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Biomedical subjects

G Harasek

Publications and source records attributed to G Harasek.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

Chronic encephalitis in X-linked agammaglobulinaemia.

Clinicopathological and immunological findings are reported in a boy with X linked agammaglobulinaemia (XLA), who after multiple episodes of purulent infections in various organs developed encephalitis associated with excemata and non suppurative arthritis. Inspite of gammaglobulin administration he developed progressive spastic tetraparesis, convulsions, mental deterioration and blindness and died in a decerebrate state at the age of 8 years. Necropsy revealed a general diminuition of the lymphoid tissue. The atrophic brain showed multiple cystic destructions and chronic, but still active polioencephalitis with prominent inflammatory involvement of basal ganglia and brain stem. Symmetric Wernicke-like lesions were seen in inferior corpora quadrigemina. The aetiology of this particular type of chronic progressive encephalitis in XLA is unknown but some kind of viral infection is to be considered.

Agammaglobulinemia↗
PubMed1978

[Tetanus antitoxin in serum and cerebral spinal fluid in viral meningitis in children (author's transl)].

Tetanus antitoxins were measured in serum and cerebro spinal fluid from 58 children--35 boys and 23 girls--with viral meningitis. The concentrations of IgG, IgA and IgM were also determined. The appearance of tetanus antitoxins in cerebral spinal fluid depends on absolute antitoxin levels in serum as well as on the antitoxin/IgG ratio. Antitoxin/IgG ratios in serum and cerebro spinal fluid were in the same order of magnitude. Detection of tetanus antitoxins in the cerebral spinal fluid of children with viral meningitis shows clearly that antibody found in cerebral spinal fluid is not an absolute proof of a certain disease. The results further indicate that local production of IgG antibody cannot be postulated by detecting certain antibodies in the CSF. It is also necessary to prove that antibody/globulin ratios are of significantly different magnitude in serum and CFS.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

[Costs and benefits of measles vaccination].

Former calculations of the medical benefit of measles immunization, concerning frequency of measles complications, effectiveness and risk of vaccination, showed that measles vaccination is a very useful measure. As the decision to introduce vaccination on a broad scale depends on financial deliberations, too, a cost-benefit analysis for Austria has been performed and the cost-benefit ratio as well as the cost-benefit difference calculated. The costs of measles vaccination which is performed mainly by private pediatricians at the present time, include costs of vaccine, physician and additional antipyretic and is 257.90 AS. The average costs of therapy per child consist of home treatment (287.20 AS), hospital treatment (162.50 AS) and care of residual cerebral damage (88.50 AS). Together with the costs of one week vacation which is warranted in Austria for the nursing of a sick child once a year, this makes a total sum of 1081.--AS. From these data the cost-benefit ratio was calculated by 2.95, the cost-benefit difference by 715.--AS per child. 5 years after the start of general measles vaccination of 1 year old children the accumulated costs of vaccination are equalled by the profit gained by prevention of the disease. The annual cost-benefit difference is positive after 3 years. 10 years after introduction of general vaccination the accumulated cost-benefit difference in Austria would be approximately 167 Mill. AS.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

[Mumps meningitis and mumps vaccination (author's transl)].

Mumps meningitis (MM) is the most frequent inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in children. It occurs twice as often in boys as in girls. Usually it is mild; encephalitic signs are found only in 2-3% of the cases. Even here persistent neurological signs are rare, but psychological alterations are found in about 20% of the cases. 40% of all MM cases occur in children of school age necessitating absence from school for four weeks at last. The frequency of MM makes it a financial problem too. In Viennese hospitals 4.2 million Austrian Schillings were spent yearly for hospitalization of children with MM, on average, during the years 1971-1975. The vaccination of all Viennese children born in a single year (18,000) against mumps would require an outlay of only 2.8 million Austrian Schillings. Wide-spread routine vaccination against mumps is indicated, therefore, not only for medical, but for social and economic reasons as well.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1976

[The importance of immune deficiency for the prognosis of purulent meningitis (author's transl)].

Morbidity and mortality of suppurative bacterial meningitis show a very constant behavior over many decades. The introduction of antibiotics certainly lowered the lethality considerably, but since then it has remained fairly unchanged at about 15-20%. However, in the principal groups of pathogens--meningococci, pneumococci, Haemophilus influenzae--antibiotic resistence plays no special role. The significance of disorders of defense against infections for the course of the disease has not yet been investigated. Of 92 children examined with purulent meningitis, 49 showed a selective antibody deficiency syndrome against bacterial antigens, 38 of 48 children investigated showed further disorders of bactericidal activity. The proportion of these disorders is particularly high in children with defective healing of a meningitis.

Austria↗
PubMed1976

[Blood and cerebrospinal fluid B and T lymphocytes in mumps-meningitis (author's transl)].

20 children, 12 boys and 8 girls, with mumps-meningitis have been investigated during the acute stage of illness. Immunoglobulin-concentration, B and T cell ratios were determined in venous blood and cerebrospinal fluid. In the blood no correlation between the percentage of B cells and immunoglobulin-levels, or the course of illness could be observed. Total protein level as well as cell count, the concentration of glucose and chloride were determined in the cerebrospinal fluid at the same time. No correlation between the percentage of B cells and immunoglobulin-levels could be observed in cerebrospinal fluid. No difference in the number of B and T cells was observed between blood and cerebrospinal fluid. These results demonstrate, that the lymphocytes in cerebrospinal fluid in meningitis possess the same surface markers and show about the same B to T cell ratio as it is found on the lymphocytes of blood.

B-Lymphocytes↗
PubMed1975

[Tuberculous meningitis and antibody deficiency disease (author's transl)].

A 13 year old girl not vaccinated with BCG became ill with tuberculous meningitis. After administration of 30 g of Streptomycin, cell counts and protein concentrations of the cerebro-spinal fluid returned to normal values. After continuation of antituberculous therapy without Streptomycin, the patient relapsed, and Streptomycin had to be given for 14 months. Defect in humoral immunity was diagnosed with low IgG and low titers of antiviral antibodies. For this reason the patient was additionally treated with passive administration of antibodies.

Adolescent↗