Incidence of Mediterranean spotted fever in Sardinia in the years 1982-1984.

In this work the incidence of Mediterranean spotted fever in the Borough of Cagliari (Sardinia) over the years 1982-1984 is evaluated. Our data show both an overall decrease of the incidence of the disease during this period of time with respect to the year 1980 and a significant reduction in the last year. In addition, the present study confirms the greater reliability of Immunofluorescence respect to the Weil-Felix reaction in revealing Mediterranean spotted fever. Finally we show a marked incidence of significant anti-Rickettsia conori antibodies in apparently healthy individuals, which stresses the not uncommon occurrence of subclinical infection.

[Enzymatic changes in the lymph in the thoracic duct and right lymphatic duct during extracorporeal circulation in the dog (author's transl)]. / Modifications enzymatiques de la lymphe du canal thoracique et du canal lymphatique droit au cours de la circulation extracorporelle chez le chien.

The authors analysed the various enzymes in the lymph of the thoracic duct and the right lymphatic duct in a series of 15 dogs submitted to extracorporeal circulation, the experimentors noted a series of diffuse cellular lesions which involved transiently the main organs. This lesion seems only to occur at first; independent of the duration of the by-pass, probably due to hypoxia following the rapid and massive introduction of priming. Our conclusion from this research is that lymph analysis is more revealing for knowledge of enzyme behaviour than blood analysis. A differential study of lymph in the right lymphatic duct and in the thoracic duct is surprisingly much less important.