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From the end of 1994 to the beginning of 1995, 49 patients with hemorrhagic symptoms were hospitalized in the Makokou General Hospital in northeastern Gabon. Yellow fever (YF) virus was first diagnosed in serum by use of polymerase chain reaction followed by blotting, and a vaccination campaign was immediately instituted. The epidemic, known as the fall 1994 epidemic, ended 6 weeks later. However, some aspects of this epidemic were atypical of YF infection, so a retrospective check for other etiologic agents was undertaken. Ebola (EBO) virus was found to be present concomitantly with YF virus in the epidemic. Two other epidemics (spring and fall 1996) occurred in the same province. GP and L genes of EBO virus isolates from all three epidemics were partially sequenced, which showed a difference of

Accurate predictions of both the flux and size distribution of the solids entrained above the transport disengaging height of a fluidized bed are necessary. There is no published correlation which accounts for particle agglomeration. No published correlation can accurately predict the flux or size distribution of the particles entrained from a 30-cm i.d. bed of polyethylene particles fluidized at 25 atm. Particle agglomeration greatly affected entrainment. Since the physical processes responsible for agglomeration are too complex for modeling, a reliable procedure was developed to characterize particle agglomeration from entrainment data taken from two completely different series of tests. Several literature models for entrainment were reversed to get the agglomerated fraction of each size cut in the bed solids from the measured size distribution of the entrained particles. A new correlation was developed to calculate size distribution and flux of entrained particles. The agglomeration of the bed particles was modeled with a log-normal probability distribution.

In a study carried out in Gabon, antibodies against the treponema were looked for in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 13 children with active congenital syphilis (presence of specific IgM antibodies) and in 7 children with positive serologic reactions reflecting transplacental passage of maternal antibodies. Serologic reactions used included the VDRL test, the TPHA test, and the FTA-ABS IgG and IgM tests. Among the 13 children with syphilis, 7 had a positive FTA-ABS IgG test in the CSF; positivity of this test was not correlated with severity of clinical features, CSF protein levels or CSF cytologic findings. The TPHA test was positive in only four children and the VDRL test was consistently negative. These findings are similar to those reported in another group of patients with meningeal involvement proven by the demonstration of IgM in the CSF using recent techniques. Passage of antibodies into the CSF is possible (1 case in this study) but for safety patients with specific IgG in the CSF should be given penicillin in a dosage that provides treponema-killing levels in situ (100,000 U/kg/d). Use of this dosage is recommended whenever sensitive techniques for CSF analysis are not available.