Malaria. A city hospital experience.

We reviewed the charts of 24 patients with malaria seen at the Queens Hospital Center, Jamaica, NY, over the past five years. Twenty-three patients were foreign citizens. Eighteen patients were infected with Plasmodium vivax and six with Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria was suspected on admission in 19 of the 23 hospitalized patients. Five patients were admitted with unrelated diagnoses, and four of these experienced diagnostic delay. All diagnoses were confirmed with thin blood smears. Twenty-one patients were febrile, and 18 patients had prominent gastrointestinal tract symptoms. Serum glucose level was increased in nine patients, and hypoglycemia occurred in one. Four patients also had intestinal parasites. Malaria should be suspected in travelers with gastrointestinal tract symptoms, and patients with malaria may have other parasitic infections. Most patients with P vivax infections can be treated as outpatients, since the course is usually uncomplicated.

Tuberculous meningitis in an urban medical center.

Forty-five cases of tuberculous meningitis at a large urban medical center were reviewed. Reasons for the continued incidence, prognostic factors, and current therapy of this life-threatening form of tuberculosis were examined. Thirty-nine of 45 patients were black, Hispanic, and/or 65 years of age or older (87%). Underlying conditions included alcohol abuse in 12, intravenous drug abuse in 7, recent steroid therapy in 4, head trauma in 4, recent pregnancy in 4, and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in 1. Thirty-four patients (76%) presented with altered mental status and/or focal neurologic findings. Significant mortality (31%) occurred despite the administration of antituberculous therapy to all but 1 patient. Six of 14 deaths (43%) occurred in the first week of hospitalization. One-third of survivors had neurologic sequelae at the time of follow-up. Neurologic deficits on admission, advanced age, and alcohol abuse were frequent among those who succumbed. Early recognition and treatment in hospital failed to improve outcome in advanced cases. From these findings we conclude that both aggressive treatment of primary tuberculous infections as well as prevention of secondary cases are necessary to effect any further reduction in the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of tuberculous meningitis.

Cytomegalovirus.

CMV is a common opportunistic pathogen in patients with AIDS and is a major source of morbidity in this population. CMV has been unequivocally implicated as a cause of increased mortality in immunosuppressed patients who do not have AIDS. Whether CMV directly causes higher mortality in the AIDS population, however, remains controversial. This review focuses on the major clinical syndromes caused by CMV infection. Studies are ongoing with regard to optimal dosing schedules using combination antiviral regimens. In addition, new drugs and vaccines are being investigated in an effort to better control, if not eliminate, CMV infection in AIDS patients.

Acetylcholinesterase levels in skeletal muscle of mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was measured in skeletal muscle from susceptible (A/J) and resistant (C57BL/6) mice infected with the Brazil strain (myotropic) of Trypanosoma cruzi. There was a 60% decrease in activity in skeletal muscle obtained from A/J mice 20 days post-infection as compared to controls. There was no decrease in AChE activity in skeletal muscle obtained from infected C57BL/6 mice 20 and 150 days post-infection. Histologic examination of skeletal muscle from infected A/J mice revealed marked necrosis, pseudocysts, and minimal inflammation. Similar examinations in C57BL/6 mice revealed marked inflammation in the absence of necrosis and parasites. These data provide additional biochemical support that denervation hypersensitivity is an important concomitant of Chagas' disease and that it is already present during the acute stage. Additionally, it may support the notion that the presence of the parasite mediates these abnormalities.

Disseminated gonorrhoea from a pharyngeal infection in a prepubertal child.

A young boy with disseminated gonorrhoea from the pharynx is presented. The clinical setting in which this may be seen is also discussed.

Pyomyositis caused by Yersinia enterocolitica.

Yersinia enterocolitica is known to be associated with gastroenteritis in children and Reiter's syndrome in adults, but it has only rarely been the cause of primary soft tissue infections. A patient with diabetes mellitus developed a calf abscess, from which Y. enterocolitica was isolated in pure culture. Incision, drainage, and intravenous gentamicin therapy resulted in cure.

Trypanosoma cruzi: inhibition by spirogermanium hydrochloride.

Spirogermanium is an antineoplastic agent that has been shown to be useful for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors and Plasmodium falciparum infection. We found that this agent, at concentrations of 1-10 micrograms/ml, markedly inhibited the growth of epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. This inhibition of growth was seen in liver infusion tryptose cultures as well as on agar where colonial growth was inhibited markedly. Ultrastructural studies demonstrated that affected organisms were round and swollen and contained vacuoles, lamellar structures, and multivesicular bodies. Spirogermanium also significantly decreased the growth of intracellular amastigotes in myotubes. Pretreatment of myotubes with the agent protected them from infection with trypomastigotes but tachyzoites of Toxoplasma sp. readily infected pretreated cells. These data suggest that spirogermanium may be useful as a chemotherapeutic agent against T. cruzi.