM-BM) was used to evaluate the immune response from acute and chronic patients suffering from Brucella infections (in Mexico); their responses were compared with those of healthy controls. As a readout we used upregulation of CD69 (a well-established early activation marker for lymphocytes), lymphocyte proliferation by 3[H]thymidine or 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation measured by liquid scintillation or flow cytometry, respectively, and production of gamma interferon (IFN gamma). We compared the antigen-specific response with the response induced by phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) as a positive control. ⋯ As a whole, our data suggest an important role for both CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in Brucella infection in humans. As has been reported in mice, it is feasible that activated CD8+ T cells participate in protection against Brucella in humans through cytotoxicity or/and by the production of factors such as interferon and granulysin. The role of these cells should be carefully analysed to understand better their participation in human infection by Brucella.
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Jan 2002
Case ReportsCerebral melioidosis in Singapore: a review of five cases.
A variety of neurological manifestations of infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei have been described including cerebral abscesses, which are a well-recognized form of neurological melioidosis. The optimal antibiotic therapy for this condition has not been defined; however, combinations of intravenous antibiotics are frequently used in the early stages. ⋯ Despite profound neurological deficits and low Glasgow Coma Scale scores at presentation in 3 of these cases, all survived after surgical drainage and prolonged courses of intravenous ceftazidime or imipenem, and only 2 of whom had residual neurological impairment. One incidental finding on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans not described before as an association with cerebral melioidosis was sinusitis in 4 out of the 5 cases.
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Nov 2001
Prognostic factors for local necrosis in Bothrops jararaca (Brazilian pit viper) bites.
The prognostic factors related to envenoming are not very well known. This study aims to identify prognostic factors for necrosis in envenoming by Bothrops jararaca. ⋯ The size of the snake, the bite site (leg and finger), the sex of the patient, the month of the accident, systemic bleeding, and the use of tourniquet were independent prognostic factors within the variables tested in the multivariate analysis. The size of the snake was the most important independent prognostic factor related to the presence of necrosis.
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · May 2001
Serodiagnosis of ascariasis with specific IgG4 antibody and its use in an epidemiological study.
In an earlier study Ascaris-specific IgG4 antibody was found to be elevated in cases of ascariasis. However, the usefulness of the elevated levels of this antibody in Ascaris infection as a diagnostic marker has not been well established. In India, in early 1999, blood samples of 83 cases of Ascaris infection, 35 cases of other nematode infection and 53 control subjects (without any helminth infection) were tested for anti-Ascaris IgG4 by ELISA. ⋯ Of 422 individuals from the rural community 229 (54.3%) had significantly high levels of specific IgG4 antibody against Ascaris excretory-secretory antigen, suggesting that they were infested with Ascaris. Thus, this study demonstrated that anti-Ascaris IgG4 antibody is a very sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of Ascaris infection. Utilizing this test, a significant number of a rural population could be diagnosed with Ascaris infection in West Bengal, India.