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[Quantitative test for evaluating immunoreactivity in vaccinated mice with coccidioidosis].

The interaction between hypersensitivity of delayed type and the severity of infection was studied in albino mice vaccinated and survived after the intranasal infection with 100 LD50 of Coccidioidosis immitis (pulmonary model of coccidiasis). The method of determination of the weight of the lungs and edema of the paw pads after the administration of the specific antigen permitted to assess the intensity of immunity quantitatively. There was an inverse correlation between the weight of the affected lungs and edema of the limbs, and in case of pregressive development of coccidioidosis--between the weight of the body and the lungs. A formula for determining the immunoreactivity index in the vaccinated mice infected with the causative agents of lung infections, in the mechanism of whose defence the prevailing role was played by cellular immunity, is suggested.

Animals↗

[Transfer of cellular immunity to the causative agent of coccidioidosis using the transfer factor in mice].

Experiments conducted on non-linear mice demonstrated a possibility of transfer by the intact recipient of delayed hypersensitivity by means of Lawrence'transfer-factor from mice immunized with Coccidioides immitis. The transfer factor administered 48 hours before the intranasal infection protected mice from the lethal dose of coccidioides. This indicated that in coccidioidosis it was possible to transfer delayed hypersensitivity and cellular immunity with the transfer factor.

Animals↗

Mycobacterial and fungal infections of bone and joints.

The incidence of tuberculosis of the bone or joint is increasing. The number of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates that are resistant to multiple antibiotics is also on the rise. In response to the changing epidemiology, the approach to treatment of tuberculosis has been considerably modified. Laboratory methodology is improving to facilitate diagnosis and management of this disease. A variety of nontuberculous mycobacteria may also cause disease of skeletal structures. Mycobacterium haemophilum is an emerging pathogen in immunosuppressed patients with a proclivity for infecting bones and joints. The availability of the triazoles has substantially altered the therapeutic approach to fungal infections of bone or joint. Itraconazole can now be considered as therapy of blastomycosis, coccidioidosis, histoplasmosis, or sporotrichosis. Fluconazole is useful in cryptococcal infection, but its role in candida osteoarticular infection remains to be defined.

Antifungal Agents↗

Fluconazole. A review of its pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties, and therapeutic potential in superficial and systemic mycoses.

Fluconazole is a bis-triazole antifungal drug with novel pharmacokinetic properties (metabolic stability, relatively high water solubility) which contribute to its therapeutic activity. Clinical experience is limited to a relatively small number of mycoses and, as might be expected at this early stage of development, optimal dosage and duration of treatment for some serious mycoses is not yet established. Further study to evaluate higher dosages and to establish the efficacy of fluconazole relative to more established antifungal agents is required. In patients with oropharyngeal or oesophageal candidiasis, fluconazole produces rapid relief and eradicates the yeast in 50 to 90% of patients. Relapse of oral infection is common in chronically immunocompromised patients regardless of the antifungal used, and adequate primary therapy plus long term prophylaxis appears necessary in patients with AIDS. A single oral dose of fluconazole was comparable to standard topical azole therapy in women with acute vaginal candidiasis. Preliminary reports of success against deep-seated candidiasis are encouraging; moreover, experience in noncomparative clinical trials suggests that fluconazole 200 to 400mg once daily resolves infection in the majority of seriously ill patients. Clinical improvement has been reported in a few cases of pulmonary Aspergillus infection but the overall efficacy of conventional dosages of fluconazole in this mycosis has not been as impressive. Early experience in coccidioidosis, predominantly meningitis, suggests a beneficial clinical effect with oral fluconazole in this difficult to treat mycosis but relapse remains a problem. Fluconazole is a promising treatment of cryptococcal meningitis. The rate of clinical resolution and eradication of Cryptococcus neoformans from cerebrospinal fluid has been similar between fluconazole and amphotericin B treatment groups in comparative trials. Comparative trials of maintenance therapy indicate a similar low rate of relapse among patients given oral fluconazole once daily and intravenous amphotericin B once weekly. However, these results are preliminary and further study is required. Fluconazole has been well tolerated to date but wider clinical experience is needed, especially with regard to the rate occurrence of hepatotoxicity and exfoliative skin reactions. The promising clinical response of patients with various forms of candidiasis or cryptococcosis--together with convenient administration regimens--recommends fluconazole as a useful addition to currently available systemic antifungal therapies, in particular for the treatment of mycoses in patients with AIDS.

Animals↗

[Fungal infections in HIV-infected patients].

Recent situation of HIV-related mycosis was discussed in this paper, with the analysis of 1) annual report of HIV trends in Japan by the AIDS epidemiology committee, 2) report of HIV-related opportunistic infections (OIs) collected by the AIDS-OIs research group funded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and 3) 17 cases of HIV-related aspergillosis collected by the author. Annual AIDS cases were increasing, and their major diseases were included with the following mycosis: pneumosystis pneumonia 35.7%, candidiasis 19.1%, and cryptococcosis 2.4%. There were two foreigner's cases of histoplasmosis and no coccidioidosis. Candidiasis was likely to be shown in Japanese patients and cryptococcosis was in foreigners. Outcome of cryptococcosis was very poor as 32.7% of patients died. There were 17 HIV-related aspergillosis, which consisted of 13 cases of lung diseases, 2 of brain lesions, and one each of sinus and stomach disease. Remarkable risk factor of HIV-related aspergillosis was decrease of CD4 cell count less than 10/microl, in addition to the usual risk factors of aspergillosis. Outcome of aspergillosis was very poor, as all treated cases died except one recent case treated with voriconazole.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

Immunobiological characteristic of antigens from the parasitic phase of Coccidiodes immitis.

The possibility of obtaining serologically active antigens from tissue spherules extracted from the lungs of albino mice infected with C. immitis has been demonstrated. Unlike the method of obtaining spherules in vitro, the accumulation of sufficient quantities of tissue spherules does not involve special difficulties. To obtain more pure and specific antigens from crude tissue spherules material, chromatographic separation on a column with Sephadex G-100 is recommended. Antigens obtained from the spherules in vivo have been found to be more specific and active in serological and allergic reactions in comparison with the corresponding antigens from the mycelial form or from spherules in vitro and can be used in the diagnosis of coccidioidosis as well as in the study of the mechanism of cellular immunity.

Animals↗

[Mycotic sepsis].

Mycotic sepsis may be caused by obligately and facultatively pathogenic fungi. Obligately pathogenic fungi with dimorphism causing septic forms of cryptococcosis, blastomycoses, sporotrichosis, histoplasmosis, and coccidioidosis produce suppurative-necrotic lesions in the internal organs and the central nervous system. They run a course of primary diseases but occur rarely in our latitudes. More frequently, the septic forms of mycoses are due to conditionally pathogenic fungi (Candida, Aspergilli) and are manifested as a secondarily induced disease under conditions of various forms of immune deficiency of the host. Therefore, the main attention is paid to the discussion of protective reactions, particularly phagocytosis, since the latter has killer mechanisms against fungi. The presented data on the fungicidal system and detailed analysis of the functional properties of macrophages and leukocytes are important for the elucidation of the possibility of accumulation and transfer of medicinal biological substances directed at the elimination of the fungi.

Blastomycosis↗

[A case of coccidioidomycosis that was extirpated under thoracoscopy].

We report a case of coccidioidosis, which occurred in a 49-year-old Japanese man. He came back to Japan in 1994 after living in California in the U.S. for 2 years, and showed a round shadow in the left lower lung field on chest X-ray. A tumor was 1.4 cm in diameter and located in the left S8 showed by chest CT and the bronchography. It was extirpated under thoracoscopy. Histology of the tumor revealed chronic inflammation of the lung tissue, that contained a spherule of a diameter of 20-60 microns and endospores of a length of 2-6 microns. These structures were identified morphologically as coccidioides immitis. Only 3 cases of benign residual coccidioidal lesions have been reported in Japan including this case.

Chronic Disease↗