Search

Several reports have showed Cryptosporidium species as a cause of intractable diarrhea and malabsorption in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV). A case of chronic diarrhea in a drug addict woman associated with a symptomatic interstitial pulmonary infection due to Cryptosporidium parvum is described. This unusual C. parvum spread into the bronchial tree is underlined and a survey of the literature is made.

One-hundred and seventy-one cases of pertussis were observed at the Institute of Infections Diseases and at the 2nd Division of Infectious Diseases of the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome from January 1, 1987 to June 30, 1991. All subjects were treated according to a therapeutic protocol consisting of macrolides (erythromycin or myocamicin) at doses of 40-50 mg/die, betamethasone 0.1 mg/kg/die, specific immunoglobulin G at doses of 0.5 ml/kg repeated after 24 hours (new born babies and babies still unweaned) and oxygen therapy during the paroxystic fits. In 20 patients who were over the first year of life and who had serious asphyxiated fits, bronchodilators (trimetochinol or salbutamol) were added to the previous therapeutic scheme. Our data show both efficacy of therapeutic protocol and importance of early starting the treatment to shorten the length of disease, the strength of asphyxiated fits, and the risk of contagion.

In this study the authors describe a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma histologically typed "large non-cleaved cell immunophenotype B cell", placed primitively into the liver. It affected a woman twenty seven years old, who contracted HIV infection due to heterosexual intercourse with at risk partner. At the time of diagnosis the woman was already considered AIDS patient on account of a previous Pneumocystis carinii pneumoniae and severe immunodeficiency (DC4 = 13 cells/mm3). The patient received cycles of chemotherapy (adriamycin 40 mg/iv, teniposide 50 mg/iv, cyclophosphamide 500 mg/iv, vincristine 2 mg/iv, bleomycin 15 mg/iv, betamethasone 4 mg/iv). At the 15th day of therapeutic cycle vincristine 2 mg/iv, bleomycin 15 mg/iv and betamethasone 4 mg/iv were given. After one cycle of therapy, hepatic echography showed signs that the lymphoma was reduced significantly. The authors stress the uncommon non-Hodgkin lymphoma localization, which is frequently underestimated in HIV-patients.

The authors have evaluated the efficacy and tolerance of teicoplanin against Gram-positive infections in 8 patients (four with endocarditis, one with cholangitis, one with purulent arthritis, one with gathered fistula and one with general pyoderma), arose both in the immunocompetent and immunodepressed subjects. All patients received IM teicoplanin at a dosage of 200-400 mg/die, according to the severity of the infectious process. Teicoplanin proved to be an effective and well-tolerated drug in the treatment of staphylococcus infections, both for immunocompetent and with serious deficit of the immune system subjects.