Subject(s)
Meningitis, Bacterial/diagnosis , Occupational Diseases/cerebrospinal fluid , Occupational Diseases/diagnosis , Streptococcal Infections/diagnosis , Streptococcus suis/isolation & purification , Animals , Humans , Male , Meningitis, Bacterial/cerebrospinal fluid , Meningitis, Bacterial/microbiology , Middle Aged , Minnesota , Molecular Typing , Occupational Diseases/microbiology , Streptococcal Infections/cerebrospinal fluid , Streptococcal Infections/microbiology , Streptococcus suis/genetics , Sus scrofa , Virulence Factors/geneticsABSTRACT
This article presented the case of a 64 years-old renal transplant recipient, who was a poultry farm worker and had suffered meningoencephalitis six months after receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Rapid diagnosis was based on a cerebrospinal fluid sample analyzed with latex particles for Cryptococcus spp antigen detection. Culture of the clinical sample in agar-Sabouraund-chloramphenicol medium confirmed the initial diagnosis whereas biochemical identification was made with the API 20C AUX system. Amphotericin B treatment was immediately applied to the patient and later fluconazole until microbiological tests yielded negative results. After 5 months, the patient relapsed and restarted the specific treatment. He was followed up on outpatient service and two year after the organ transplantation, his recovery was favourable.
Subject(s)
Animal Husbandry , Kidney Transplantation , Meningitis, Cryptococcal/etiology , Occupational Diseases/etiology , Opportunistic Infections/etiology , Amphotericin B/pharmacology , Amphotericin B/therapeutic use , Animals , Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic use , Cryptococcus neoformans/drug effects , Cryptococcus neoformans/isolation & purification , Disease Reservoirs , Fluconazole/pharmacology , Fluconazole/therapeutic use , Humans , Immunocompromised Host , Immunosuppression Therapy/adverse effects , Male , Meningitis, Cryptococcal/cerebrospinal fluid , Meningitis, Cryptococcal/diagnosis , Middle Aged , Occupational Diseases/cerebrospinal fluid , Occupational Diseases/diagnosis , Occupational Diseases/microbiology , Occupational Exposure , Opportunistic Infections/cerebrospinal fluid , Opportunistic Infections/diagnosis , Opportunistic Infections/microbiology , Poultry/microbiology , RecurrenceABSTRACT
The concentrations of protein, albumin, IgG, and free amino acids in the cerebrospinal fluid of 16 patients with chronic toxic encephalopathy due to organic solvents were measured. The patient group consisted of all patients with this diagnosis in a neurological department in 1985. The diagnosis was based on neuraesthenic symptoms, pathological psychometric performance, and verified exposure to neurotoxic organic solvents. A control group of 16 patients with myalgias or backache, or both, and no signs of disease was used for comparison. The purpose was to study possible changes in the cerebrospinal fluid that might contribute to understanding the aetiology of solvent induced chronic toxic encephalopathy. A rise in protein, albumin, and IgG was found in the patient group compared with the control group, as well as reduced concentrations of phosphoethanolamine, taurine, homocarnosine, ethanolamine, alpha-aminobutyric acid, and leucine. Using a stepwise multiple regression analysis, taurine was negatively correlated to exposure to solvents. These findings may indicate membrane alterations in the central nervous system related to exposure to organic solvents.
Subject(s)
Amino Acids/cerebrospinal fluid , Brain Diseases/cerebrospinal fluid , Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins/analysis , Occupational Diseases/cerebrospinal fluid , Solvents/adverse effects , Aged , Albumins/cerebrospinal fluid , Brain Diseases/chemically induced , Chronic Disease , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/cerebrospinal fluid , Middle Aged , Occupational Diseases/chemically induced , Regression Analysis , Taurine/cerebrospinal fluidABSTRACT
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained from 17 men occupationally exposed to organic solvents and diagnosed as having a psycho-organic syndrome. Healthy volunteers and patients without neurological disorders were used as controls. The albumin ratio was increased in three heavily exposed men, indicating an increased passage of albumin over the blood-brain barrier. A slight monocytoid reaction was present in three of the subjects in the exposed group. Myelin basic protein and enolase activity were within normal limits. Isoelectric focusing of CSF-enriched proteins obtained by absorption chromatography showed alterations in nine out of 17 exposed individuals: The most prominent change was a relative increase of the protein band with Ip 4.7.