Paul D. Ellner

Bacteroides septicemia in older patients.

Abstract: Thirty‐seven cases of Bacteroides septicemia are documented. Eighteen of these patients were age 45 or older; the mean age was 65 years. Fourteen of these older patients were males, most of whom had gastrointestinal disease. Seven of the 18 patients died as a result of their infection.

NON‐FATAL CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS BACTEREMIA*

Sixteen cases of bacteremia due to Clostridium perfringens are documented. None of these patients had hemolytic phenomena or shock, and all survived the bacteremic episode; 9 of them were more than 50 years old (mean age, 64). A review of these 16 cases and the 34 in the literature indicates that invasion of the blood by Clostridium perfringens may take two clinical forms: 1) a septicemia with intravascular hemolysis, shock and a high mortality rate; and 2) a benign bacteremia without hemolysis. Of the 50 reported cases of the benign bacteremic form, 68 per cent occurred in patients past the age of 50 (mean age, 64), and the recovery rate was 90 per cent.

Unreliability of Direct Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing on Wound Exudates

Direct susceptibility testing was performed on 110 specimens of wound exudates. Growth was inadequate in 76 of these specimens. Of the remaining 34 specimens, only 5 produced results corresponding to those obtained by testing individual bacterial isolates by the Kirby-Bauer technique. This study confirms that direct susceptibility testing of wound exudates may provide misleading and clinically unreliable information on more than 95% of specimens.

More on mutants with altered DNA's

Abstract A “DNA-base composition mutant” (No. 170) of Bacterium paracoli 5099 is identified as a member of the genes Bacillus. This suggests that the “mutant” is in reality a contaminant.

The non-physician expert in medical malpractice litigation

detection of small round structured viruses in faecal specimens. J. Virol. Methods. 57:195-201. 45. Schwab, K.J. et al. 1997. Use of heat release and an intemal RNA standard control in reverse transcription-PCR detection of Norwalk virus from stool samples. J. Clin. Microbiol. 35:511-514. 46. Atmar, R.L. et al. 1995. Detection of Norwalk virus and hepatitis A virus in shellfish tissues with the PCR. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:3014-3018. 47. Le Guyader, F. et al. 1996. Detection and analysis of a small round-structured virus strain in oysters implicated in an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62:4268-4272.

Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in broth cultures by immunologic methods.

The feasibilities of use of coagglutination, counterimmuno-electrophoresis, and indirect enzyme-labeled antibody techniques for the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in broth cultures were evaluated. Six-hour broth cultures of 47 subcultures of recent clinical isolates of N. gonorrhoeae were used for the tests. Positive coagglutination reactions were obtained with 43 of the broth cultures. Precipitin lines were observed with 45 cultures when counterimmunoelectrophoresis was used. All 47 broth cultures gave positive reactions with the indirect enzyme-labeled antibody technique.