Se Asian J Trop Med
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Se Asian J Trop Med · Sep 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialLaboratory aspects of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy.
A total of 1,661 pregnant women aged between 13 and 45 years were screened for bacteriuria by urine culture. Of the 1,661 culture results, 615 (37%) yielded no growth; 728 (43.8%) yielded no significant growth (presence of <10(5) organisms/ml urine of one or more types of bacteria); 286 (17.2%) yielded mixed growth (presence of >10(5) organisms/ml urine of more than one type of bacteria) and only 32 (1.9%) showed significant growth (presence of >10(5) organisms/ml urine of a single bacterium). Urine microscopy was also conducted. ⋯ For Gram-positive organisms, of which Group B Streptococcus is important, ampicillin is still effective in vitro. Nitrofurantion and cotrimoxazole have excellent activity in vitro and should be considered for therapy. 17.2% of the urine culture yielded mixed growth: likely to indicate that contamination of urine specimens still happens despite the strict instructions given to patients about the collection of a midstream urine specimen. Proper collection, appropriate transport, and the early processing of urine specimens remain essential.
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Se Asian J Trop Med · Jun 2002
Clinical features of community-acquired pneumonia treated at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Pneumonia is a serious illness associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The interpretation guidelines for pneumonia management requires knowledge of both the clinical presentation of the disease and local epidemiology. We studied the clinical features, initial laboratory results, antibiotic sensitivities, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with acute community-acquired pneumonia between January 1999 and December 2000 at Srinagarind Hospital. ⋯ Bactermia was found in one half of patients infected with B. pseudomallei and S. aureus. Antibiotic-resistant organisms were not common in our study. Because morbidity and mortality were high among patients infected with S. aureus and B. pseudomallei, empirical antibiotic treatment should be considered in suspected cases, especially when patients present with acute severe community-acquired pneumonia.
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To test the hypothesis that hip fracture is associated with physical activity in Thai elderly men, a case-control study was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 187 men aged 51 years over, resident in Bangkok, admitted consecutively with a radiologically confirmed first hip fracture were studied. 177 age-matched community controls were randomly recruited from the same neighborhood of the cases. ⋯ Recent active physical activity was also protective against hip fracture. This prompts a need to identify strategy to promote physical activity among the elderly and at an early age.
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Se Asian J Trop Med · Mar 2001
Retrospective analysis of epidemiological investigation of Japanese encephalitis outbreak occurred in Rourkela, Orissa, India.
There was an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis (JE) during July/August of 1993 in Rourkela City of Orissa, India. Among the serum samples, 40% of the sera showed antibodies against JE, while 17% of the sera showed recent infection to dengue virus. ⋯ Species like Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Cx, vishnui, Cx. pseudovishnui and Cx. bitaeniorhynchus constituted 19% of the total collections. The above species were resistant to DDT and dieldrin, but susceptible to malathion.
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Se Asian J Trop Med · Sep 2000
Introduction of a rapid dipstick assay for the detection of Leptospira-specific immunoglobulin m antibodies in the laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis in a hospital in Makassar, Indonesia.
An easy, rapid and robust dipstick assay for detection of leptospira-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies was evaluated on 403 patients admitted for hospitalization because of fever. The clinical symptoms and signs of 35 patients were consistent with leptospirosis. The final diagnosis for the remaining patients was as follows: 136 with typhoid fever, 82 with hepatitis, 74 with malaria, 48 with infections of the respiratory tract, and 20 with fever of unknown origin. ⋯ Compared with the results of MAT and IgM ELISA a sensitivity of 91.6% and specificity of 93.6% was calculated for the dipstick assay. Most of the serum samples from the laboratory confirmed patients gave a moderate to strong staining intensity of the antigen band of the dipstick and were easy to read. The results demonstrate that the dipstick assay is convenient to use and allows the rapid and accurate confirmation of patients with clinical suspicion of leptospirosis in areas where the disease is endemic.