Gonococcal serology: how soon, how useful, and how much.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Rothenberg.
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Penicillin has some ameliorative effect in every stage of neurosyphilis. Meningovascular disease responds most dramatically. Once anatomic damage has occurred, penicillin is not effective in restoring lost function. In addition, blindness secondary to primary optic atrophy or 8th nerve deafness responds poorly to any type of treatment. Penicillin schedules employing more than 5 million units appear more effective than lower dose regimens. Reports of alternative antibiotic regimens are too fragmentary to allow recommendations to be made.
A clinical trial was performed to test a loading dose regimen of tetracycline (1.5 gm po sTAT and 0.5 mg po quid for 4 days) against a no-loading dose (0.5 gm po quid for 4 1/2 days) in the treatment of 477 cases of uncomplicated male urogenital gonorrhea. The regimens were equivalent, with an overall cure rate of 96%. A crossover pharmacokinetic study in 10 healthy volunteers demonstrated higher blood levels during the first day on the loading regimen, but equivalence thereafter. Tetracycline, in a total dose of 9.5 gm, is highly effective treatment, and a loading dose is not necessary.
The direct effect of LH and FSH on cyclic AMP levels in specific cell types, isolated from the rat testes, was investigated in vitro. LH significantly stimulated cyclic AMP production in isolated interstitial cells and had only a slight effect on the isolated germ cells. FSH significantly stimulated cyclic AMP production in isolated seminiferous tubules, organ cultures of testes explants, and isolated Sertoli cells, with only a small response elicited in the germ cells. FSH had no effect on the cyclic AMP levels in interstitial cells and either freshly isolated or cultured peritubular cells. These data indicate that the Sertoli cells and interstitial cells are the main cell types in the testes which respond to FSH and LH respectively with increased cyclic AMP production. A possible slight effect of either hormone on the cyclic AMP level in the germ cells has not be ruled out.
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The family constellations and epidemiologic circumstances of three prepubertal girls with vulvovaginitis due to Neisseria gonorrhoeae are reported. In each instance, an infected asymptomatic man, himself a contact to a woman with pelvic inflammatory disease, could be implicated as the potential source of infection. In one instance, asymptomatic infection in a child was uncovered through epidemiologic investigation. Prepubertal gonococcal vaginitis is important not only as a potential indicator of child abuse, but also as a possible link to important transmitters of gonococcal infection. The need for meticulous epidemiologic investigation of these cases is stressed.
Sociodemographic characteristics of a group of street prostitutes in Colorado Springs, Colorado, were determined through retrospective chart review and compared with those of a group of nonprostitute women seen at a venereal disease clinic. Initially, the risk that prostitutes would contract gonorrhea was substantially higher than the risk for other women (31% vs. 21%) but the risks for both groups decreased over the two-year period during which control measures were applied. These measures included use of legal orders, based on the constitutional requirement of "least restrictive alternative." Prostitutes in this setting may well constitute a "core group" of transmitters.
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When a standard method for grading urethral discharge that is based on quantity (profuse, moderate, or scant) and quality (purulent, cloudy, or clear) is used, the optimal performance of the clinical diagnosis of gonorrhea is 73%. This performance (true positives over true plus false positives) is dependent not only on the sensitivity, specificity, and prevalence of gonorrhea but also on the components of that prevalence, i.e., the specific mix of patients who attend a clinical service. Optimal performance, as determined through use of a relative operating characteristics curve, will vary from setting to setting depending upon certain patient variables, such as race and sexual preference. Clinics with full diagnostic service would not employ clinical diagnosis as a screening tool directly, but rather as an epidemiologic device for helping to characterize patient populations at risk. Areas with less developed clinic facilities might apply these observations for clinical decision making in the absence of laboratory support.