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Biomedical subjects

P Piot

Publications and source records attributed to P Piot.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Epidemiology and aetiology of urethritis in Swaziland.

The annual incidence of urethritis can be estimated to be at lest 3750 per 100,000 population in Swaziland. In a study of 109 males with symptomatic urethritis 80% had gonorrhoea, 6% non-gonococcal urethritis (ngu) and 14% were classified as having no 'objective' urethritis (less than 5 polymorphonuclear leucocytes per highpower field in the urethral smear). The relative frequency of gonorrhoea was 80 to 95% and of non-gonococcal urethritis 5 to 20 according to which criteria are used for patient selection and/or diagnosis of ngu. Chlamydia trachomatis was cultured in 3.4% of the cases with urethritis, comprising one positive culture in 70 patients with gonorrhoea, one in 5 with ngu, and one in 12 with no 'objective' urethritis. Seventy-one percent of patients, with a comparable percentage in each diagnostic group, had chlamydial antibodies when tested by the micro immunofluorescence test to pooled chlamydial antigens. Interpretation of the chlamydial serologic results indicates that lymphogranuloma venereum is probably endemic in the country, and that oculogenital chlamydial infections are not a problem; this corresponds with the low isolation rate of Chlamydia trachomatis in the urethritis cases. The study shows that the epidemiology and causes of urethritis are clearly of a different pattern to that seen in industrialised countries. This type of study is a sound basis for a simplified but effective urethritis control programme which can be implemented in the para-urban and rural health centres in developing countries.

Chlamydia Infections↗
PubMed1980

A taxonomic study of Gardnerella vaginalis (Haemophilus vaginalis) Gardner and Dukes 1955.

Fifty-five strains received as Haemophilus vaginalis or as catalase-negative coryneform bacteria from the vagina together with 61 marker cultures were subjected to numerical phenetic analyses using 149 unit characters. The data were examined using the simple matching (SSM), Jaccard (SJ) and pattern (DP) coefficients and clustering was achieved using the average linkage algorithm. Cluster composition was not markedly affected by the coefficient used or by test error, estimated at 6 . 5%. The H. vaginalis strains formed a tight cluster which was only distantly related to representatives of the genera arthrobacter, Cellulomonas, Corynebacterium sensu stricto, Erysipelothrix, Haemophilus, Kurthia, Lactobacillus, Listeria and Propionibacterium but shared a high overall affinity to unclassified catalase-negative coryneforms which formed a discrete taxon, cluster 9. The H. vaginalis strains could be distinguished from the related strains in cluster 9 by several unrelated phenotypic characters. Using the S1 endonuclease assay, DNA-DNA hybridizations were performed with representative strains from the numerical as well as with reference strains of Bifidobacterium and Actinomyces. Haemophilus vaginalis was found to be a genotypically legitimate group and its DNA showed little homology with DNA from the marker strains tested. The DNA base composition of H. vaginalis was 42 to 44 mol % guanine plus cytosine. A new genus should be created to incorporate strains known as H. vaginalis or Corynebacterium vaginale. The name Gardnerella vaginalis proposed by Greenwood & Pickett (1979) is supported.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1980

Ureaplasma urealyticum in the urethra of healthy men.

Nineteen healthy married white men had samples of first-voided urine cultured for Ureaplasma urealyticum at weekly intervals for 17 consecutive weeks. Of these, 63% harboured U urealyticum in their urine on at least one occasion; in 40% of the men with positive culture results ureaplasmas were isolated from 90% of samples. Those men whose specimens were frequently culture-positive had notably higher titres for U urealyticum than those whose specimens were less frequently positive. There were no significant correlation between the number of leucocytes in the urinary sediment and the amount of U realyticum in the corresponding urine specimens, although ureaplasma-positive urine specimens tended to contain slightly more leucocytes than ureaplasma-negative samples. Fourfold or higher rises in titre of U urealyticum in urine samples was not associated with urethral signs or symptoms. One man with a presumably primary infection developed dysuria. Sixty-five strains of U urealyticum were serotyped, with types 2 and 3 predominating; the serotype found in each patient with fairly constant.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

The ecology of gonococcal plasmids.

Of 261 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae examined for plasmids, 6 were plasmid-free, 217 contained only a small multicopy 2.6 X 10(6) dalton plasmid and 38 carried a large 24.5 X 10(6) dalton plasmid. Restriction enzyme digests and DNA-DNA hybridization studies revealed that the large plasmids isolated between 1940 and 1978 share a common core of DNA sequences (70 to 100%) and represent a group of closely related molecules.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1979

Antibiotic susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains from Europe and Africa.

The in vitro activities of 16 antimicrobial agents were tested by a plate dilution method against 268 unselected isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from Belgium, Rwanda, Swaziland, and Zaire. Fifteen beta-lactamase-producing strains isolated in Europe from various origins were also tested. There were significant regional variations in antimicrobial agent susceptibility, even among the African isolates, with the Rwandan and Zairean strains being most resistant. Benzylpenicillin and ampicillin were equally active in all but the beta-lactamase-producing strains. Among the cephalosporins, cefotaxime was by far the most active, followed by cefuroxime, cefamandole, cefoxitin, and cefaclor, in that order. All strains were susceptible to spectinomycin, thiamphenicol, kanamycin, and rifampin, with the exception of one highly rifampin-resistant isolate and a moderately thiamphenicol-resistant strain. Twenty-six percent of the isolates were highly resistant to streptomycin. Six percent of the gonococci had a minimal inhibitory concentration for tetracycline greater than 2 mug/ml. Clavulanic acid inhibited the beta-lactamase activity of the gonococci tested and improved markedly the activities of ampicillin and amoxicillin against beta-lactamase-producing strains.

Africa↗