[Serogroup B meningococcus epidemiology. Results of a systematic survey of the civilian population].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Le Faou.
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Thirty women with asymptomatic genital gonococcal contamination were cured with one single i.m. injection of 1 g cefotaxime. Seven hours after treatment, the antibiotic level in cervical fluid was found equivalent to the minimal bactericidal concentration for gonococcus strains. But cefotaxime does not appear useful in the prevention of meningococcal pharyngeal carriage.
Over a period of 28 months, 605 strains of gonococci and 302 strains of meningococci have been isolated in an urban dispensary. The study was particularly concerned with the identification of gonococcal and meningococcal strains isolated from the patients sexual partners and with epidemiological distribution of the two species. There was only little seasonal variations in the occurrence of gonococcal infections. The frequency of meningococcal infections (which are only poorly transmitted, by the nasopharyngeal route) varied inconsistently during the period covered.
A total of 1,499 Serratia marcescens strains were isolated in Strasbourg University Hospital within a period of three years. Serotyping could split this collection into 37 different serotypes. Two serotypes (014:H12 and 013:H17) were responsible for a persistent S. marcescens endemic. Serotype 014:H12 was mostly recovered from sputa, whereas serotype 013:H17 was mostly recovered from urine. These two serotypes had different antibiotic resistance patterns.
We have studied 386 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated in our laboratory from July 1977 to October 1978, with the Catlin's auxotyping method. The distribution of the four main auxotypes, i. e. (+), (PRO-), (ARG-), (ARG-, HYX-, URA-), is different from those reported by others (in U. S. A. and Sweden). In Strasbourg, the auxotype (+) is prevalent. We have noticed some differences among classes of population. For example (ARG-) and (ARG-, HYX-, URA-) are scarcely isolated from prostitutes and we have found less (ARG-) strains in women than in men. The determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration of 6 antibiotics has shown there was no differences between the auxotypes except for the (ARG-, HYX-, URA-) strains which are more susceptible to all the antibiotics, but spectinomycin. Since August 1978, we have also noticed an increasing of the resistance which is mainly due to (PRO-) strains.
Most Neisseria strains are able to grow with sulphate as a unique source of sulphur. Nevertheless, a cysteine requirement was present in a few strains of N. meningitidis and in 30% of N. flava strains isolated in our laboratory. All strains of N. gonorrhoeae exhibited such a requirement. In every strain tested, the need for cysteine (which can be satisfied by thiosulphate) was linked to the lack of sulphite-reducing-activity. The implications of these findings for the taxonomy and identification of Neisseria are discussed.
This study examines the consequences of diabetes on male reproductive function. We have studied a group of 18 diabetics (15 type I, 3 type II) age 24 to 40 years (mean 34 +/- 5.3) with duration of diabetes from 2 to 30 years (mean 11.8 +/- 8.3). This group was compared to 20 semen donors. In diabetics higher sperm (p = 0.0063) and round cell (p = 0.031) concentrations/ml as well as a higher total spermatozoa count (p = 0.023) were observed. The percentage of abnormal sperms were also higher. None of the couples had consulted for sterility and they had a mean of 2 children. In this group of patients, diabetes was not a cause of subfertility. Specific spermiological alteration in diabetics might reflect a testicular damage secondary to their diabetes or disease.
In patients with positive haemoculture counting the number of micro-organisms per ml of blood can be of interest for both diagnosis and prognosis. Contamination is practically excluded when values exceed 20 organisms/ml, and bacteraemia when they exceed 500 organisms/ml. Generally, the higher the count the greater the likelihood of septicaemia. Values lower than 2 organisms/ml correspond in most cases to Gram-negative infections. Excluding the latter, which carry a high lethal risk, the mortality rate in septicaemia increases with the number of micro-organisms in the blood.