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Biomedical subjects

H E Menke

Publications and source records attributed to H E Menke.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Comparison of cardiolipin and treponemal tests in the serodiagnosis of yaws.

Results of the Veneral Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL), rapid plasma reagin (RPR), Treponema pallidum haemagglutination (TPHA), T. pallidum immobilisation (TPI), and fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) tests on sera of 661 children from a region where yaws is hypoendemic are compared. For 107 (16.2%) out of 661 sera the FTA-ABS test was the only one showing reactivity; in these instances the test was weakly reactive (intensity of fluorescence scored as +) and the children had no history and no signs or symptoms of treponemal disease. A solitary, weakly reactive FTA-ABS test result seems to have no clinical significance in these cases. The FTA-ABS test can be used as a confirmatory test for yaws instead of the TPI test, if only the results of sera showing an intensity of fluorescence scored as ++ or more are considered to be positive. There appeared to be no significant differences in the results of the VDRL, RPR, and TPHA tests as screening tests for yaws when the TPI or FTA-ABS tests were used as reference tests.

Adolescent

Attenuated yaws in Surinam.

Results of a pilot survey in the central, northern region of Surinam indicate that yaws is prevalent (hypoendemic) in this part of the country. No classical symptoms of yaws were seen. The observed lesions were scanty or solitary, dry papillomatous, or macular and scaly, which fits into the clinical picture of attenuated endemic treponematosis.

Adolescent

Role of IgG fractions with high isoelectric points in the thymol turbidity test in syphilis. Evidence for an increase in basic IgG in early syphilis.

It is demonstrated that IgG fractions with isoelectric points above 7.6, isolated from pooled syphilitic sera, are able to elevate the thymol turbidity. The effect increases with increasing isoelectric points of the isolated fraction. IgG from individual syphilitic patients exerts a stronger effect on the thymol turbidity than normal IgG. It is concluded that elevated amounts of these basic immunoglobulins are present in the sera of syphilitic subjects.

Electrophoresis

Preference for basic IgG in early syphilis.

By differential IgG measurements of sera of 27 patients with early infectious syphilis, it was found that infection with T. pallidium results in a preferential synthesis of IgG immunoglobulins characterized by high isoelectric points. The decrease in total IgG level observed after 6 weeks of treatment can to a large extent be accounted for by the decrease in basic IgG concentration. The relationship between the total and basic IgG levels and the number of T. pallidum present in the body during the three early stages of the disease studied is discussed.

Adult