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Biomedical subjects

J R Willcox

Publications and source records attributed to J R Willcox.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Observer variation in the interpretation of Gram-stained urethral smears: implications for the diagnosis of non-specific urethritis.

A study was carried out to determine whether the diagnosis of non-specific urethritis was affected by differences in the microscopical interpretation of urethral smears between individual observers (interobserver variation) and the same observer on separate occasions (intraobserver variation). A marked degree of both intraobserver and interobserver variation was found which--depending on the diagnostic criteria adopted--could affect both the diagnosis and treatment of many patients attending a clinic of genitourinary medicine.

Bacteriological Techniques

Liver disease among homosexual males.

5% of 2612 homosexual males attending genitourinary clinics were found to be hepatitis-B surface-antigen (HBsAg) positive. Liver biopsy was done in 25 who had abnormal liver-function tests but no symptoms or signs of liver disease, and 14 (56%) of these proved to have chronic active hepatitis or active cirrhosis. Neither the liver-function tests nor the viral markers in serum reflected the severity of the liver disease. 38% of a group of 118 HBsAg positive patients were HBeAg positive, and sexual contacts of these individuals may be at serious risk of infection.

Carrier State

The need for a chlamydial culture service.

In a prospective study of unselected, female patients attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic one in eight patients would have been errouneously declared free of infection in the absence of a chlamydial culture service. Chlamydia trachomatis is now accepted as a causative organism of non-specific urethritis and post-gonococcal urethritis in men and non-specific genital infection in women. Thus, facilities for isolation of C. trachomatis should be an essential aid in the management of women attending STD clinics. Male patients would also benefit if such facilities were readily available.

Bacteriology