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Serotyping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by Fisher's schema has been used to study the prevalence of particular immunotypes among strains of P. aeruginosa obtained from clinical specimens. About 78% of the isolates were serotypable and about 22% were not. Immunotypes 2 and 6 turned out to be the most prevalent, whereas immunotypes 5 and 7 were the least frequent. Immunotypes 2, 5, 6 and 7 did not vary significantly as far as frequency in the various sources is concerned, with the exception of immunotype 2, which was significantly less frequent in isolates from the expectorated sputum. In such isolates immunotype 3 was significantly more frequent than in other sources, whereas immunotype 4 was significantly more frequent in isolates from the feces. It was next investigated whether a correlation exists between antibiotic susceptibility and particular immunotypes. A high percentage of the non-typable strains and of those belonging to immunotypes 2 and 6 proved to be resistant to the antimicrobial agents tested.

Inflammatory disease such as prostatitis and prostatovesiculitis, can affect the fertility potential of the male population. In this study, the Authors tested the therapeutical efficacy of a second generation quinolone, enoxacin, in patients suffering from vesicular and/or prostatic inflammations. This drug has been shown to diffuse into the prostatic fluid, achieving therapeutical concentrations either in acute or chronic pathological conditions. Thirty infertile patients referring to our Andrology Center and showing seminal signs (leukocytes, abnormal sperm forms, chemical and physical alterations, etc) of genital tract inflammations were found to have positive sperm culture for enoxacin-sensitive strains. Further investigations (echotomography) showed that they were affected by prostatic and/or vesicular subacute chronic inflammations. The mean age was 32.2 (range 20-36) ys. All the patients discontinued any previous treatment for at least 90 days. Enoxacin was administered at the dose of 300 mg b.i.d. for two cycles of 10 days each, with intervals of 20 days. At the beginning and at the end of the treatment (days 0 and 60), semen analysis and culture were performed. A paired-T test was employed for the statistical evaluation of data. 26.6% of patients ad an altered fluidification before treatment. Only 10.0% of them showed the same sign after treatment. A condition of hyperviscosity was present in 50% and 16.6% of patients before and after treatment respectively. Likewise, an elevated number of leukocytes (greater than 10(6)/ml) occurred in the ejaculates of 43.3% of patients and in 23.3% after enoxacin treatment. Enoxacin treatment was efficacious in 89.2% of cases, in presence of either Gram positive or Gram negative bacteria.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A study has been carried out in order to evaluate the sensitivity of a group of some 517 strains of salmonella identified by the Pathogenic Enterobacteria Centre of Central Italy in the biennium 1974-75 to various antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents. As far as the average percentage of sensitivity to the drugs by the strains tested is concerned, the results obtained are indicative of a situation which may be optimistically looked upon as far as our regions are concerned. Some widely used drugs such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin, streptomycin and kanamycin showed a high percentage of activity in vitro towards Salmonellae with the exception of S. wien, whereas gentamicin, co-trimoxazole, nalidixic acid, furoxone and cephradine were more widely active, No substantial differences were found between strains normally present in our regions which are, at present, characterized by a stationary epidemiological situation (S. typhi, S. paratyphi B, S. enteritidis, S. typhi-murium) and sertypes which, having been present in Italy for a long time, appear today to have an increasing diffusion (S. infantis, S. newport, S blockley and S. thompson). As for the Salmonellae of recent appearance and diffusion in Italy (S. panama, S. agona, S. wien) a more resistant pattern of behaviour to various drugs was found; this was particularly remarkable for S. wien which is the last in order of appearance in our population. Finally, the probable reasons for this difference in behaviour are discussed in view of our present knowledge on drug-resistance and on the role played by antibiotics as selective agents at an environmental level.