Chlamydial and rickettsial transmission through tick bite in children.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
G Grazi
Publications and source records attributed to G Grazi.
Routine separation of staphylococci from micrococci based on bacteriolytic activity production.
A new method is described by which separation of staphylococci from micrococci can be achieved in routine laboratory use. The basis of this method is that bacteriolytic activity is produced by staphylococci but not by micrococci.
Bacterial Infections↗
Detection of bacterial phosphatase activity by means of an original and simple test.
A new test for the detection of bacterial phosphatase activity has been devised. The test is performed using agar media containing both methyl green (MG) and phenolphthalein diphosphate (PDP); in these media phosphatase-producing strains grow deep-green-stained colonies whereas non-producing strains do not. A total of 739 different strains were tested, including 593 staphylococci, 95 micrococci, 11 streptococci, 10 corynebacteria, 14 enterobacteria, and 16 candidae. All strains found phosphatase-positive according to the conventional phosphatase test displayed deep-green-stained colonies on MG-PDP media, whereas all phosphatase-negative strains showed unstained colonies on the same media. The main advantages of the present phosphatase test as compared with other conventional ones are that it is more simple to perform, it can reveal the phosphatase activity of colonies grown in deep agar, and can be incorporated into commercial multitest kits.
Bacteria↗
Bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. A report of 9 cases.
9 patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) were treated with bone marrow transplantation (BMT). 5 were conditioned with cyclophosphamide and received and HLA-identical graft (4 patients) or a mismatched graft (1 patient): 1 rejected the graft on day 30 and died on day 34 during conditioning for a second transplant; 1 died on day 15 with acute and severe graft versus host disease (GvHD) in the absence of haemopoietic engraftment; 3 are alive and complete chimeras at 1,069, 490 and 332 days after transplantation. GvHD developed in 4 patients and was treated successfully in 3 with high dose methylprednisolone and/or antilymphocytic globulin (ALG). 4 patients were conditioned with ALG and received bone marrow from a haploidentical sibling or parent: 1 patient was refractory; 3 patients showed evidence of hematologic reconstitution, but 2 of these required a second course of ALG. 3 patients in this group are alive between 60 and 490 days; 1 patient died on day 121 of HBSAg-negative acute hepatitis.
Adolescent↗
Bacteriolytic activity in staphylococci.
The bacteriolytic activity of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus strains was tested with various media. Whereas S. aureus strains were found to be active under all conditions, the percentage of active S. albus strains was significantly influenced by the composition of the medium. Ionic strength and concentration of the organic nitrogen source were found to be the main factors affecting the expression of bacteriolytic activity of straphylococci. Virtually all of 318 S. aureus and 603 S. albus strains were active on a medium containing 3% peptone, 0.3% glucose, 0.2% yeast extract, 0.1% disodium phosphate, 2.2% sodium chloride and 0.9% agar. The optimal conditions for the bacteriolytic activity of S. aureus strains were different from those of most S. albus strains. Within S. albus, optimal conditions differed also from strain to strain. It is suggested that further studies on this subject may prove useful for the identification and taxonomy of staphylococci. A possible relationship between the production of extracellular bacteriolytic enzymes and pathogenic properties of staphylococci is also considered.
Bacteriolysis↗
CMV infections following allogeneic BMT: risk factors, early treatment and correlation with transplant related mortality.
BACKGROUND: The impact of early detection of CMV infections in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and of early treatment with ganciclovir is still uncertain. METHODS: 98 patients undergoing allogeneic BMT for hematologic malignancies (n = 91) or aplastic anemia (n = 7) were monitored weekly for the expression of the lower matrix protein pp65 of cytomegalovirus (CMV) on peripheral blood cells (PB) and urine sediments (U) as detected by C10 and C11 monoclonal antibodies (Clonab, Biotest) and immunoperoxidase. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytospin preparations were also studied in patients with clinically documented interstitial pneumonia. Patients were considered to be infected with CMV if pp65 was detected in PB (n = 15) or BAL cells (n = 6), or in the presence of serum CMV-IgM with (n = 7) or without (n = 3) pp65-positive cells in urine sediments. RESULTS: The overall actuarial risk at 300 days of developing a CMV infection was 35%. CMV serum/status (IgG) pre-BMT of donor and/or recipient predicted the occurrence of CMV infections post-BMT: in neg/neg donor/recipient pairs (n = 17) the actuarial risk at 300 days was 0%, compared to 41% in pairs in which donor and/or recipient were CMV seropositive (n = 81) (p = 0.001). 24/31 patients were treated with ganciclovir (DHPG), and 17 survive. Mortality of patients treated early with DHPG on the basis of CMV antigenemia was 18% compared to 42% for untreated patients (p = 0.9). Pretransplant donor/recipient seropositivity accurately predicted transplant related mortality (TBM): 6% in neg/neg pairs vs 41% in all other combinations (p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of developing CMV infections post-BMT can be predicted by pre-transplant serostatus, diagnosed by monitoring the expression of pp65-protein and correlates with transplant related mortality. The latter appears to be reduced by early treatment with DHPG.
Actuarial Analysis↗