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Biomedical subjects

K Limpakarnjanarat

Publications and source records attributed to K Limpakarnjanarat.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Toxicity of the freshwater puffer fish Tetraodon fangi and T. palembangensis from Thailand.

Toxicity of the freshwater puffer Tetraodon fangi and T. palembangensis from Amphur Chumpuang, Nakorn Ratchasima Province, Thailand (where food poisoning due to T. fangi recently occurred) was monitored from December 1988 through October 1989. The puffer were toxic throughout most of the year. There was marked variation in amounts of toxins among individuals and with the time of collection. The highest toxicity levels for T. fangi were found in skin (813 mouse units per g) following by eggs (336), muscle (331), liver (209) and intestine (159). Corresponding values for T. palembangensis were 907, 332, 282, 225 and 143 mouse units/g, respectively.

Animals

An outbreak of El Tor cholera in an institution for the mentally retarded in Nonthaburi, June-July 1987.

In June and July 1987, an outbreak of cholera caused by V.cholerae O1, biotype El Tor, serotype Inaba, occurred in an institution for the mentally retarded in Nonthaburi. Of the 447 retarded inmates, 74 were found to be infected and one died. Epidemiological investigation revealed that the inmates with severe mental retardation who ate food in their own sleeping-room were significantly (p less than 0.001) more likely to be infected than those taking food in the dining-room. We hypothesize that the liquid diet commonly served to the more severely mentally retarded may have increased the risk of infection by more rapid gastric emptying. The long average period of time for meal consumption among these individuals may have allowed the organisms to multiply to a level capable of causing disease. Contamination of food with cholera might have occurred during food handling in the kitchen or within the sleeping-room where overcrowded conditions and poor personal hygiene facilitated person-to-person spread of infection. Prompt implementation of control measures effectively terminated cholera transmission in the outbreak.

Adolescent

Food poisoning due to consumption of the freshwater puffer Tetraodon fangi in Thailand.

In October 1988, food poisoning due to the freshwater puffer Tetraodon fangi occurred. Six out of eight people who consumed spicy soup (Tom Yam) of puffer developed clinical signs of tetrodotoxin intoxication. The incubation period varied from 30 min to 3 hr and there were no deaths. Puffers were collected one week after the occurrence of the food poisoning and their content of toxin was determined. All organs of puffer were toxic with skin having the highest toxicity followed by gonad, muscle, liver and intestine.

Aged

Outbreak of anthrax in Thailand.

An outbreak of anthrax occurred among 14 persons exposed to the meat of two water buffalo which had died from anthrax, in two neighbouring villages in the northeastern region of Thailand. All but one case had typical eschars or blisters. Three had eaten raw meat; one of them died from gastric anthrax with severe haematemesis. All the others were successfully treated with penicillin. The incubation period varied between two and 11 days. Sporadic outbreaks of human and animal anthrax still occur in Southeast Asia.

Adult

Primary invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease: a population-based assessment of risk factors.

We performed a population-based case-control study of risk factors for primary invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease in metropolitan Atlanta from July 1, 1983, through June 30, 1984. Active surveillance identified 102 cases in children less than 5 years of age, 89 of whom lived in households with telephones. We used random digit dialing to select 530 controls who were postmatched to cases by age. Multivariate analysis showed a significant association between Hib disease and two independent exposure factors, household crowding (odds ratio (OR) 2.7, 95% confidence limits (CL) 1.3 to 5.6) and day-care attendance. For day-care attendance, relative risk was highest in 2- to 5-month-old infants (OR 17.7, 95% CL 5.8 to 54.4) and declined to 9.4 (4.3 to 20.9) at ages 6 to 11 months, 5.0 (2.7 to 9.3) at 12 to 23 months, 2.7 (1.3 to 5.5) at 24 to 35 months, and 1.4 (0.5 to 4.0) in 36- to 59-month-old children. Fifty percent of all invasive Hib disease that occurred during the study period was attributable to exposure to day-care; the attributable risk for household crowding was 18%. Dose-response effects were observed for hours per week of day-care attendance and extent of household crowding. Breast-feeding was protective for infants less than 6 months of age (OR 0.08, 95% CL 0.01 to 0.59). After controlling for socioeconomic and other confounding factors, we could demonstrate no effect of black race on cumulative risk of invasive Hib disease. Our study defines high-risk groups and provides a population-based model of the interrelationship between risk factors associated with invasive Hib disease.

Age Factors

An outbreak of chancroid in Orange County, California: descriptive epidemiology and disease-control measures.

From May 1981 through February 1983, greater than 1,700 patients were examined for genital ulcers at the Orange County Special Diseases Clinic in Santa Ana, California. Of these patients, 923 had either confirmed chancroid or genital ulcers of unknown etiology. Haemophilus ducreyi was recovered from lesions or inguinal buboes of 271 patients. In the previous year, no cases of chancroid were reported in this community. Men accounted for 266 (98%) of the confirmed cases; 95% of the men were Hispanic, and at least 53% had had sexual contact with a prostitute. All five culture-positive women were prostitutes. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed resistance to both sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline but susceptibility to erythromycin and to the combination trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Treatment of patients with chancroid, their sex partners, and temporarily incarcerated prostitutes contributed to the successful control of this outbreak.

California

Human and sylvatic Trypanosoma cruzi infection in California.

In August 1982, a 56-year-old woman from Lake Don Pedro, California, developed acute Chagas' disease (American trypanosomiasis). She had not traveled to areas outside the United States with endemic Chagas' disease, she had never received blood transfusions, and she did not use intravenous drugs. Trypanosoma cruzi cultured from the patient's blood had isoenzyme patterns and growth characteristics similar to T. cruzi belonging to zymodeme Z1. Triatoma protracta (a vector of Trypanosoma cruzi) infected with T. cruzi were found near the patient's home, a trypanosome resembling T. cruzi was cultured from the blood of two of 19 ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi), and six of 10 dogs had antibody to T. cruzi. A serosurvey of three groups of California residents revealed antibody to T. cruzi by complement fixation in six of 237 (2.5 per cent) individuals living near the patient and in 12 of 1,706 (0.7 per cent) individuals living in a community 20 miles northeast of the patient's home, but in only one of 637 (0.2 per cent) blood donors from the San Francisco Bay area. This is the first case of indigenously acquired Chagas' disease reported from California and the first case recognized in the United States since 1955. This investigation suggests that transmission of sylvatic Trypanosoma cruzi infection to humans occurs in California but that Chagas' disease in humans is rare.

Adolescent