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K Bodmer

Publications and source records attributed to K Bodmer.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

[Gonococcus-associated arthritis].

The various forms of arthritis associated with a gonococcus infection are pathogenetically and clinically differentiated. Whereas an infectious systemic process with different clinical symptoms is said to be underlying the arthritis-dermatitis syndrome as well as the septic GO-arthritis, the third form is para-infectious reactive arthritis. It is often difficult to diagnose an infectious GO-arthritis, as direct evidence of the virus found in joint and blood is rarely positive, so that the diagnosis can be affirmed or negated on the basis of clinical facts of the reaction of arthritis after an appropriate antibiotic therapy. Differential diagnostic considerations may help to find the correct diagnosis in view of an acute urethritis arthritis.

Arthritis, Infectious

[Brucella spondylodiskitis].

In the light of two personal observations some epidemiological, radiological and serological aspects of brucellar spondylodiscitis are discussed. In Switzerland livestock is considered brucellosis-free, and hence spondylodiscitis has become an infectious disease imported from well known endemic brucellosis regions. The clinical picture is not very typical, except for circumscript vertebral pathology, and frequently the disease process lacks the humoral signs of inflammation and infection. Radiologically, early osseous reparative processes are characteristic, frequently with only minor destructive lesions. A tendency to spontaneous recovery is not uncommon and in fact is suggested by one of our own observations. The disease is, therefore, essentially different from tuberculous spondylitis. In only 20% of all cases can the presence of germs be shown in abscess or granulation tissue. Serologic tests provide valuable information but always point to a generic and not a specific diagnosis. Good therapeutic effects are obtained with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole which are possibly better than with combined therapy using tetracycline and streptomycin.

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