Journal of clinical pathology
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The clinical, epidemiological, and virological features of an outbreak of winter vomiting disease among London schoolchildren are described. Evidence is presented to support the view that this epidemic was caused by a human calicivirus, a virus not previously shown to be associated with this disease in man.
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Two aspects of handwashing in hospital were considered. A study was carried out to examine the contamination of bar soap and containers, and the use of antiseptic soaps in reducing the resident flora of the skin. Swabs were collected from soap dishes on six wards and from a bacteriology laboratory on four consecutive days. ⋯ Samples were collected after standard washes and after surgical gloves had been worn for 90 minutes. The effect of multiple washes was assessed by samples collected after six washes with the agent under study (three per day) followed by 90 minutes wearing surgical gloves. The average percentage reduction in normal flora obtained indicated that alcoholic chlorhexidine was superior to the other agents.
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Two forms--a priority test request form and a telephone results form--provide improved communication between the physician and the emergency laboratory of the Clinical Biochemistry Department. The priority test request form contains a list of available tests and it allows the physician to tell the laboratory exactly when emergency test results are required. The telephone results form ensures that the physician will receive a report, by telephone, of a test result although it may not be an urgent test. This allows a greater control of work flow, both routine and emergency, through the laboratory.
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Case Reports
Malignant histiocytosis (histiocytic medullary reticulosis) with spindle cell differentiation and tumour formation.
Malignant histiocytosis (histiocytic medullary reticulosis) in a 45-year-old white man is described. Unusual features were presentation as a surgical emergency with signs of obstruction and peritonitis due to an ileal tumour and extensive spindle cell differentiation. Problems in the differential diagnosis of malignant histiocytosis are briefly discussed.
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Sperm-agglutinating antibodies were present in three (2-6%) of 117 fertile men and in 19 (33-9%) of 56 men who had been vasectomized. Twenty-four of the 56 vasectomized men had been studied before vasectomy; sperm-agglutinating antibodies were present in one (4-3%) compared with eight (33-3%) after vasectomy. No sperm-immobilizing antibodies were detected before vasectomy but were present in 10 (17-9%) of the 56 men after vasectomy.