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Biomedical subjects

G Wauters

Publications and source records attributed to G Wauters.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Three cases of opportunistic infection caused by propionic acid producing Corynebacterium minutissimum.

Propionic acid producing strains of Corynebacterium minutissimum were isolated from three patients with opportunistic infections. One neutropenic patient was undergoing chemotherapy for prolymphocytic leukemia; the other two patients were undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis respectively. An unusual feature of these three strains was their resistance to several antibiotics, which is seldom seen in diphtheroids other than Corynebacterium jeikeium and CDC group D2.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Isolation of Arcanobacterium haemolyticum from patients with pharyngitis in Belgium.

During a 40 months period, 49 Arcanobacterium haemolyticum strains were isolated from 12,000 throat swabs of patients with pharyngitis originating from 5 belgian provinces. All strains were recovered on sheep blood Columbia agar plates, supplemented by nalidixic acid and colistin. In two thirds of the cases, pharyngitis was associated with a rash. Half of the cases occurred in the age group between 10 and 20 years and isolates were twice more frequent in females than in males. Streptococcus pyogenes was isolated 23.2 times more frequently than Arcanobacterium haemolyticum.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

[Solitary splenic metastasis of endometrial adenocarcinoma. A case report and review of the literature].

The authors report one case of solitary metastatic endometrial carcinoma of the spleen. Carcinomatous metastatic involvement of the spleen usually indicates widespread malignant disease. Solitary metastatic lesions in this organ are exceedingly rare and the literature reveals up today only three cases having a endometrial origin. The authors take this opportunity to make a review of the literature.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1991

Causative role of Yersinia and other enteric pathogens in the appendicular syndrome.

In 2,861 consecutive patients undergoing appendicectomy for clinically suspected appendicitis an enteric pathogen was isolated from the appendix in almost 7% using an optimal combination of culture media. The pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica serotypes 03 and 09 predominated (3.6%), followed by Campylobacter and nontyphoid Salmonella. The same pathogen was isolated from the stool in 72.5% of patients with a culture-positive appendix and in 84.1% of those positive for a pathogenic Yersinia. Conversely, no pathogenic Yersinia were isolated in 326 gynaecologic control patients, in whom a normal appendix was removed. No frank appendicitis but mesenteric adenitis and/or terminal ileitis were found in 62.3% of 138 patients with a culture positive appendix, and in 74.6% of those positive for a pathogenic Yersinia. Histologic findings available in 135 patients showed acute suppurative appendicitis in only six (4.5%) patients, and in only one of 73 (1.4%) positive for a pathogenic Yersinia. In contrast, 46.8% of a group of 345 culture-negative appendices showed acute inflammation. A positive stool culture in a patient with suspected appendicitis, if consistent with sonographic and clinical findings, should be taken as strong evidence against the presence of true appendicitis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Fatal Capnocytophaga canimorsus septicemia in a previously healthy woman.

A previously healthy 47-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with septic shock five days after a small dog bite on the dorsum of her hand. Capnocytophaga canimorsus was isolated from blood cultures. Despite intensive therapy, multiple organ failure developed, and the patient died 27 days after admission. Characteristics of Capnocytophaga (formerly CDC group Dysgonic Fermenter-2) infection are briefly discussed. This unusual outcome in a previously healthy patient and the need for careful management of dog bite wounds, even if initially very small, is emphasized.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Fatal septicemia with Capnocytophaga canimorsus in a compromised host. A case report with review of the literature.

Capnocytophaga canimorsus (DF-2) is a newly described gram-negative bacterium that can produce serious infections following dog bites in the immunocompromised host. We are reporting a case of C. canimorsus infection in an elderly patient with a history of chronic respiratory disease and alcohol abuse. We also give a review of the clinical spectrum of the infection, discuss the difficulty in establishing the diagnosis and the preferential treatment.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed1991

Bone marrow scintigraphy in prostatic carcinomas.

Bone marrow scintigrams (MS) were performed on 73 men with histologically proven prostatic carcinomas. Follow-up data were available in 24 cases. Thirty-six patients had skeletal metastases at the time of the first MS investigation. They were compared with conventional bone scintigrams (BS) as well as clinical, biological, radiological and other follow-up data obtained for the same patients. At the present stage of revision and of follow-up of our patients, MS appeared less sensitive than BS in diagnosing skeletal metastases (94% as against 100% if all abnormal MS and BS presentations are considered as diagnostic or 83% as against 86% if more restrictive analytic criteria were applied). On the other hand, MS showed slightly higher specificity (81% for MS as against 73% for BS) when all abnormal MS and BS presentations are considered as diagnostic. With more restrictive diagnostic criteria, BS remains more specific (100%) than MS (87%). Nevertheless, the likelihood of bone metastasis is low when a normal MS is found in case of dubious BS situations, but high when the MS is pathological. In 11 patients with skeletal metastasis for whom follow-up investigations were available, MS appeared better than (4 cases) or equivalent to (6 cases) BS for evaluating the responses and the ultimate evolution of the disease. Marrow scintigrams are thus a useful tool in cases of dubious BS and for evaluating the response of skeletal metastasis to treatment.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Pathogenicity of Yersinia kristensenii for mice.

Forty-seven strains of Yersinia kristensenii from widely differing sources, representing all known O serogroups of this species, were investigated for virulence with a variety of animal and in vitro assays. Twenty-four (51%) of the isolates were lethal for mice pretreated with iron dextran. Mouse-lethal strains occurred predominantly within O serogroups O:11, O:12,25, and O:16. Virulent Y. kristensenii strains generally did not express the virulence-associated phenotype (Ca2+ dependence and binding of Congo red and crystal violet) which characterizes virulent strains of Y. enterocolitica, nor did they carry the Yersinia virulence plasmid. Although all strains hybridized with a DNA probe derived from the inv (invasin) gene of Y. enterocolitica, none was able to invade HEp-2 epithelial cell culture. Y. kristensenii strains were virulent only when inoculated parenterally into iron-loaded mice. Animals infected in this way succumbed rapidly to infection, generally within 24 h. This finding suggested that the pathogenicity of these bacteria may be attributable to a secreted toxin, but a search for such a substance and for other in vitro correlates of pathogenicity was unsuccessful. These observations indicate that some strains of Y. kristensenii kill mice by a mechanism not previously recognized in yersiniae.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Fatal Streptococcus suis meningitis in man.

A case of Streptococcus suis meningitis is observed in a 39-year-old and previously healthy meat factory worker. Neurological recovery was incomplete despite adequate and sustained antimicrobial therapy. Early deafness was demonstrated by brainstem auditory evoked potentials. Death due to aspiration pneumonia, cardiac arrest and subsequent cerebral anoxia occurred late in the course of the illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Nucleotide sequence of yst, the Yersinia enterocolitica gene encoding the heat-stable enterotoxin, and prevalence of the gene among pathogenic and nonpathogenic yersiniae.

The gene encoding the heat-stable enterotoxin (yst) was cloned from the chromosome of Yersinia enterocolitica W1024 (serotype O:9), and the nucleotide sequence was determined. The yst gene encodes a 71-amino-acid polypeptide. The C-terminal 30 amino acids of the predicted protein exactly correspond to the amino acid sequence of the toxin extracted from culture supernatants (T. Takao, N. Tominaga, and Y. Shimonishi, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 125:845-851, 1984). The N-terminal 18 amino acids have the properties of a signal sequence. The central 22 residues are removed during or after the secretion process. This organization in three domains (Pre, Pro, and mature Yst) resembles that of the enterotoxin STa of Escherichia coli. The degree of conservation between the E. coli and Y. enterocolitica toxins is much lower in the Pre and the Pro domains than in the mature proteins. The mature toxin of Y. enterocolitica is much larger than that of E. coli, but the active domain appears to be highly conserved. The yst gene of Y. enterocolitica introduced in E. coli K-12 directed the secretion of an active toxin. The cloned yst gene was used as an epidemiological probe among a collection of 174 strains representative of all Yersinia species except Yersinia pestis and numerous Y. enterocolitica subgroups. In Y. enterocolitica, there was a clear-cut difference between pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains: 89 of 89 pathogenic and none of 51 nonpathogenic strains contained yst-homologous DNA, suggesting that Yst is involved in pathogenesis. Among the other Yersinia species, only four strains of Yersinia kristensenii had DNA homologous to yst.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Detection of pYV+ Yersinia enterocolitica isolates by P1 slide agglutination.

Rabbit polyclonal antisera were raised against the pYV-encoded outer membrane protein P1 of five Yersinia enterocolitica strains belonging to serogroups O:3, O:5,27, O:8, and O:9. Analysis of these strains with the sera showed that P1 presented at least six different antigenic factors. Two of the serum specimens were chosen to test the P1 agglutinability of 797 strains isolated from various sources. This technique appeared to be more reliable than autoagglutination and Ca2+ dependency to monitor the presence of the pYV plasmid. Hence, we propose this P1-mediated agglutination as a new and easy virulence test.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1989

Legionella spp. in a hospital hot water system: effect of control measures.

Potential sources of Legionella spp. in a university hospital were investigated over 3 years in order to gain better understanding of the ecology and transmission of this organism to hospitalized patients. The survey highlighted the contamination of the hot water system with high concentrations of legionellas (up to 10(6) cfu 1(-1]. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 was predominant followed by L. pneumophila serogroup 10. Serogroup 1 and other species (L. longbeachae, L. micdadei) were rarely isolated. Serogroup 6 was also the predominant cause of nosocomial legionellosis in 15 sporadic cases in immunocompromised patients from 1981 to 1987. In light of this problem, several control measures were tried consecutively. A disinfection cycle with 6 ppm free chlorine failed to eradicate legionellas because of difficulties with the plumbing system. Raising the temperature in hot water tanks to 80 degrees C was effective locally, but mixer tanks where cold and hot water (60-65 degrees C) are mingled in order to achieve 45 degrees C became the principal reservoirs. Disconnecting the mixer tanks, maintaining a temperature of 60 degrees C in the heating tanks and accelerating the flow rate in the hot water system proved to be the most useful measures.

Belgium↗