Beta-lactamase-positive gonorrhoea was rather sporadic in Poland. In spring 1988 a marked rise was observed in the proportion of therapeutic failures in the treatment of gonorrhoea with procaine penicillin (4.8 million u) with probenecid among patient treated in the outpatient clinic of the Venereology Institute in Warsaw. The cause was infection with beta-lactamase producing gonococci. Up to June 1989 beta-lactamase production ability was tested in gonococci cultured from 415 patients (363 men and 52 women) with positive results in 73 cases (61 men and 11 women) that is in 18%. Most (85%) patients were treated with spectinomycin (2 g intramuscularly in men and 4 g in women in one dose) with cure in all cases. Treatment with tetracycline (2 g daily for 7 days) given to 12 patients failed in 2 cases. These results, if confirmed in other parts of the country, will cause the necessity of revision of the presently accepted indications for gonorrhoea treatment with penicillin with probenecid as the basic method.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Rapid spread of HIV infections among narcotic addicts].

In the Institute of Venereology, 5351 patients (75.1% of males, 24.9% females), intravenous drug users (IVDU), have been tested for the presence of HIV antibodies in the period from Jan 1986 to Dec 31 1989. They were patients of detoxication wards and/or pensioners of drug treatment centers. HIV antibodies were determined by the EIA method (Abbott Recombinant HIV-1 EIA test), and positive results were confirmed by the western-blot technique. HIV antibodies were found in 292 patients: 228 males (78.1%) and 64 females (21.9%), which accounts for 5.5% of tested IVDU. In 1986-1987 all tests were negative, although the first HIV infection was confirmed in 1985 in homosexual group. The first positive HIV test in drug addicts was detected in Aug 1988 after testing of 2254 patients. In 1989 276 sera were positive for HIV antibodies (11.2%) among 2471 patients studied. Our study indicates that HIV infection is spreading rapidly in IVDU population. Infections of drug addicts with HIV represent 66% of total detected cases of HIV antibody-positive individuals in Poland; among 30 diagnosed AIDS cases 5 were drug users.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Diagnostic and prognostic significance of various changes in the skin and mucous membranes in HIV infection].

The prognostic and diagnostic importance of certain cutaneous lesions in HIV infection is discussed. In own patients of interest was the frequency of oral candidiasis (30%) and extensive seborrhoeic changes and persistent eruptions of the type of molluscum contagiosum in a patient with the AIDS-dementia complex which were associated with oropharyngeal candidiasis.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗