A comparison of fluoxetine and amitriptyline in the treatment of major depression.

Fluoxetine, a new serotonin uptake blocking antidepressant, was compared with amitriptyline in a double-blind study. Patients were diagnosed as having major depression, according to DSM-III criteria, when interviewed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. There was significant improvement in patient and observer ratings of depression in both groups, with no difference between groups. Recent memory improved significantly in the fluoxetine group but not in the amitriptyline group. Numbers of patients reporting side-effects were similar but the profiles of side-effects were different, with more patients on amitriptyline reporting anticholinergic and intolerable side-effects.

Chemoprophylaxis for Neisseria meningitidis in an isolated Arctic community.

Community chemoprophylaxis with a regimen of sequential minocycline/rifampin (adults) or rifampin alone (children [less than 12 years of age]) was undertaken in a remote Arctic community one year after an outbreak of meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B. Nasopharyngeal carriage rates of N. meningitidis before prophylaxis were 32.4% in Inuit (Eskimos) and 6% in Caucasians, with maximal carriage (44.8%) in adolescents. Serogroup B accounted for 63.9% of all isolates before prophylaxis. One week after prophylaxis, the nasopharyngeal carriage rates were 0.8% in Inuit who had received prophylaxis and 33.3% in those who had not received prophylaxis (P less than 0.005). This reduction persisted at nine weeks after prophylaxis, when carriage rates were 1.2% in those who had received prophylaxis and 22.6% in individuals who had not received prophylaxis. Of the strains obtained before prophylaxis, 7.8% were sulfadiazine-resistant, whereas 35% of all isolates obtained from prophylaxis were sulfadiazine-resistant. Rifampin- or minocycline-resistant strains were not identified either before or after prophylaxis.