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Biomedical subjects

O Fracassetti

Publications and source records attributed to O Fracassetti.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

[Pneumothorax in AIDS].

A total of 237 patients with AIDS have been observed in the infectious Disease Division of the United Hospitals of Bergamo during the past six years. Five patients (4.21%), suffering from TB and PCP, revealed PNX which was characterised by being bilateral and recurrent; it was a concomitant cause of death in 2 patients. The complications which occurred included acute pulmonary heart, pulmonary edema due to reexpansion and irreversible shock.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Brucella endocarditis.

Between 1987 and 1990, three patients with abscesses produced by Brucella endocarditis were admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases, "Ospedali Riuniti", Bergamo, Italy. In each case, the diagnosis was based on a history of ingestion of milk products, positive Wright serology, positive blood and valvar culture, and echocardiography. Medical therapy alone was not found to be effective in treatment, all patients requiring surgical intervention. One case required urgent surgical treatment and underwent three further operations up to the final implantation of a valved tube. According to our experience, Brucella endocarditis is a rare but serious disease which requires a combination of medical and surgical therapy.

Abscess

[HIV infection in the population of the upper Seriana Valley USSL 25].

The drug addiction unit of USSL 25 in the Upper Seriana Valley, Clusone (BG), have dealt with HIV infection since 1985. Over the past four years 357 subjects, 90 (48.1%) of whom proved to be HIV-positive using ELISA methods and Western control blotting. Five drug addicts included in the study underwent seroconversion. Clinical symptoms evolved in thirteen-drug addicts and five were diagnosed with AIDS. Two children of seropositive mothers were found to be HIV-positive and therefore form part of the high-risk non-drug-addict population. All subjects who were not at risk were found to be seronegative. The ned for primary preventive therapy is underlined.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

A possible misdiagnosis in patients presenting with acute HBsAg-negative hepatitis: the role of hepatitis delta virus.

We describe here two cases of delta hepatitis (a coinfection and a superinfection) presenting as acute HBsAg-negative hepatitis. The first patient, a parenteral drug abuser, had a biphasic course of the disease, with HBsAg detectable transiently only during the relapse. Testing for delta markers on stored sera gave evidence of HBV/HDV coinfection. The other patient, a hospital nurse, chronic asymptomatic carrier of HBsAg, developed fulminant hepatitis with the transient appearance of antibody to HBsAg. She survived massive liver necrosis, and serological analysis of HDV markers documented a hepatitis delta virus superinfection. These cases demonstrate the possible substantial repression of HBV gene products exerted by the replication of delta virus, with a likely misdiagnosis if delta markers are not determined in serial serum samples.

Acute Disease