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Biomedical subjects

J V Pether

Publications and source records attributed to J V Pether.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Microbiological investigation of polyarthralgia.

Results of serological investigations on patients with joint pain, arthralgia or polyarthritis were analysed and this information was used to develop a diagnostic algorithm to ensure optimal utilisation of laboratory resources. Accordingly, all cases are now examined for parvovirus IgM, mycoplasma IgM and streptococcal antibodies. Further tests are undertaken by following the algorithm after obtaining supplementary information from a questionnaire. This approach is put forward as a preliminary standard which other laboratories may like to evaluate and develop according to local requirements.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1993

The clinical spectrum of human hantavirus infection in Somerset, UK.

The signs and symptoms exhibited by 29 patients with an acute illness in whom antibodies to hantavirus were detected are described. In the severe cases the most striking signs and symptoms were the persistence for 2 or 3 weeks of a severe sore throat with pyrexia that developed early in the illness, followed by swelling of the face, neck and extremities, with arthropathy and prolonged malaise that lasted for months. A macular erythematous rash, hepatomegaly with abnormal liver function tests, and a tendency to haemorrhage was a later feature of the severe cases. Mild cases presented with a variety of signs and symptoms that were very difficult to link together as a syndrome.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1993

Isolation and purification of Aeromonas sobria cytotonic enterotoxin and beta-haemolysin.

Aeromonas sp., grown in tryptone soya broth supplemented with yeast extract, 0.6%, pH 7.5, and incubated with agitation at 100 oscillations/min for 15 h at 37 degrees C produced optimal amounts of beta-haemolysin and cytotonic enterotoxin. More prolonged incubation resulted in the loss of enterotoxic activity and anion exchange chromatographic analysis indicated the presence of a moiety capable of breaking down the toxin. Anion exchange fast protein liquid chromatography resulted in a single peak of haemolytic activity and two peaks with enterotoxic activity. The cytotonic enterotoxin was purified from the fraction most active in the infant mouse assay; the second peak, which did not cross-react immunologically, may represent a second cytotonic enterotoxin. Neither peak was observed in the chromatographic fractions of filtrates from strains devoid of activity in the infant mouse assay. Purified enterotoxin, estimated to have a mol. wt of 15 kDa by SDS-PAGE, caused fluid accumulation in the infant mouse assay, was non-haemolytic to rabbit erythrocytes, caused an increase in cAMP activity in tissue culture cells and did not cross-react immunologically with components of cholera toxin or the whole toxin. Purified beta-haemolysin had an estimated mol. wt of 55 kDa, lysed rabbit erythrocytes and did not cause fluid accumulation in the infant mouse test.

Aeromonas↗
PubMed1992

A study of coagulase-negative staphylococci with reference to slime production, adherence, antibiotic resistance patterns and clinical significance.

Two hundred and fifty-one strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) isolated from patients in hospital and the community were investigated for slime production and adherence as indicators of pathogenicity. Staphylococcus epidermidis formed 68.5% (126) of the isolates of CNS from blood and central venous catheter (CVC) tips, of which 46.0% (58) were slime-positive and adherent. Clinically significant infections were associated with 55.2% (32) of the slime-positive adherent strains isolated and 11.1% (four) of slime-negative non-adherent strains of S. epidermidis. For other species of CNS isolated from blood and CVC tips 74.1% (43) were slime negative non-adherent and 18.6% (eight) of these were considered clinically significant isolates while none of the slime positive adherent strains were associated with a clinically significant infection. Slime production and adherence were not characteristic properties of CNS causing community-acquired urinary tract infection or colonizing the nasal mucosa. It is concluded that slime production and adherence had a limited role in the differentiation between clinically significant and contaminant strains isolated from blood cultures; however, the absence of slime and adherence in isolates of S. epidermidis suggested a lack of pathogenicity.

Bacterial Adhesion↗
PubMed1991

Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 2 serotype O9 septicaemia in a previously fit man, raw goats' milk having been the apparent vehicle of infection: a cautionary tale.

A previously fit 66-year-old man presented with a 2 weeks' history of malaise, fever and vomiting which led to a septicaemic illness. Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 2 serotype O9 was isolated from the patient's blood and from raw goats' milk remaining in a bottle after the patient had consumed some of the contents. He also produced antibodies to this serotype. Careful history taking, however, revealed that the bottle of milk had been purchased after the patient became ill. Milk from the same bottle was consumed by his wife who neither became ill nor seroconverted. Furthermore, the organism was not isolated from further samples from the same supplier. The milk consumed by the patient was probably contaminated by him so that initial enthusiasm in attributing his infection to the consumption of raw goats' milk is not supported by the facts. This case illustrates some of the pitfalls of trying to determine the vehicle of infection in a single case.

Aged↗