Eight sailors on board the Asiafreighter were exposed to arsine that had escaped from a cylinder in the cargo hold. Four suffered severe toxicity and within a few hours had developed fever, weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and haemoglobinuria. These patients had pronounced intravascular haemolysis, which in one patient was complete. This patient was also stuporose and anoxic, a condition attributed to failure of oxygen transport and sludging of red cell debris in the cerebral and pulmonary circulations, but he regained a normal level of consciousness after exchange transfusion. Evidence of marrow depression was present: the reticulocyte response to the haemolysis was poor and there was a thrombocytopenia. All four patients developed renal failure, one being totally anuric for five weeks. Two patients developed peripheral neuropathy, and one was still severely disabled six months after the incident. The other four patients had a similar, though less severe, illness.

Acute Kidney Injury↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The management of penicillin resistant gonococcal urethritis in Northern Nigeria.

Forty-five men, with acute gonococcal urethritis, were treated with a single dose regime of Probenecid 1 gm and Procaine penicillin, 4.8 mega-units, yielding a cure in 97 per cent. Multiple antibiotic resistance was noted in 69 per cent of 28 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates, and of 19 isolates tested for precise penicillin sensitivity, 58 per cent were resistant to greater than 2 i.u./ml. Serum penicillin levels measured in 3 patients showed adequate duration of plateau levels. The advantages of adopting such a regime are discussed.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗