Henoch-Schönlein purpura associated with Toxocara canis infection.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J F Magnaval.
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This is a case of presumed ocular toxocariasis in a 28-year old woman complaining of a sudden onset of nasal side field defect of the right eye. The patient had been suffering from uveitis for ten months. Fundoscopic examination of the right eye showed a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Furthermore, a retinochoroidal granulomatous lesion was observed nearby the tear site. Scleral buckling, cryotherapy, and gas injection(SF6, pure gas, 0.7 cc) were conducted. Mebendazole was prescribed for one month at 25 mg/kg per body weight daily. Even though the interventions resulted in the recovery of the field defect, anti-Toxocara IgG and IgE titer levels did not decrease when checked three months after the treatment ended. This is the first confirmed serological ocular toxocariasis case in Korea. Uveitis may be a clinical presentation prior to retinal detachment of a person with toxocariasis.
A seroepidemiologic study of human T cell lymphotrophic virus type-1 (HTLV-1) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections was carried out in Martinique among 467 pregnant women receiving prenatal care at the Martinique Department for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood. A seroprevalence rate of 1.93% was found for HTLV-1 infection. No HIV serum marker was observed. Given the epidemiology of these viral diseases, it is suggested that serologic status should be determined for all pregnant women on this island. A further, large-scale, prospective survey of HIV seroprevalence in Martinique should be performed to confirm the results of the present study.
Trichinellosis is an uncommon condition that is nevertheless a continuing problem as shown by two recent outbreaks in our region. The clinical features are reviewed briefly. The physical and laboratory test findings in the 117 patients affected during the first outbreak (February 1998) are reported, as well as the methods used to treat these patients.
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Authors describe another case of subcutaneous dirofilariasis due to Dirofilaria (Nochtiella) repens in France. A 26-year-old woman was infected while on vacation in Cap d'Agde on the Mediterranean coast. The patient presented with a subcutaneous nodule in the right subclavicular region. Examination of the nodule after surgical excision revealed the presence of a worm identified as an immature female Dirofilaria repens. Dirofilariasis is a rare anthroponotic disease encountered only in the Old World, particularly in Southeastern France including Corsica which has the second highest number of reported cases after Italy. Since man is a dead-end for the parasite, Dirofilaria repens does not mature and hence most human infections present as isolated subcutaneous nodules. Nodules are usually located in areas exposed to bites by the dipteres, i.e. the face (46 p. 100 of cases reported in the world) and the periocular and palpebral region (30 p. 100). Diagnosis is based mainly on morphological examination of the worm after surgical excision. However promising results in diagnosis of ocular and visceral forms of Dirofilaria repens and understanding of helminthiasis have been achieved thanks to progress in immunological techniques, i.e., ELISA and western blot, and DNA analysis based on polymerase chain reaction.
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The investigation of hypereosinophilias (HE) is a long and complicated process requiring a close collaboration between biologist and clinician physicians. The latter especially will have to provide information on symptoms (association with a fever; a hepatitis) and on the epidemiological history (patient's occupation and country of origin, and/or time and place of the travels or stays out of the European Union). The first step of laboratory investigations consists of making a check blood count, then measuring the sedimentation rate. At the time of the second step, the measurement of total IgE (a concentration greater than 500 IU/ml is often linked to a helminthiasis), that of specific IgE for common inhalant allergens, and three stool examinations using Baermann's technique will be carried out. The request for parasitic serodiagnoses only will be done if the above-cited investigations are negative, and if HE persists after a therapeutic test. A panel of serological tests often needs to be performed. If a helminthic infection is suspected but the immunodiagnostic methods fail, these tests may be required again after a time of a few weeks. At this stage, the measurement of eosinophil cationic protein is useful, since a high level of eosinophil cationic protein is suggestive of non allergic HE.
Malaria involving both Plasmodium falciparum and vivax was observed in two patients hospitalized in the same room of the Cardiology Department of the Purpan University Hospital in Toulouse, France. One patient was in coma without fever by the time of diagnosis. None of the patients had traveled to malaria areas within the last 33 years. Epidemiological investigations failed to detect malaria in family members, hospital staff, or other patients. Transmission due to transfusion of infected blood, use of contaminated surgical instrumentation, or bite of an autochthonous anopheles mosquito was reasonable ruled out. Since Toulouse International Airport is located less than three kilometers from the Purpan University Hospital, the most likely explanation was airport-acquired malaria due to the bite of a mosquito imported by an aircraft coming from abroad. The hypothesis that an Anopheles mosquito survived the plane trip and then was blown into the patients' room was supported by temperature and wind conditions prevailing at the time of infection.
A comparison by stool examination of the prevalence of the most common digestive parasitic diseases was made between the years 1968, 1972 (results from the former Pasteur Institute of Martinique) and 1995 (results from the Departmental Laboratory of Hygiene of Martinique). This study shows that the outstanding characteristic of the dramatic decrease in the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminthiasis and intestinal schistosomiasis can be noted as early as the beginning of the seventies. An hypothesis of explanation would point to the combination of a general improvement in hygiene (due to economic growth) and an increase in drug use given the availability of efficient and well-tolerated anthelmintics, and for intestinal schistosomiasis, the impact of urbanization along with the growing scarcity of the intermediate host snail, especially as of 1983 thanks to an ecological control programme.
The incidence of dengue increased sharply in Martinique from the end of 1995 into 1996. Virological tests performed jointly on 36 serum samples by the Pasteur Institute in French Guyana and the Center for Disease Control in Puerto Rico led to identification of serogroups 1, 2, and 4 for six dengue virus. Between January 1995 and December 1996, the Departmental Hygiene Laboratory of Martinique carried out screening tests to detect specific IgM by the immunocapture method (MAC ELISA) in patients with suspected dengue. Results were positive in 701 of the 2,143 patients tested (32.7%). Symptoms were studied in 421 of these positive cases. The most frequent presentation was a flu-like syndrome with hyperalgia. Nausea, vomiting, joint pain, and retroocular pain were frequent. At least one clinical sign of coagulation disturbance was noted in 83 patients (19.7%). Dengue hemorrhagic syndrome was diagnosed according to the criteria of the World Health Organization in six patients including one who developed circulatory collapse and died. This fatality was the first to be reported in Martinique. The incidence of typical dengue as well as of the hemorrhagic form is probably underestimated in Martinique because specific serological tests are not routinely requested and application of WHO criteria for diagnosis of hemorrhagic forms is often impractical.
Infection with Toxocara canis is a common world-wide human helminthiasis, which rarely elicits central nervous system (CNS) impairment. A case-control study to investigate this discrepancy was carried out, in which the cases were 27 adult neurological inpatients for whom a definite aetiological diagnosis was lacking, and for whom positive immunodiagnosis of toxocariasis had been obtained, both in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in serum. Two control groups were used. Controls were adult inpatients with other neurological diseases who had no evidence of T. canis infection of the CNS. Multivariate logistic regression analysis did not reveal any positive relation between case status and clinical signs. A significant association was observed between case status and an elevated CSF cell count. Rural residence, ownership of dogs, and dementia were shown to be risk factors for toxocaral infection of CNS. These results suggest that migration of T. canis larvae in the human brain does not frequently induce a recognizable neurological syndrome but is correlated with the association of several risk factors including exposure to dogs, a status possibly responsible for repeated low-dose infections.
A seroepidemiological survey of toxoplasmosis was carried out in Niamey, Niger, in 1992. Three hundred and seventy-one sera from 200 females and 171 males were tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay for IgG. Using a cut-off value of 12 UI, 67 sera (18%) were positive. In this group detection of specific IgM by ELISA with immunocapture revealed 8 positive sera (11.9%). Seroprevalence of specific IgG was not correlated with ethnic origin or sex but did increase with age from 6.9% in subjects under 5 years to 34.9% in subjects 50 years and over. These findings are comparable with those from previous studies in similar climates and confirm that the prevalence of toxoplasmosis is higher in humid coastal regions than dry desert areas.
A sero-prevalence survey was carried out on 108 workers of Djibouti slaughter-house in order to search out the carriers of agents of zoonotic diseases. The sera revealed prevalences of 6.5% for brucellosis, 0.9% for chlamydiosis and 42.6% for toxoplasmosis whereas no positive reactions were detected for Rift valley fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, hydatidosis, and toxocarosis. These data are compared with results obtained from cattle and small ruminants slaughtered in Djibouti.
An open randomized study was carried out to assess the efficacy of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and mebendazole (MBZ) across, respectively, 39 and 41 patients, all exhibiting clinical and biological features evocative of toxocariasis, together with a positive immunodiagnosis by Western blot using Toxocara larvae excretory-secretory antigens. Clinical impact of the disease was quantified by a score system (20 parameters). Post-treatment follow-up used also results from eosinophil counts from total and specific anti-Toxocara IgE quantitations, and from Western blots. All patients attended the control check-up 1 month after the end of treatment. Analysis of the results showed a similar good efficacy of DEC and MBZ on clinical score and eosinophil count that were significantly lowered. MBZ therapy was slightly more efficient on specific anti-Toxocara IgE kinetics, while total IgE mean titres were not affected by either DEC or MBZ treatment. Patients from the DEC group reported a significantly higher rate of adverse reactions, most of which could be due to parasite lysis. This fact could be a strong argument for treating human toxocariasis with MBZ.
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