Isospora belli enteritis in three homosexual men.

Isospora belli is an uncommon cause of diarrhea in man. Like the closely related Cryptosporidium, the organism causes disease that may be more severe and chronic in patients with underlying immune deficiency states. We describe three male homosexuals with Isospora enteritis. Each had several months of diarrhea. All three patients had lymphopenia and two had profound T cell helper-suppressor ratio reversal. In addition, two of the patients admitted to oral-anal contact, a practice associated with the acquisition of parasites and other enteric pathogens in the homosexual population. We suggest that Isospora belli may be a sexually transmitted pathogen which should be considered in the diagnosis of homosexual patients with diarrhea.

Sexually transmitted viral hepatitis and enteric pathogens.

Hepatitis viruses, enteric pathogens, and anorectal infections may commonly be transmitted by various sexual practices. Because of their larger numbers of sexual partners and sexual practices such as anilingus and anal intercourse, homosexual men are at particularly high risk of acquiring hepatitis B, giardiasis, amebiasis, shigellosis, campylobacteriosis, and anorectal infections with Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Treponema pallidum, herpes simplex virus, and human papilloma viruses. The evidence for sexual transmission of these infections as well as their diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Possible relationship of proliferative enteritis in pigs and hamsters.

Three- to six-week-old hamsters were orally inoculated with broths containing one of the following cultures: Campylobacter mucosalis; C. hyointestinalis; C. coli; C. jejuni, all of porcine proliferative enteritis origin, or else C. jejuni of hamster origin. Hamsters given the last of those organisms were shown to have colonisation of their intestines by C. jejuni and 36 of 40 developed an acute enteritis. Mild hyperplasia of enterocytes in ileal crypts was evident in one hamster 2 days after it was given C. coli. No other lesions were detected. Further 3-week-old hamsters were orally inoculated with homogenised intestinal mucosa collected from 4 pigs (A-D) affected by proliferative enteritis. Lesions of proliferative enteritis were detected in 7 of 41 hamsters necropsied 10-21 days after being dosed with mucosas B or D. Marked hyperplasia of ileal enterocytes, associated with numerous intracellular Campylobacter-like organisms, were invariably detected in experimentally affected hamsters. No particular Campylobacter sp. was consistently isolated. None of the controls had demonstrable lesions. The results suggested that cross-species transmission of proliferative enteritis was possible from pigs to hamsters. Therefore a common initiating or aetiological agent may be present. No specific organism was identified as filling this role by inoculation of hamsters with pure cultures.

An outbreak of coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis in 16-week-old cage-reared layer replacement pullets.

A flock of 16-week-old layer replacement pullets housed in cages since 1 day old experienced an outbreak of necrotic enteritis with concurrent coccidiosis 3 weeks after debeaking.

[Epidemiological aspects of enteritis due to Campylobacter jejuni].

From September 1986 through July 1987, all fecal specimens obtained from infants and children who visited the pediatric clinic of the Shizuoka General Hospital with complaints of abdominal pain or diarrhea were examined for thermophilic Campylobacters. Bacteriological and epidemiological studies were performed on household contacts. The mothers of the patients were compared with the mothers of age-matched control subjects. Bacteriological examination of animals in 49 primary schools in Shizuoka city was performed. C. jejuni was isolated from 47 (9.4%) of the 499 feces samples, occupying first place in the bacterial etiology of acute bacterial enteritis. Infants and young children below 10 years of age comprised 81% of the total cases. Fourteen (13%) strains of C. jejuni were isolated in 9 families among 105 household contacts of the index patients. Six symptomatic contacts in two households had eaten the same suspected chicken as the respective index patients. In three families, C. jejuni was isolated from the remainder of the chicken. The serotype of these isolates was identical to that of the isolates from the index cases and the other family members. It was also noted that the same chopping boards were used for the preparation of salads after cleansing with water. In two index cases, the antibody of convalescent serum against C. jejuni isolated from the chicken, as estimated by passive hemagglutination method, ranged from 1:320 to 1:1280. These facts strongly supported the assumption that they had been infected by the chicken. The remaining persons were asymptomatic and the possibility was left that the index cases had been secondarily infected by these carrier persons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Campylobacter enteritis in dogs and cats: a 'new' zoonosis.

The subject is introduced by a brief historical resumé and account of campylobacter enterocolitis in man. Published figures on the prevalence of campylobacters in normal dogs and cats show a wide range. It is highest (49% dogs, 45% cats) in immature animals, particularly strays or those living in kennels, and lowest (less than 1.6% dogs and cats) in adult animals living in households. Several studies have shown no significant difference between the prevalence in normal animals and those suffering from diarrhoea, but two surveys did show such a difference. It seems that while most animals are unaffected by infection with campylobacters, a few suffer an illness like that seen in man. Longitudinal studies to determine incidence--as opposed to prevalence--of infection are required. A small proportion of human infections are acquired from dogs. These are usually puppies that are themselves suffering from diarrhoea. Only four infections associated with cats (all kittens with diarrhoea) have been reported. Contact is invariably close and the victims are often small children. The application of simple hygienic measures should prevent such infections.

[Comparative importance of different transmission factors in the spread of acute intestinal infections]. / Sravitel'naia znachimost' raznykh faktorov peredachi v rasprostranenii ostrykh kishechnykh infeksii

The authors generalized literature data on a comparative epidemiological significance of individual ways of transmission in the spread of escherichiasis, shigelloses, salmonelloses and cholera. Resistance of the corresponding causative agents to the factors of external environment and the action of gastric juice were considered. Data on concentrations of different enteropathogenic agents in the feces of patients, convalescents and healthy carriers were compared with the observations on doses causing the disease in man. On the basis of analysis a conclusion was drawn on a different significance of water, food and domestic ways of infection in the spread of various etiological forms of acute intestinal infections.

[Campylobacter jejuni: an important causative agent of food infection in man. An overview]. / Campylobacter jejuni: een belangrijke verwekker van voedselinfecties bij de mens. Een overzicht.

Since a few years, Campylobacter jejuni has been identified as an important cause of acute enteritis in man. Various studies showed that Campylobacter enteritis is as common as salmonellosis, and that the symptoms often are even more severe. That this species of bacterium was not discovered until recently, was due in part to the fact that unusual methods of isolation are required; for instance, Campylobacter jejuni will only grow in a micro-aerophilic atmosphere. Campylobacteriosis was found to be a foodborne infection in the majority of cases. The organism was isolated from a large number of species of wild and domesticated animals, which, as in the case of Salmonella, are mainly asymptomatic carriers. Of farm animals, poultry and pigs are most frequently infected. The most important sources of human infection are poultry meat, unpasteurized milk, inadequately treated drinking water and, as a direct source, dogs with enteritis. Only poultry was found to play a role in the Netherlands. Pork is mostly not contaminated as Campylobacter dies during cooling of pig carcasses, death being due to the drying effect of forced ventilation. The sensitivity of Campylobacter to dry conditions, in conjunction with its inability to multiply below 30 degrees C, means that the mechanism of cross contamination, which is such an important factor in the epidemiology of Salmonella, is of minor significance in Campylobacter.

[Epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni/coli--enteritis in children]. / Infektketten bei Campylobacter jejuni/coli Infektionen des Kindes.

The infections of children caused by C. jejuni/coli are mainly transferred via three infection chains: (1) direct contact with C.jejuni coli-contaminated feces; (2) consumption of contaminated meat which was cooked insufficiently; (3) consumption of food which was contaminated by e.g. the mother during preparation of the childrens meat. The common characteristics of these chains are insufficient hygienic precautions.