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Biomedical subjects

A A Vickers

Publications and source records attributed to A A Vickers.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Cysticercosis of the spine.

A former regular soldier who had served in India before the second World War was in 1953-1955 diagnosed as suffering from cysticercosis affecting the brain and spinal cord as well as the muscles. Twenty years later he was found to have sustained severe damage to the lumbar spine, eventually proved due to cysticercosis involving the bones, joints and psoas muscles. The problem of why and how the disease remained active 40 years after the initial exposure remains unexplained. A search of the literature and enquiries from appropriate specialists have failed to produce any record of a similar case.

Cysticercosis

Correlation between serological and immunofluorescence results in the investigation of brucellosis in veterinary surgeons.

Four serological tests and three immunofluorescence tests for IgG, IgM, and IgA were compared for value in the investigation of brucellosis in veterinary surgeons. No one serological test stood out over the others, and the immunofluorescence tests did not appear to have advantages over the serological tests. If a laboratory is limited in time and resources then the saline agglutination or the complement fixation test would be reasonably satisfactory. The 2-mercaptoethanol test and the antihuman globulin (Coombs' test) have no advantages over the other two and could be dropped. Immunofluorescence tests are not recommended for routine testing of brucellosis sera. The results and these recommendations apply to the 'vet' sera tested; it is reasonable to suppose that what applies to 'vet' sera will also apply to sera of those who work with or are in repeated contact with cattle and who will have had previous experience of brucella antigen, that is, dairy farmers, herdsmen, or slaughter house employees.

Agglutination Tests

Brucellosis and veterinary surgeons.

Forty-six veterinary surgeons were given a full clinical examination, serological examinations with estimates of immunoglobulins, and supplementary haematological and radiological investigations. Thirty-five complained of one or more symptoms, and eight had abnormal physical signs which might have been caused by infection with Brucella abortus, but neither sereological tests results nor immunoglobulin estimates bore any special relation to the clinical features. The soundest way of assessing ill health which had possibly been caused by brucellosis seemed to be thorough clinical examination and disregard of serologican findings. Interpreting results by the usual serological tests in the absence of a clinical examination is probably of doubtful value and may even be misleading.

Adult