Non-Specific Genital Infection Reiter ' s Disease Trichomoniasis Candidosis Genital Herpes Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases Public Health and Social Aspects Miscellaneous Syphilis and Other Treponematoses

These selected abstracts ana titles from the world literature are arranged in the following sections: Syphilis and Other Treponematoses (Clinical and Therapy; Serology and Biological False Positive Phenomenon; Pathology and Experimental) Gonorrhoea (Clinical; Microbiology; Therapy) Non-Specific Genital Infection Reiter's Disease Trichomoniasis Candidosis Genital Herpes Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases Public Health and Social Aspects Miscellaneous Syphilis and Other Treponematoses (Clinical and therapy) Hearing Loss of Acquired Syphilis. Diagnosis confirmed by Incudectomy NADOL, J. B. (1975) Laryngoscope, 85, 1888 The author reports the case history of a 34-year-old woman who was seen at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in January, 1973, with a 2-year history of intermittent vertigo and a 5-month history of left-sided deafness. An audiogram showed no cochlear function on the left and a mild sensorineural hearing loss on the right. She had been treated on thirteen occasions between 1958 and 1973 with intramuscular penicillin or oral tetracycline for syphilis and gonorrhoea; the duration and dose of antibiotics are not recorded although they are said to have been adequate. She had secondary syphilis diagnosed twice in 1964. In June, 1973, a specimen of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) had raised cells and protein and a Lange curve which was tabetic in form, although the Hinton test was non-reactive. Her blood Hinton test was positive at 1 in 16. Penicillin caused a fixed drug eruption and was discontinued after one dose, and she was treated with tetracycline 2 g. daily for 20 days. No improvement occurred, and by October her condition was found to have deteriorated. A further specimen of CSF showed no lymphocytes and a normal protein level. A tympanotomy was performed and the incus removed. Histology showed a chronic osteitis with reactive bone formation consistent with syphilis. She continued on tetracycline 2 g. daily with prednisolone 60 mg. on alternate days. After 13 weeks the tetracycline was stopped and the prednisolone gradually discontinued. The author discusses the pathology of syphilis in the ear, and notes that treatment with antibiotics and steroids should be continued for 3 months. G. D. Morrison Syphilis (Serology and biological false positive phenomenon) VDRL Test in a Blood Transfusion Service BEAL, R. w. , and MERRY, D. J. (1975) J. cdin. Path. , 28, 854 VDRL screening tests were performed on 73,350 donations of blood collected in South Australia during 1974. 318 sera (0 43 per cent.) gave reactive results and were sent to a reference centre for verification tests. These provided confirmatory evidence of syphilis in 34 sera from 24 donors; eleven of these were known to have had syphilis in the past and thirteen had either untreated infections or treated disease unknown to the transfusion service. 284 sera from 235 donors gave false positive (BFP) reactions in the screening test; 115 were from males and 120 from females, although the panel contained about three times as many male as female donors. The average age of the BFP reactors was somewhat greater than that of donors in general. The BFP reactions showed a marked seasonal incidence; 65 per cent. occurred during the period May to August, the late autumn and winter in the southern hemisphere. The results are not thought to suggest that regular donation contributes to the production of BFP reactions. A. E. Wilkinson [Reprinted from Abstracts on Hygiene, by permission of the Editor. ] Spontaneous Reversion of FTA-ABS Test Reactions BURNS, R. E. (1975) J. Amer. med. Ass. , 234, 617 VDRL and FTA-ABS tests were carried out as part of the examination of applicants for employment. If either was found reactive, both tests were repeated a week later. In 157 patients the VDRL test was found to be reactive but the FTA-ABS test negative; 56 of these patients were observed for periods up to 21 months, and in twenty the FTA-ABS test became negative after periods of a week to 7 months. All but two of these patients were under 30 years of age and fourteen were females. Most of the initially reactive FTA-ABS tests showed only weak fluorescence. These patients were all apparently healthy and had no previous history of venereal disease. It is suggested that, when only the FTA-ABS test is found reactive in such patients, tests should be repeated for up to a year before a diagnosis of syphilis is made. The laboratory should also report the intensity of fluorescence observed. [TPI and TPHA tests would have been of value in the assessment of the specificity of these isolated reactive FTA-ABS results. ] A. E. Wilkinson [Reprinted from Abstracts on Hygiene, by permission of the Editor. ] on A uust 6, 2023 by gest. P rocted by coright. htt//sti.bm jcom / B r J V ener D s: frst pulished as 10.11ti. 52.3. 212 on 1 Jne 176. D ow nladed fom