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Biomedical subjects

J E Walter

Publications and source records attributed to J E Walter.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Role of astroviruses in childhood diarrhea.

Human astrovirus (HAstV) is a significant cause of acute diarrhea among children, resulting in outbreaks of diarrhea and occasionally in hospitalization. Improved detection methods for eight antigenic types of HAstV and studies assessing the frequency and severity of HAstV diarrhea have further defined the impact of HAstV infections in children. These studies have shown that HAstV infections are clinically milder (diarrhea, vomiting, fever) than rotavirus infections. However, frequent coinfection of HAstV with rotavirus and caliciviruses in childhood diarrhea complicates the epidemiology. Seroprevalence studies have provided evidence that the majority of children are infected by HAstV by 6 years of age. The route of transmission is probably fecal-oral from food or water sources. Recent and planned studies will help to define the epidemiology and in the future lead to prevention strategies, which could include vaccination.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Never say never. Negligible carboxyhemoglobin in the victim of a smoldering mattress fire.

For many years, a high blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration has been used as a criterion for determining that a victim of conflagration was alive in the fire. We report a case in which a man died from the combined effects of burns and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. He had a negligible blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration, but the environmental evidence and autopsy findings are indicative of life in the fire, which arose in a smoldering mattress. We conclude that uncritical, rigid adherence to the requirement that fire victims have high carboxyhemoglobin concentrations can be misleading.

Adult↗

Epidemiological and immunological studies of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Walter, Jinks E. (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.), and Robert W. Atchison. Epidemiological and immunological studies of Cryptococcus neoformans. J. Bacteriol. 92:82-87. 1966.-The complement-fixation fluorescent-antibody test provided a means of differentiating between antibodies of Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. The test was applied to the sera of 134 pigeon fanciers for detection of antibodies to C. neoformans only. About 22% were positive as compared with 3% of a control group composed of 36 non-pigeon breeders. Positive reactions were observed only with C. neoformans types A and B cells. It was concluded that the pigeon fanciers had presumably been infected previously with C. neoformans type A or type B. Moreover, 48 of 49 isolates of C. neoformans cultured from the pigeon habitats of 72 fanciers studied were serotype A. These findings would seem to substantiate the hypothesis that pigeon habitats serve as reservoirs for human infections, and also that subclinical cryptococcosis is more prevalent than is realized.

Animals↗