Medium for isolation and differentiation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio alginolyticus.

Trypticase soy agar supplemented with sucrose, sodium chloride, bile salts, and triphenyltetrazolium chloride is an improved plating medium for the isolation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from samples of seawater, permitting better differentiation of this organism from Vibrio alginolyticus and other bacteria.

Oral rehydration therapy of infantile diarrhea: a controlled study of well-nourished children hospitalized in the United States and Panama.

Although oral glucose-electrolyte solutions containing 90 mmol of sodium per liter have been widely used in the treatment of acute diarrhea among under-nourished children in the developing world, they have rarely been studied in well-nourished children. We therefore conducted a controlled randomized study among well-nourished children three months to two years who were hospitalized with acute diarrhea (52 in the United States, and 94 in Panama), to compare the efficacy of this solution with that of one containing 50 mmol of sodium per liter and with standard intravenous therapy. Oral rehydration with both solutions according to protocol was successful in 97 of 98 children (one required unscheduled intravenous therapy), and in 87 (89 per cent) no intravenous therapy was required. All of six children admitted with hypernatremia were successfully treated with oral therapy alone. We conclude that glucose-electrolyte oral solutions containing either 50 or 90 mmol of sodium per liter are effective and safe in the treatment of well-nourished children hospitalized with acute diarrhea, and that they may completely replace the intravenous fluids in the majority of such children.

Salmonella and arizona infections of alimentary and reproductive tracts of Panamanian lizards.

Salmonella and Arizona spp. were isolated from various sites of the digestive and reproductive tracts of lizards. The finding that bacteria in the oviducts and in the internal contents of oviductal eggs were of the same serotype raises the possibility that transovarian bacterial transmission in lizards occurs in nature.

Lizards in the ecology of salmonellosis in Panama.

Enteropathogenic bacteria was isolated from 131 of 447 (29.4%) neotropical Panamanian lizards belonging to 34 species of seven families. Overall, 147 strains of bacteria were isolated comprising 26 Salmonella and 10 Arizona serotypes. Gymnopthalmus speciosus had the highest infection rate, 12 of 13 individuals (92.3%), whereas Gonatodes fuscus exhibited the lowest, 1 of 18 (5.6%). The highest infection was detected in lizards whose behavioral patterns were secretive (42.0%) and terrestrial (42.6%), whereas the lowest infection was among the scansorial lizards (17.5%). Rates were highest during the dry season, from January through April. Many neotropical Panamanian lizards were multiply infected by Salmonella an Arizona strains representing representing a wide range of serotypes. Infected lizards were distributed in areas varying from remote rural and forested regions to urban developments, offering a potentially important reservoir of enteropathogenic bacteria known to cause infection in man and domestic animals.

Edwardsiellosis in man and animals in Panamá: clinical and epidemiological characteristics.

Edwardsiella tarda was isolated during etiologic and epidemiologic investigations of diarrheal disease agents in man and for Enterobacteriaceae in various species of wild-caught animals in Panamá. A total of 50 strains were recovered from approximately 14,000 specimens cultured between 1965 and 1972. In this period, Edwardsiella was isolated from ten individuals with a clinically diagnosed diarrheal syndrome, while 20 of some 3,000 persons from rural areas were asymptomatic carriers of these organisms. Edwardsiella tarda was also associated with two fatal cases of extraintestinal infection in man. In both cases liver abscess was a predominant feature. Edwardsiella was not demonstrated in either symptomatic or asymptomatic persons from urban areas. Edwardsiella tarda was present among some of the wild fauna of Panamá; various species of animals including snakes, toads, monkeys, and opossums harbored this organism.