1/41. Transmission of mycobacterium tuberculosis from medical waste.CONTEXT: washington State has a relatively low incidence rate of tuberculosis (TB) infection. However, from May to September 1997, 3 cases of pulmonary TB were reported among medical waste treatment workers at 1 facility in washington. There is no previous documentation of mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission as a result of processing medical waste. OBJECTIVE: To identify the source(s) of these 3 TB infections. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Interviews of the 3 infected patient-workers and their contacts, review of patient-worker medical records and the state TB registry, and collection of all multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) isolates identified after January 1, 1995, from the facility's catchment area; dna fingerprinting of all isolates; polymerase chain reaction and automated DNA sequencing to determine genetic mutations associated with drug resistance; and occupational safety and environmental evaluations of the facility. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Previous exposures of patient-workers to TB; verification of patient-worker tuberculin skin test histories; identification of other cases of TB in the community and at the facility; drug susceptibility of patient-worker isolates; and potential for worker exposure to live M tuberculosis cultures. RESULTS: All 3 patient-workers were younger than 55 years, were born in the united states, and reported no known exposures to TB. We did not identify other TB cases. The 3 patient-workers' isolates had different DNA fingerprints. One of 10 MDR-TB catchment-area isolates matched an MDR-TB patient-worker isolate by DNA fingerprint pattern. DNA sequencing demonstrated the same rare mutation in these isolates. There was no evidence of personal contact between these 2 individuals. The laboratory that initially processed the matching isolate sent contaminated waste to the treatment facility. The facility accepted contaminated medical waste where it was shredded, blown, compacted, and finally deactivated. Equipment failures, insufficient employee training, and respiratory protective equipment inadequacies were identified at the facility. CONCLUSION: Processing contaminated medical waste resulted in transmission of M tuberculosis to at least 1 medical waste treatment facility worker. JAMA. 2000;284:1683-1688.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/41. neck needle foreign bodies: an added risk for autopsy pathologists.The risk to pathologists of contracting diseases due to cuts or needles punctures while performing autopsies is well known. An additional risk is an accidental needle puncture due to retained needle fragments within the subcutaneous tissues or internal organs of intravenous drug addicts. We report 4 cases of drug addicted patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus who came to autopsy and had retained needle fragments within their cervical-clavicular soft tissues. The presence of retained needle fragments increases the risk to the autopsy pathologist of accidental needle puncture and exposure to disease. Because of this phenomenon, the pathologist should take precautions in addition to those currently prescribed when performing autopsies on possible drug abusers.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/41. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) associated with staphylococcus spp. bacteremia, responsive to potassium arsenite 0.5% in a veterinary surgeon and his coworking wife, handling with CFS animal cases.Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in human patients remain a controversial and perplexing condition with emerging zoonotic aspects. Recent advances in human medicine seem to indicate a bacterial etiology and the condition has already been described in horses, dogs, cats and birds of prey in association with micrococci-like organisms in the blood. To evaluate the possibility of a chronic bacteremia, a veterinary surgeon (the author) and his coworking wife, both diagnosed with CFS and meeting the CDC working case definition, were submitted to rapid blood cultures and fresh blood smears investigations. blood cultures proved Staph-positive and micrococci-like organisms in the blood were repeatedly observed in the 3-year period preceding the arsenical therapy, during which several medicaments, including antibiotics, proved unsuccessful. Following treatment with a low dosage arsenical drug (potassium arsenite 0.5%, im., 1 ml/12 h, for 10 days) both patients experienced complete remission. At the post-treatment control made 1 month later, micrococci had disappeared from the blood, and the CD4/CD8 ratio was raising.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.33333333333333keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/41. Rescue of a patient out of a grain container: the quicksand effect of grain.Grain storage containers not only present inherent dangers to the operators, but also to the rescuers if someone falls in. Here we report the rescue of a patient from a grain container using a novel technique involving a cylinder placed around the patient. This allowed the grain to be sucked out from around the patient and enabled his rescue uninjured. The rescue action was complicated by acute chest pain in the patient while he was submerged in the grain, and a severe asthma attack in the emergency physician. The rescue and the dilemmas encountered are described together with a review of the relevant literature.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 43631.5051139keywords = container (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/41. burns caused by dilute hydrofluoric acid in the bleach.Two male cleaning workers aged 62 (patient 1) and 28-(patient 2) presented with red, swollen, aching hands and fingers. At the first interview, the fingers of the right hand of both patients were swollen from the proximal interphalangeal joint to the tip of the finger. The fingers were red and intensely painful. The bleach that both patients used contained 9.5% hydrofluoric acid, and therefore we diagnosed their symptoms as those of burns caused by this agent. We subcutaneously injected 8.5% calcium gluconate into the affected fingers and dressed them with gauze soaked in cooled 0.025% benzethonium chloride. The patients did not use gloves at work, neither of them knew that the cleaning fluid contained dilute hydrofluoric acid, and they were unaware of the danger of this agent. They had not received proper education about the care and handling of poisons and deleterious substances such as hydrofluoric acid. The doctors who had examined the patients in the emergency ward overlooked the possibility of hydrofluoric acid burns, although they suspected chemical burns and confirmed the trade name of the cleaning agent. In addition, although the patients presented with intense pain, no white areas of coagulation and blistering, or surrounding erythemas, which are characteristic symptoms of such burns, were evident. The component of the cleaning agent was described on the container label in very small print. Had the words "poison" and "hydrogen fluoride" been printed in large characters, the examining doctors in the emergency ward would probably not have overlooked the presence of hydrofluoric acid, and the patients would perhaps have been more careful when using it. hydrofluoric acid can be easily obtained by anyone through the internet, although general consumers could not obtain industrial quantities. Therefore, the number of burn patients who are not familiar with hydrofluoric acid may increase in the future.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7271.9175189833keywords = container (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/41. Molecular characterisation of airport malaria: four cases in france during summer 1999.Four airport malaria cases have been observed in the vicinity of the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle International Airport, paris, france. These cases were geographically very close to each other and clustered in a short period of time during the summer of 1999. The phenotype and genotype of the plasmodium falciparum isolates obtained from these patients were determined in order to know whether a single mosquito could have infected more than one subject. The genomic characterisation of isolates was performed using the polymorphic markers merozoite surface protein 1 (Msp 1) and merozoite surface protein 2 (Msp 2) genes, the kappa and omega repeats domains of cg2 and the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) genotypes. Results showed identical genotypes for isolates 1, 2 and 4 whereas the genotype of isolate 3 differed at one locus. The molecular analysis was consistent with the hypothesis that all patients could have been bitten by the same mosquito and that patient 3, may have received a different clone and an additional species. in vitro susceptibility data did not confirm or rule out this hypothesis because isolates had the same profile of susceptibility to the tested drugs.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.33333333333333keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/41. platinum concentrations in sera of catalyst production workers are not predictive of platinum salt allergy.platinum (Pt) salts are potent occupational allergens in precious metal refineries and catalyst productions. The threshold limit value of 2000 ng soluble Pt/m3 enforced in many countries has been questioned because there is still a high incidence of Pt salt allergy. The objective of the present case series is to define the predictive value of biological monitoring by relating Pt in the serum of catalyst production workers and control subjects to sensitization to Pt salts as assessed by skin prick testing. A total of 38 Pt measurements were taken from sera of six workers investigated several times during a 5-year cohort study. Three subjects showed a conversion of skin prick test (SPT) with Pt salts from negative to positive during the cohort study (all considered highly exposed to Pt), and three did not show SPT conversion. Previous therapy with Pt-containing anti-cancer drugs and metallic dental alloys were considered as confounders. Only one of the three workers sensitized to Pt salt had clearly elevated serum Pt concentrations, but this elevation was not observed in each examination. Elevated Pt concentrations were also found in two subjects with low or no exposure to Pt. Both had metallic dental alloys. One control subject without metallic dental alloys showed low Pt concentrations in the serum in four examinations, but a single unexplained high concentration in his initial examination. In this small case series, serum Pt concentrations were neither sensitive nor specific for the prediction of Pt salt sensitization. Low specificity may be explained by Pt-containing metallic dental alloys, but additional unknown confounders may be of importance.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.33333333333333keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/41. Acute mercury intoxication with lichenoid drug eruption followed by mercury contact allergy and development of antinuclear antibodies.A 31-year-old black man was examined for evaluation of a suspected occupational disease. Three years earlier he had been suffering from acute mercury intoxication during work in a mercury recycling factory. skin symptoms then had been a lichenoid drug eruption, patchy alopecia and stomatitis, which had all disappeared rapidly after systemic glucocorticosteroid treatment. The examination revealed positive patch test reactions to metallic mercury and inorganic mercury compounds, an elevated titre of serum antinuclear antibodies and normal IgE levels. The induction of antinuclear antibodies by mercury has been shown in animal experiments. It can be hypothesized that this patient, who may have had an increased individual susceptibility, became allergic to mercury by the mercury intoxication.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.6666666666667keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/41. Transmission of hepatitis c by blood splash into conjunctiva in a nurse.The risk of transmission of hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection is an important problem for the health care worker. HCV transmission by blood splashing into eyes is very rare. In a hemodialyses department, a 23-year-old female nurse splashed blood from a patient who was anti-HCV positive into her eyes. She washed her eyes with water immediately and reported to the infection control department. She had never used intravenous drugs nor received transfusions. At the time of exposure, there was no abnormality in her laboratory tests. Her anti-HCV and HCV-rna tests produced negative results. She was followed up for anti-HCV and alanine aminotransferase activity. After 6 months, she presented with sore throat, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weight loss. She had icterus and hepatomegalia. In laboratory tests, alanine aminotransferase level was 504 U/L, aspartate aminotransferase level was 388 U/L, and anti-HCV and HCV-rna tests produced positive findings. She was treated with interferon alfa-2a for a 1-year period. After treatment, an HCV-rna test produced negative results and transaminase levels were normal. In conclusion, splashing blood from patients who are HCV positive into the face or eyes is a risk for health care workers. They should be educated to prevent a nosocomial acquisition of bloodborne infection and they should observe protective precautions.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.33333333333333keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/41. Bilateral mycotic axillary artery false aneurysms in an intravenous drug user: unsuspected broken needle-tips pose a risk to the treating personnel.Mycotic false aneurysms due to local arterial injury from attempted intravenous injections in drug addicts are increasing in frequency. The high incidence of hiv and hepatitis b virus in parenteral drug users may present a considerable risk to the treating personnel. This paper reports the unsuspected presence of broken needle-tips in the subcutaneous tissues of an intravenous drug abuser, in association with bilateral mycotic aneurysms of the axillary arteries. Broken needle-tips have the potential to cause needlestick injury to the operating team and the nursing staff, with the associated risk of transmission of hiv and hepatitis b virus infection. The presence of broken needle-tips should be suspected in drug users presenting with false aneurysms associated with local arterial injection injury and a specific history of needle-breakage should be sought. Preoperative plain radiographs should be performed of the planned operative field to exclude the presence of such needle-tips. Any soft tissue swelling in the vicinity of a major artery in an intravenous drug abuser should be suspected of being a false aneurysm until proven otherwise and should prompt immediate referral to a vascular surgeon for investigation and management.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3keywords = drug (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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