{"title":"The occurrence and features of hemorrhagic skin lesions in 115 cases of systemic meningococcal disease.","authors":"P Brandtzaeg, J S Dahle, E A Høiby","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hemorrhagic skin lesions (SH) are common in systemic meningococcal disease (MCd) and are very importance in differential diagnosis. The occurrence of SH in 115 MCd cases in relation to outcome (sequelae or death) and diagnostic category of MCd is described as well as the occurrence of SH in 61 control patients with similar referral diagnoses. We found SH in 77% of the MCd patients and about 20% of the control patients. The SH in the latter group tended to be small, localized and few. Multiple SH, a larger size and a generalized distribution was found in MCd patients with a graver prognosis. Health workers and particularly the public should learn more about SH in MCd and their significance. This may improve the care of MCd patients in promoting earlier diagnosis and therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 2","pages":"183-90, 202-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17731223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L O Frøholm, B P Berdal, K Bøvre, P Gaustad, A Harboe, E Holten, E A Høiby, A Lystad, T Omland, C E Frasch
{"title":"Meningococcal group B vaccine trial in Norway 1981--1982. Preliminary report of results available November 1982.","authors":"L O Frøholm, B P Berdal, K Bøvre, P Gaustad, A Harboe, E Holten, E A Høiby, A Lystad, T Omland, C E Frasch","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A combined serogroup B capsular polysaccharide and serotype 2a outer membrane complex meningococcal vaccine and a placebo preparation were tested double-blindly in 55 adult, male volunteers. The vaccine gave twofold increased binding antibodies, measured by ELISA, against non-capsular outer membrane antigen in 85 per cent of those vaccinated. Bactericidal antibodies towards a meningococcal serogroup C serotype 2a strain also increased fourfold or more among 85% vaccinated. New acquisition of meningococcal carriage was associated with antibody increase in one person from the placebo group.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 2","pages":"133-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17486239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Factors preceding the onset of meningococcal disease, with special emphasis on passive smoking, symptoms of ill health.","authors":"B Haneberg, T Tønjum, K Rodahl, T W Gedde-Dahl","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a prospective study of 115 patients with systemic meningococcal disease, 61 control patients and 293 population controls, environmental and other factors which preceded the illness and which might have influenced the acquisition and case fatality rate of the meningococcal disease were investigated. Passive smoking in children under 12 year of age, stressful events, and symptoms and signs of preceding illness within the last two weeks were significantly more frequent in meningococcal patients than among the population controls. In contrast, those patients who had been exposed to stressful events, or who had symptoms or signs of ill-health preceding the meningococcal disease, had significantly reduced case fatality rates as compared to those who had not had any such experiences. Passive smoking remains a factor of great interest for further studies and intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 2","pages":"169-73"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17731411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B Haneberg, T J Gutteberg, P J Moe, B Osterud, B Bjorvatn, E H Lehmann
{"title":"Heparin for infants and children with meningococcal septicemia. Results of a randomized therapeutic trial.","authors":"B Haneberg, T J Gutteberg, P J Moe, B Osterud, B Bjorvatn, E H Lehmann","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heparin has been given intravenously, as part of a prospective study, to 11 of 26 infants and children with severe meningococcal septicemia. This therapy was started as early as possible following admission to hospital, and continued for two days. The age and sex distributions were roughly similar for the two treatment groups, but the prognostic signs on admission were somewhat less favourable for the group that did not receive heparin. Two boys who received heparin and two girls who did not, died. The clinical courses of the surviving patients in the two groups were also roughly similar, except that the tendency to cutaneous necroses was slightly more prominent in those who had not received heparin. We have thus no evidence that heparin has any great influence on the final outcome of meningococcal septicemia, even when given so early that shock had not developed.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"43-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17412962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"External quality assessment for clinical microbiological laboratories in Norway 1982. 2. Evaluation of the antibiotic sensitivity test results.","authors":"P Sandven, J Lassen","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An external quality assessment for microbiology included antibiotic sensitivity testing of the 24 bacterial strains submitted. The number of antibiotics selected when sensitivity testing bacteria from different sources varied considerably between the laboratories. The discrepancy between actually reported sensitivity groups and the sensitivity groups calculated on the basis of the reported inhibition zones using the recommended regression lines was as great as 7% of a total of 1922 tests. This was mainly due to the use of outdated zone size break-points, indicating that information concerning changing recommendations may be inadequate. Discrepancies between the results reported by the laboratories and the results of a microdilution method giving the minimal inhibitory concentration for six antibiotics were recorded in 18.6% of the tests. Approximately one third of these discrepancies were characterized as \"major\" or \"very major\".</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"37-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17677816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Differences in bindings to the GM1 receptor by heat-labile enterotoxin of human and porcine Escherichia coli strains.","authors":"O Olsvik, A Lund, B P Berdal, T Bergan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heat-labile enterotoxin producing strains of Escherichia coli were isolated from diarrheal faeces of humans and from the jejunum of pigs which had died of diarrhea. The heat-labile enterotoxin was assayed by three different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The first assay was based upon immunological cross-reactions between the heat-labile enterotoxins of E coli and Vibrio cholerae, the second on specific E coli heat-labile enterotoxin antibodies and the third on affinity of the toxin to the presumed cell membrane receptor, the ganglioside GM1. The heat-labile enterotoxins of human and porcine origin bound equally well to the same extent in the ELISA procedure, which utilized immunological cross-reactivity between the heat-labile enterotoxins of E coli and V cholerae. The reactivity, however, was quite different in the GM1-ELISA. The binding affinity was high between GM1 and enterotoxin produced by E coli strains of human origin, whereas the binding affinity was low for enterotoxin from porcine strains.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"5-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17412963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unusual manifestations of meningococcal infection. A review.","authors":"A Odegaard","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Unusual manifestations of meningococcal infection as pneumonia, pericarditis, endocarditis, arthritis, urogenital infections and acute abdominal disease are seen combined with meningitis or septicemia, but can also appear alone without systemic disease. Incidence, diagnosis, clinical symptoms and therapy are briefly discussed with documentation from literature.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"59-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17472211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gas-chromatographic screening of capsular polysaccharides of Neisseria meningitidis.","authors":"K Bryn, L O Frøholm, E Holten, K Bøvre","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thirteen systemic strains, i e strains isolated from systemic infections, and 77 carrier isolates of Neisseria meningitidis were serogrouped by agglutination and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) of phenol extracts. For systemic strains the sugar patterns were in accordance with their group-specific capsular polysaccharides (CPS). Some carrier isolates revealed unexpected GC profiles. Upon immunological retesting with new sera, GC results were generally confirmed. Occasional isolates initially serogrouped as B or Y completely lacked neuraminic acid. Some non-groupable isolates were shown by ultracentrifugation and GC to have significant amounts of this sugar likely to originate from CPS of known composition or from unknown polysaccharides. One such originally non-groupable isolate showed a weak agglutination reaction specifically with group B antiserum when reexamined. Generally, carrier isolates had lower amounts of CPS than systemic strains of the same group. Five successive isolates from one carrier were first serogrouped as X, Z or non-groupable, but they had high amounts of galactosamine and 2-keto-3-deoxy octonate, sugars characterizing CPS of serogroup 29E. These isolates were confirmed by agglutination with recently available group 29E antiserum to be of this serogroup, which has not been reported before in Norway. Ultracentrifugation revealed the presence of unknown polysaccharides containing glucose, galactose or glucosamine, but further purification of these polymers is required to determine their composition and immunological importance.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"91-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17472214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"External quality assessment for clinical microbiological laboratories in Norway 1982. 1. Evaluation of the identifications of 24 bacterial strains.","authors":"J Lassen, P Sandven","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The first general external quality assessment (EQA) for clinical microbiological laboratories in Norway was carried out in 1982. Fifteen of 16 county and regional laboratories participated. Twenty-four pure cultures of different bacterial species were distributed by post. The distribution was \"open\" in the sense that the participants were aware of the cultures being part of the assessment. The strains had to be treated as routine clinical specimens. The bacterial identifications, the identification methods and the antibiotic sensitivity pattern had to be reported. The mean number of erroneous identifications was 2.7 (11.3%). Eleven strains were correctly identified by all laboratories, whereas four strains were misidentified by four to seven laboratories, accounting for approximately 50% of all misidentifications. All laboratories used \"rapid\" biochemical methods when identifying Gram-negative rods, mainly the \"Three-tube method\" and API 20E. Five laboratories used only one method, 10 used a combination of two or three methods. The use of more than one method did not give any substantial advantage. The accuracy of the \"rapid\" biochemical methods was approximately 88%, contrasting to approximately 96-98% when scientifically evaluated. The necessity of developing a permanent EQA scheme for microbiological laboratories is emphasized and a possible design for this is discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"23-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17677815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pathogenesis of hemorrhagic skin lesions in meningococcal disease.","authors":"J S Dahle","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The pathogenesis of purpuric skin lesions in meningococcaemia is still not clear. The histopathology of biopsy specimens from human purpura resembles that of the local Shwartzman reaction in rabbits. However, the early histopathological picture of purpuric lesions shows a resemblance to the experimental epinephrine-endotoxic reaction produced in rabbits. Furthermore, immunological reactions may play an important role in the pathogenesis since deposits of immunoglobulins, complement and fibrinogen can be demonstrated in the walls of capillaries and small vessels in the dermis of patients with acute meningococcaemia.</p>","PeriodicalId":76239,"journal":{"name":"NIPH annals","volume":"6 1","pages":"49-53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1983-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17677817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}