All cases of unusual types of gram-negative bacillary meningitis in a university hospital over a five year period were retrospectively analyzed. These patients comprised 4.2 per cent of cases of bacterial meningitis among all patients, 69 per cent of neurosurgical cases and 42 per cent of neonatal cases. The over-all mortality was 40.3 per cent. The two most common bacterial isolates were Escherichia coli in patients younger than one year and Klebsiella species in patients above that age. Infection may be acquired at birth or at the time of surgery, or may be secondary to spread of infection from other body sites. Gram-negative bacillary meningitis is a nosocomial infection and this diagnosis should be suspected in patients in whom central nervous system infection develops in the hospital.

Aminoglycosides↗

PubMed1975

Activity of minocycline against Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var. anitratus (syn. Herellea vaginicola) and Serratia marcescens.

The activity of minocycline and tetracycline against 23 isolates of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var. anitratus (syn. Herellea vaginicola) and 178 strains of Serratia marcescens was determined by disk and microdilution methods. The results indicate that minocycline is highly active against this species of Acinetobacter, all but one strain being inhibited by 0.007 mug of the antibiotic per ml. Tetracycline was also active, though to a lesser degree, against A. calcoaceticus. Of the 178 strains of S. marcescens tested, only seven (3.9%) had a minimum inhibitory concentration of 2 mug or less of minocycline per ml. Tetracycline was less active than minocycline against S. marcescens; with 2 mug of tetracycline per ml, only 2 of 152 (1.3%) strains were inhibited. At concentrations of 8 and 16 mug of minocycline per ml, which can be achieved in the urine with the usual doses, 44.9 and 63.5% of S. marcescens strains were inhibited, which implies its possible usefulness for the therapy of urinary tract infection due to this organism.

Acinetobacter↗

PubMed1975

Defective regulation of chemotaxis in cirrhosis.

The presence of a severe leukotactic defect in cirrhotic patients has been confirmed. This defect is due to the presence of abnormally high levels of the chemotactic factor inactivator (CFI) in serums of patients with hepatic cirrhosis. This inactivator inhibits each of three different chemotactic factors tested and does so in an irreversible manner. As would be predicted by these results, generation of chemotactic activity in cirrhotic serums by a complement-activating agent is markedly impaired. Physicochemical features of CFI in cirrhotic serum differ slightly from that found in normal human serum. These results indicate the nature of the chemotactic defect in cirrhotic patients and may explain the increased susceptibility of these patients to bacterial infections and some of their reported defected in expression of cellular immunity.

Aminopeptidases↗

PubMed1975