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PubMed2002

Envenomation by Trachinus draco in the eastern Mediterranean.

Injuries caused by weever fish ( spp) are probably more ubiquitous than reported. Such injuries are extremely painful and require prompt treatment. Only relatively few clinical descriptions of envenomation have been published. We present three patients with envenomation and describe their treatment. Two patients were fishermen injured while handling caught fish and one was a tourist wading into the sea for pleasure. The clinical picture was dominated by extreme pain, which responded partly to the application of warm water, and usually necessitated systemic opiates for adequate control. Follow-up in one of the patients indicated prolonged, slow recovery of the local inflammatory reaction. Prompt analgesia is the mainstay of treatment of this non-lethal but extremely painful envenomation, with the application of hot water being effective, although not always completely.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

[Cat scratch disease].

Cat scratch disease (CSD) is usually manifested in children and young adults as a benign, chronic self-limited lymphadenopathy. However, various atypical presentations have been described, especially in immunocompromised hosts. 1 of 5 cases of CSD diagnosed here during 1985-1993 is presented. In 3 cases the diagnosis was supported by lymph node biopsy in which the organisms were visualized by Warthin-Starry silver impregnation staining. Recent publications indicate that Afipia felis and Rochalimaea henselae, both Gram-negative bacilli, were isolated from infected lymph nodes in CSD. The usual benign course does not necessitate antibiotic therapy. The antimicrobial agents effective in cases with systemic symptoms were rifampicin, ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and gentamicin. In view of the increasing number of cats, an increased incidence of CSD may be expected. The mechanism of transmission from cat to man is still unknown. Fleas or ticks may be involved. Hopefully, recent advances in the identification of the causative organisms may lead to the development of serological tests, reducing the need for skin testing and lymph node biopsy.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The outcome of non-selective vs selective nitric oxide synthase inhibition in lipopolysaccharide treated rats.

UNLABELLED: Nitric oxide (NO), generated by inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS) following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration, produces renal failure through autoinhibition of glomerular endothelial NOS activity. Preadministration of selective iNOS inhibitors abolishes this effect. Although nonselective NOS inhibitors further decrease GFR, current clinical trials investigate the effect of nonselective NOS inhibition in septic patients. The goals of our study were to determine whether treatment with selective NOS inhibitors can reverse the decrease in GFR in LPS treated rats with already established renal failure and to define the outcome of LPS treated rats following nonselective NOS inhibition. Four hours following the administration of LPS (4 mg/kg), we measured creatinine clearance (CrCl) before and after the administration of either L-NIL (selective iNOS inhibitor, 3 mg every 20 minutes) or saline. Selective iNOS inhibition attenuated the decrease in blood pressure [ CONTROLS: 105 +/- 6 to 98 +/- 5, LPS: 92 +/- 5* to 83 +/- 4*, LPS + L-NIL: 88 +/- 6* to 94 +/- 6 mm Hg; *p < 0.05, vs controls (n = 6)], and reversed the decrease in GFR after LPS [ CONTROLS: 2.21 +/- 0.13 to 2.07 +/- 0.11, LPS: 0.82 +/- 0.18* to 0.66 +/- 0.22*, LPS + L-NIL: 0.76 +/- 0.15* to 1.86 +/- 0.15 ml/min; *p < 0.05 vs controls (n = 6)]. We next studied the effect of complete non-selective NOS inhibition (L-NAME 200 mg, 2 hours after LPS) on LPS treated rats. All (6/6) animals treated with both LPS and L-NAME died within 2 hours following LPS, while rats treated with either LPS, L-NAME, or LPS + L-NIL survived. Histologic studies performed in all experimental groups were unremarkable. Overnight mortality was studied using smaller doses of L-NAME. All LPS + L-NAME (10/10) and 1/10 LPS treated rats died. L-NAME, control, and LPS + L-NIL animals survived. The characteristic histologic findings in LPS + L-NAME rats were diffuse ischemic changes, most importantly acute myocardial infarction. IN CONCLUSION: Selective iN-OS inhibition might prove to have clinical application as it prevents the decrease in GFR following LPS, even after renal failure is established. Treatment with a non selective NOS inhibitor in septic patients should be reconsidered.

Analysis of Variance↗