[Appendicitis and salmonellosis, a coincidence or etiopathogenically related?]. / Appendicitída a salmonelóza, náhoda ci etiopatogenetická súvislost'?

The authors describe a rare case report of a female patient with acute appendicitis, where the course was masked by gastroenteritis complicated with sepsis with a simultaneous course of imported infection with Salmonella type C (Kentucky). The attention is drawn to the fact that even such frequent abdominal emergency as appendicitis is, may cause diagnostic hesitations, if it is masked by a simultaneous alimentary infection. In spite of the application of a broad scope of examination methods a final decision of indication for laparotomy depends on clinical findings of the examining surgeon.

Links between prolonged exposure to xenobiotics, increased incidence of hepatopathies, immunological disturbances and exacerbation of latent Epstein-Barr virus infections.

Disturbances of several humoral and cellular immune parameters are significantly increased in individuals exposed to chemical pollutants. Moreover, exacerbations of the latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection were more frequently observed in the chemically exposed group than in the control groups. A significant correlation was seen between EBV exacerbations and the increased number of eosinophils, T-lymphocyte rosette formation and the respiratory burst of polymorphonuclear blood cells. Possible links between hepatopathy due to xenobiotics exposition, immunological disturbances and EBV exacerbation are discussed, including a putative role of EBV-induced (autocrine) cytokines.

[Retrospective epidemiologic analysis of the occurrence of measles in Slovakia]. / Retrospektívna epidemiologická analýza výskytu morbíl na Slovensku.

The authors give a detailed account of the reported measles morbidity in Slovakia during the past 50 years (almost half a million notified cases). Before vaccination on a mass scale was introduced, some 1% of the notified cases died. The most frequent cause of death was pneumonia, followed by encephalitis. Since 1977 there was not a single death from measles. Before vaccination was introduced preschool children were affected most badly by the morbidity. After introduction of vaccination on a mass scale a systematic shift of the morbidity to older age groups was observed. The morbidity trend from measles tends at present towards zero and is usually interrupted by imported cases from endemic areas or minor epidemics which developed from these imported cases. Systematic vaccination with an effective vaccine leads to elimination of measles as a disease with a mass incidence. Vaccination on a mass scale logically has an impact on the incidence of complications, acute as well as late ones.