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S Skidmore

Publications and source records attributed to S Skidmore.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Epidemiology of human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infections in a subpopulation of Afro-Caribbean origin in England.

Epidemiological studies on neurological diseases in residents of Afro-Caribbean origin in the West Midlands region of England have identified eight patients with tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), all of whom were found to be infected with human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The husband of one of the patients with TSP was also infected with HTLV-1 and had a T-cell lymphoma. In addition, six asymptomatic HTLV-1-infected first-degree relatives of the TSP patients have been found. By anonymous testing of over 700 sera obtained from individuals of Afro-Caribbean, African, or Asian ethnic origin, seven HTLV-1-infected individuals were detected, who were all immigrants from the Caribbean. Overall, these numbers yielded a seroprevalence of HTLV-1 infections of 3.4% among the immigrant population of Afro-Caribbean origin, which is comparable with the prevalence of HTLV-1 in Jamaica in an equivalent age and sex cohort. Sera were tested for HTLV-1 antibody by means of three different procedures: passive particle agglutination test (Serodia), indirect enzyme-labeled immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Dupont), and indirect immunofluorescence test (in-house, using HTLV-1-infected MT2 cells). The results of all three tests correlated very well with each other. HTLV-1 antibody titres in TSP patients were on the whole significantly higher than those of asymptomatic carriers, but some of the apparently healthy first-degree relatives and one anonymously tested individual had titres as high as most of the TSP patients.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1981

Incidence and severity of viral hepatitis in pregnancy.

A prospective field study was carried out during an epidemic of non-A non-B hepatitis for determining the incidence and severity of hepatitis in pregnant women, nonpregnant women of child bearing age and men (15 to 45 years old). In 36 (17.3 percent) of 208 pregnant women viral hepatitis developed, as compared to 71 (2.1 percent) of 3,350 nonpregnant women and 107 (2.8 percent) of 3,822 men. The incidence of disease in pregnant women was higher than in the two control groups. The incidence of viral hepatitis in the first, second and third trimesters was 8.8 percent, 19.4 percent, and 18.6 percent, respectively. The incidence in all three trimesters was higher, when compared to that in nonpregnant women. In eight pregnant women (22.2 percent) with viral hepatitis, fulminant hepatic failure developed, as compared to its occurrence in three men (2.8 percent) and in no nonpregnant women. This significantly increased incidence of fulminant hepatitis in pregnancy was indicative of a greater severity of hepatitis during pregnancy. Increased susceptibility to fulminant hepatitis was observed exclusively in the last trimester. Nonfulminant viral hepatitis did not influence the course of pregnancy or fetal well-being. Fetal loss in fatal fulminant hepatitis was a consequence of maternal death and could not be ascribed to direct effect on the fetus or pregnancy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Virological and serological study in children hospitalized for acute hepatitis (detection of HBsAg, HAAg, anti-HAV and specific IgM-anti-HAV).

Serological methods were used to detect different markers of hepatitis A and B infection in a series of 36 children aged 3.5-13 years with acute viral hepatitis, hospitalized from August 1978 to October 1978. Hepatitis A was verified serologically in 30 patients (83.3%) with the demonstration of specific IgM-anti-HAV. Hepatitis B infection was serologically confirmed in only 2 patients (5.5%). After exclusion of hepatitis A and B as well as of hepatitis due to cytomegalovirus, leptospira and Epstein-Barr virus, 3 patients (8.3) were classified to have post-transfusion non-A non-B hepatitis, and 1 patient (2.5%) showed a sporadic non-A non-B hepatitis. The finding of HBsAg in 5 of 30 patients with hepatitis A suggests that the presence of HBsAg during the acute icteric phase of viral hepatitis is not sufficient for a diagnosis of HB. The presence of HAAg in one of 30 patients with HA confirms previous studies that faecal shedding of HAV stops with the appearance of jaundice. Finally, the above results establish the value of the new radioimmunoassay technique for detection of specific IgM-anti-HAV, which appears to be the best diagnostic test for hepatitis A.

Adolescent↗