Lyme disease: epidemiological characteristics in Maryland, 1984-1986.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Israel.
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A study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of a low dose of rabies human diploid cell vaccine administered intradermally for preexposure booster inoculation. Seventy-six volunteers received a 0.1-ml dose of rabies human diploid cell vaccine intradermally, approximately 2 years after their primary series. Though only 25 (32.9%) had a titer less than 0.5 IU/ml before the booster, all had a postbooster titer of greater than or equal to 4.0 IU/ml 3 weeks later. Five of 73 (6.8%) reported an allergic reaction after the booster.
The purpose of the present study was to explore the frequently observed dynamics distinctive to the sibling incest family system, and to evaluate how these dynamics might predispose the family system to act out its dysfunction through sibling sexual conduct. Being a descriptive study by nature, the data is based on 25 families which were reported to the Boulder County (Colorado) Sexual Abuse Team between May 1982 and December 1985. The 25 families yielded a significant pattern of common dynamics. Those dynamics which were repeatedly observed throughout these cases were: distant, inaccessible parents; parental stimulation of sexual climate in the home; and family secrets, especially with regard to extramarital affairs. The implications of the findings suggest that the patterns that are emerging are becoming more predictable, making prognosis and therapeutic intervention far more encouraging.
During the week beginning July 29, 1984, 12 children in a day camp in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, were noted to have skin eruptions consistent with phototoxic dermatitis. These eruptions were confined to the hands, wrists, and forearms, and appeared as discrete and confluent polymorphous patches and linear streaks. These eruptions were also macular, hyperpigmented, and nonpruritic. Clinical examination revealed that 97 (16%) of 622 children, seven (7%) of 104 counselors, and no adult staff members had a similar rash. Onsets of the rash ranged from July 19-August 11, with peak occurrence on July 25-27. All camp members were white. Sex did not vary significantly between those affected and not affected. The mean age (5.3 years) of affected children was significantly different from the mean age (6.9 years) of unaffected children (p less than 0.001). Attack rates for the eight camp units were highest in two units (57% and 74%, respectively) and ranged between 0-6% for the other six units. Activities involving work with hands by various camp units were investigated. Only exposure to making pomander balls (sachets) in arts and crafts class (when other activities were controlled for) was significantly associated with illness (p less than 0.03). In making pomander balls, children punctured the skin of limes (the principal component) with scissors, releasing oils known to contain photoreactive furocoumarin (psoralen) compounds. These compounds evidently coated the children's skin and, upon exposure to the sun, caused a phototoxic dermatitis. An environmental and botanical survey of the camp did not reveal other phototoxic agents with which campers may have had contact. This is one of the largest reported outbreaks of phototoxic dermatitis and the first in which a citrus fruit was implicated on a large scale.
Between February and June, 1983, four cases of Citrobacter diversus neonatal meningitis were identified at a suburban Baltimore hospital. One of the 4 infants died at age 13 months, 2 (both of whom had brain abscesses) have evidence of developmental delay and 1 appears to be normal after 33 months of follow-up. A review of microbiology records revealed that C. diversus had been present in the hospital nursery prior to identification of the first infant with meningitis, with isolation from infants born 7 months, 4 months and 4 days, respectively, before the first meningitis case. C. diversus was isolated from 21 infants born during the outbreak period and from hand or rectal cultures of 5 nursing personnel. All isolates were biotype E, with two distinct clusters of cases identified on the basis of plasmid profile and serotype. In a case-control study isolation of C. diversus was significantly associated with male sex, low birth weight and care by house pediatricians. The outbreak was controlled by stringent infection control measures and exclusion of personnel carriers. During the 24 months following the outbreak 3431 babies discharged from the nursery were cultured for C. diversus; 3 were colonized with the organism.
Leukotriene (LT)C4 and LTD4-induced contractile effects in guinea pig pulmonary parenchyma were distinguished by their sensitivity to calcium channel blockers. LTC4-induced contractions were inhibited in a noncompetitive manner in the presence of calcium channel blockers, whereas LTD4 contractions were unaffected. In the presence of diltiazem, maximum LTC4-induced (1 X 10(-7) M) contractions were reduced by 24% and the concentration-effect curve was shifted to the right in a nonparallel manner; diltiazem had no significant effect on the LTD4 response. We used this differential sensitivity to calcium channel blockade to permit pharmacological characterization in guinea pig pulmonary parenchyma of the interaction of the competitive LT blocker FPL55712 and the putative LTD4 receptor, LTRd. We showed, using [3H]LTC4, that at least 15% of LTC4 is converted to LTD4 under our experimental conditions. We performed a Schild analysis of the inhibition of LTD4-induced contractions by FPL55712 in the presence of the calcium channel blocker diltiazem (0.67 mM). The Kb derived from this analysis (3.2 X 10(-7) M) agrees closely with the Ki derived for the interaction of FPL55712 and specific LTD4 binding in lung membranes. A Schild analysis of the interaction of FPL55712 and LTC4 in the presence of diltiazem resulted in competitive inhibition with a Kb of 4.7 X 10(-7) M. This apparent competitive inhibition, combined with the similarity of these binding constants, suggests that diltiazem is effective in blocking LTC4-mediated responses and that when these effects are blocked, LTC4 induced contractions are mediated through LTRd. The differential effects of calcium blockade on these two agonists provides evidence for distinct coupling mechanisms for LT receptors in this tissue.
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The changes in arterial plasma concentrations of immunoreactive leukotriene B (LTB) were compared after antigen challenge of two groups of sensitized, mepyramine-treated, and mechanically ventilated guinea pigs, one fed a diet enriched with fish oil and the other a control diet enriched with beef tallow. The lung tissue of animals fed a fish oil-enriched diet (FFD) for 9 to 10 wk incorporated eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid to constitute 8 to 9% of total fatty acid content, whereas these alternative fatty acids constituted less than 1% of the total fatty acid content of the lung tissue of animals on a beef tallow-supplemented diet (BFD). The maximum increase after antigen challenge in immunoreactive LTB4 from 0.16 +/- 0.04 ng/ml to 0.84 +/- 0.25 ng/ml in BFD animals and from 0.47 +/- 0.11 to 5.1 +/- 1.4 ng/ml immunoreactive LTB (LTB4 and LTB5) in FFD animals was significant (p less than 0.02) for each. Furthermore, the increase in total immunoreactive LTB in mepyramine-treated FFD animals was significantly greater than the increase in LTB4 in mepyramine-treated BFD guinea pigs at 2 to 8 min after antigen challenge (p less than 0.05). Resolution of arterial plasma immunoreactive LTB from pooled samples by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography demonstrated that the sum of LTB4 and LTB5 in FFD animals exceeded that of LTB4 in BFD animals and that the quantity of LTB4 in the FFD animals was at least as great as that in the BFD animals during anaphylaxis. The products eluting at the retention times of LTB4 and LTB5 exhibited the chemotactic activity of their respective synthetic standards. The combination of indomethacin and mepyramine markedly augmented the antigen-induced increase in arterial plasma immunoreactive LTB4 concentrations in BFD animals, but had no effect on immunoreactive LTB levels in FFD animals. Limited in vivo measurements showing a lesser increase of plasma immunoreactive thromboxane B2 in the FFD relative to the BFD animals during anaphylaxis and ex vivo measurements showing a decreased LTB4-stimulated (cyclooxygenase product-dependent) contractile response of pulmonary parenchymal strips from the FFD relative to the BFD animals provide evidence for blockade in the cyclooxygenase pathway in the FFD animals. The measurements of arterial plasma LTB indicate that indomethacin treatment alone, which inhibits cyclooxygenase activity, and FFD treatment each augment the metabolism of arachidonic acid by the 5-lipoxygenase pathway in animals pretreated with mepyramine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Six cases of neonatal meningitis due to Citrobacter diversus were diagnosed in three Baltimore (Maryland) hospitals between 1983 and 1985. Using plasmid profiles, biotypes, serotypes, and chromosomal restriction endonuclease digests as epidemiological markers, we studied 63 isolates of C. diversus (including four isolates from cerebrospinal fluid) from these and seven other hospitals in Maryland. Within two of the three hospitals with meningitis cases, the same strain of C. diversus was isolated from case infant(s), healthy neonates, and nursery personnel. In all three hospitals, C. diversus strains different from those implicated as a cause of meningitis were also isolated. Other than the meningitis-associated strains, 15 different strains of C. diversus were isolated from infants in the hospitals studied, with several distinct clusters of asymptomatic, colonized infants identified.
A case of cholera was identified in Baltimore County, Md., in October 1984. The Vibrio cholerae O1 isolate from the patient was hemolytic, biotype El Tor, serotype Inaba, and was toxigenic by the Y-1 adrenal cell assay; on Southern blot analysis, the strain had a unique HindIII restriction site in the cholera toxin gene identical to that of other U.S. V. cholerae O1 isolates. Two days before he became ill, the patient had eaten meat from crabs harvested along the Texas coast.
An outbreak of influenza A occurred in an elderly population in a Maryland nursing home between December 8, 1980 and January 13, 1981 and involved 76 of the 170 residents. Throat swabs from two of 10 acutely ill residents yielded influenza A virus similar to the A/Taiwan/1/79 strain. Fourfold or greater increases in the titer of complement-fixing (CF) or hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibodies were detected in paired sera from four of five ill residents and from none of four well residents. One hundred (62.9 per cent) of 159 residents with known vaccination histories had been vaccinated with trivalent influenza virus vaccine in October and November 1980. Crude illness attack rates and mortality rates were similar in vaccinees and nonvaccinees. Various risk factors and hypotheses were examined in an attempt to explain the apparent lack of vaccine efficacy.
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An outbreak of 30 cases of Kawasaki syndrome (KS) occurred in Maryland from January through May 1983. The mean age of patients was 27 months; 60% were male. Rug shampoo exposure within one month and within six months of illness was not significantly greater in the 30 epidemic and seven sporadic cases than in their neighborhood and pediatric controls. These findings suggest that rug shampoo exposure may not be an important risk factor in the outbreak of KS in Maryland.
An acute gastrointestinal tract illness affected 213 (52%) of 407 campers and 64 (53%) of 121 staff members attending a boys' camp in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland during the summer of 1981. Nausea was the predominant symptom for ill campers and staff members (73%), but more staff members experienced diarrhea (49%) than did campers (9%). Twenty-three individuals had more than one episode of illness compatible with the case definition. Eight of nine paired blood specimens from ill staff members showed a fourfold increase in antibody titer to Norwalk virus by radioimmunoassay. Environmental inspections and laboratory tests failed to implicate a common source of exposure.
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The pulmonary mechanical responses observed after antigen challenge in 2 groups of sensitized, mepyramine-treated, mechanically ventilated guinea pigs were compared: one group was fed a diet rich in fish oil and the other a control diet enriched with beef tallow. The lung tissue of animals fed a fish-oil-enriched diet for 9 to 10 wk incorporated eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid, which constituted 8 to 9% of the total fatty acid content, whereas these alternative fatty acids constituted less than 1% of total fatty acid content of the lung tissue of animals receiving a diet supplemented with beef tallow. With mepyramine pretreatment, animals receiving a fish oil diet exhibited a significantly greater decrease in dynamic compliance from 1.5 through 4.5 min after antigen challenge than did animals receiving a beef fat diet, whereas the decrements in pulmonary conductance were comparable. The combination of indomethacin and mepyramine markedly augmented the antigen-induced decrease in pulmonary mechanics in animals receiving a beef fat diet but not in those receiving a fish oil diet, such that the overall responses of the 2 groups were similar. These findings indicate that the fish oil diet and the indomethacin pretreatment of animals receiving the beef fat diet each facilitates the nonhistamine-mediated bronchoconstrictor response in pulmonary anaphylaxis.
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