The immunity status of 37 cases has been tested at 6 weeks and 3.5 years after vaccination by using gelatin beads agglutination (PA), hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and avidity of specific IgG. The geometric mean titer (GMT) of HI antibody was 34.5 at 6 weeks and had fallen to 17.9 over 3.5 years. On the other hand, GMT of PA antibody was 36.5 at 6 weeks and had increased to 286.0 over 3.5 years. Also, the average of measles specific IgG avidity was 4.5% at 6 week and had increased to 45.4% over 3.5 years. The multiple regression analysis was performed in order to investigate the relationship of HI antibody and avidity to PA antibody. The significant involvement of the HI antibody and avidity to PA antibody (standardized partial regression coefficients; 0.612, 0.726) was recognized and the multiple correlation coefficient was 0.880 (p<0.001). Hence it was strongly suggested that the increase of PA antibody with time could be dependent on that of IgG avidity.

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Age distribution, history of vaccination against measles, clinical signs and symptoms were investigated among a total of 113 adult measles patients admitted in our hospital between January, 2000 and December, 2002. The maximum body temperature, duration of fever, presence of Koplik spot and exanthema among these adult inpatients were compared with those among 1-to-5-year-old inpatients having measles. Concerning age distribution, the peak was found at the age of 20-24 years. Most of adult inpatients had not contracted measles until then and had not been vaccinated against measles. The infection route was unknown except a small number of inpatients. Clinical signs and symptoms among adult inpatients were about the same of those in pediatric inpatients except a sore throat. Complications occurred in 17 cases out of 113 adult inpatients, 4 of them had encephalitis or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and the other 4 cases contracted pneumonia. Among the 45 child inpatients, whereas, 23 had complications, 13 of them had pneumonia, 3 contracted otitis media, and an additional 3 suffered from both pneumonia and otitis media. From the results it is reasonably concluded that clinical signs and symptoms among adults impatients with measles are comparable with those of pediatric measles inpatients or slightly severer.

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The conditions of one step RT-PCR method for detection of virus RNA in field-collected mosquitoes, and preservation period of infected mosquitoes for one step RT-PCR were examined. We compared several virus RNA extraction methods with artificially contaminated mosquito pools with dengue virus (DV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and yellow fever virus (YFV) with a known amount of plaque forming unit (PFU) to establish the condition of one step RT-PCR. In this study, most effective RNA extraction method was ISOGEN-LS extraction combined with supernatant of centrifuged mosquito homogenates. Detection limit of one step RT-PCR using flavivirus universal primer in ten mosquitoes/tube (pool) was 10 PFU of DV, JEV and YFV, 1 PFU of each viruses using species-specific primer respectively, in one hundred mosquitoes/tube, 100 PFU/tube using universal primer pairs, 10 PFU/tube using species-specific primer pairs respectively. Dengue virus infected single mosquito was mixed with 99 un-infected mosquitoes, and tested by one step RT-PCR. We could detect single infected mosquito in pools containing 99 un-infected mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus were inoculated intrathoracically with a mouse-adapted strain of dengue-1 virus and were kept up to 30 days at different temperature. Then examined by one step RT-PCR to determine the appropriate mosquito handling method and the condition of transportation. Positive result was obtained up to 30 days after the mosquito died naturally. These results suggested that we could detect flavivirus RNA tested not only from live mosquitoes but also dead mosquitoes as well, and could apply one step RT-PCR as a rapid, specific, and highly sensitive tool for flavivirus surveillance.

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To find a new marker for sero-diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection, Western blot (WB) method was performed by using C. trachomatis infected HeLa229 cell extract (L2-ext) as antigen. Two series of sera of patients with pneumonia or cervicitis (4 sera each) were used for investigation and analysis of a band which fades earlier than others depending on weeks or antibody levels after therapeutic treatment. A 17KDa band was found which tended to fade gradually, but did not completely disappear within the period of investigation.
The band was also detected in sera of patients with cervicitis diagnosed by detection of C. trachomatis organisms (IDEIA-PCE Chlamydia (IDEIA) or Clearview test were positive at first visit to the clinic). Ten anti-C. pneumoniae antibody positive sera and five anti-Mycoplasma pneumoniae antibody positive sera were also tested as controls. The result was that a 17KDa band was detected in 20 of 25 sera (80%) with IDEIA positive-, 18 of 33 patients (54.5%) with Clearview positive-, and 12 of 16 (75%) sera with both tests positive. No band was found in the control sera. The frequency of antibody against 17KDa antigen was almost completely identical with that obtained by microimmunofluorescence test and Peptide-Chlamydia-IgG test. These results show that a 17KDa band may be used as a marker for detection of C. trachomatis antibody by the WB method.
The antigen could be precipitated with salting out from the L2-ext with 60% saturation of ammonium sulfate of Hofmeister's method and it was digested with proteinase K. From the result of the amino acid sequence analysis, it was found that 17KDa protein is the human nucleoside diphosphate kinase B.

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We experienced a case of trichinellosis that had traveled in Kenya. The initial symptoms of the patient were myalgia and fever which started 2 weeks after she came back from Kenya, and blood examination showed marked eosinophilia (14, 300/mm³) and eleveted creatinine kinase (826IU/L). When we made serological diagnosis of trichinellosis 3 weeks after onset, symptoms started to resolve spontaneously and we observed the patient without any medication. As of 2 months after onset, symptoms and abnormal findings in laboratory data almost disappeared. The patient was speculated to be infected with trichinella spp. by incompletely cooked wild animal meats including alligator, zebra, pig, and ostrich during travel in Kenya. Since high incidence of trichinella infection in both wild and domestic animals has been reported in some areas of developing countries, travelers must be aware that raw or incompletely cooked animal meats can be source of trichinella spp.

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We report a case of Paenibacillus polymyxa bacteremia in a patient with cerebral infarction. The patient was a 93-year-old female who was admitted to our hospital. On the 4 day after admitted, she had a fever 38.2°C. The result of the blood culture showed a gram positive spore bacillus in the blood culture bottle. As a result of performing 16SrDNA sequence analysis (500bp), it was a close relationship most by 99.26% P. polymlxa of coincidence was found. With a result using api 20E and api 50CH, this bacillus turned out to be P. polymyxa.
The patient had a habit of weeding around her house daily. So we had to take her habit into consideration. We thought she could to get her hands injured. We assumed probably her habit might put her into high risk state of infection of this bacillus. We have supposed this bacillus might be infected with her through her blood.

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