Owen B. O'l James

Transmission of infectious drug resistance from animals to man

The antibiotic resistance patterns of coliforms in faecal specimens from pigs and their human contacts were studied. The ability of the resistant coliforms to transfer their resistance in vitro to antibiotic-sensitive recipients was examined. The results showed that pigs which had received antibiotics carried more multiply-resistant, R-factor bearing coliforms than pigs which had not been given antibiotics. Human contacts of the antibiotic-treated pigs had a higher incidence of antibiotic-resistant coliforms with R-factors than human contacts of pigs which had not been given antibiotics. It is concluded that antibiotic treatment of farm animals may lead to acquisition of antibiotic resistance by gut coliforms of man.

Biological false positive serological tests for syphilis in the Jamaican population.

A total of 19,067 sera were screened for biological false positive (BFP) reactivity by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test. Sera which were reactive in the VDRL test were confirmed by the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test. BFP reactions were detected in 0.59% of the general population, 0.72% of pregnant women and 11.8% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The rate of BFP reactors among pregnant women did not differ significantly from the general population. The female to male ratio of BFP in the general population was 2:1 whilst that in the group of patients with SLE was 8:1. The overall seroprevalence of syphilis was 2.2%.

Intestinal perforation in ascariasis—case reports

Two cases of intestinal perforation in association with ascariasis are described. In both cases adult ascarids were found either in the gut or lying free in the peritoneal cavity. Neither patient had typhoid fever, one had Hodgkins lymphoma. The authors believe that the perforation were directly caused by the ascarids. Both patients died.

Diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus in Jamaica by Crithidia luciliae indirect immunofluorescence test

The Crithidia luciliae indirect immunofluorescence test (CL-IFT) was compared with the DNA-binding assay for confirmation of the presence of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies in cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The study involved 142 patients whose sera had anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA). In 62 patients with clinical or suspected SLE, 66% gave positive CL-IFT results as against 69% by DNA-binding. Two patients who had negative CL-IFT results but positive DNA-binding were only marginally positive (31% and 36%). Anti-dsDNA antibody was not found in any ANA negative sera. C. luciliae is easily maintained in culture and the test is relatively easy to perform in any laboratory with facilities for doing fluorescence microscopy; we recommend it for confirmation of the diagnosis of SLE, especially in laboratories with limited resources.