Epidemiology and histopathology of rhinosporidiosis in Western Kenya are reported. During the period of six years, 1979 to 1984, we found 10 cases of rhinosporidiosis out of 18, 969 surgical specimens in Western Kenya (Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western Provinces). The disease was mostly confined to young generations. Mostly affected site of the infection was the nostril, followed by the bulbar conjunctiva. Nyanza Province and the central area of Rift Valley Province were highly infected. All patients came from agricultural areas. Histologically the disease showed characteristic appearances. The various stages in the life cycle of fungal cells were found in the subepithelial connective tissues which was covered by papillomatous hyperplasia of the mucosal epithelium and accompanied with relatively scant inflammatory cell infiltration in spite of huge number of fungal cells. These findings suggest that rhinosporidiosis is one of the unique fungal diseases showing characteristic histological features. And possible source of the infection was discussed.

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Interaction between normal diploid cells which had been established from human lung tissue and Trypanosoma cruzi (T. c) stock newly isolated from an Ecuadorian patient with Chagas' disease was studied. Normal diploid cells were found to have susceptibility to invasion by T. c and capacity to support the parasite growth. Intracellular parasites multiplied with a doubling time of 16.9 hours, and after 4 days of infection, trypomastigotes were released into culture supernatant. Development of T. c was relatively synchronized in the infection with parasite : host cell ratio of 20 : 1, providing broad form trypomastigotes with purity of more than 95 per cent in culture supernatant on day 4. Amastigotes were observed during the later stage of cultivation, resulting from degeneration of host cells. Two morphologically distinct forms of trypomastigotes, broad and slender, were obtained. Broad form predominated at early stage of cultivation and then proportion of slender form gradually increased.

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Chemoprophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMPSMZ) has recently been widely applied in the clinical field since Hughes et al. (1977) established a regimen, which indicated daily administration of the drug for several months or sometimes over a year. In order to avoid the adverse effect, search for a minimum-effective dose or more convenient way of administration hasbeen desired. The present paper describes the chemoprophylactic effect of P. carinii pneumonia by means of intermittent administrations of TMP-SMZ and pyrimethamine-sulfamonomethoxine (PRM-SMM) in immunosuppressed rats. The results are summarized as follows :
Group A. Twenty-nine out of 30 control rats which were not given prophylactic drug but given cortisone acetate showed severe P. carinii pneumonia.
Group B. In a group of prophylactic regimen as PRM 15 mg/kg-SMM 300 mg/kg, once a week, 3 out of 21 rats showed light infection with P. carinii.
Group C. In a group of TMP 100 mg/kg-SMZ 500 mg/kg administration, once a week, 5 out of 10 rats were moderately infected with P. carinii. The prophylactic effect seemed not enough by this procedure.
Group D. All of 12 rats which received TMP 200 mg/kg-SMZ 1, 000 mg/kg (twice as much as Group C), once a week, showed negative for P. carinii.
Group E. All of 21 rats which received TMP 100 mg/kg-SMZ 500 mg/kg, twice a week (2 consecutive days), were negative for P. carinii.
Group F. All of 22 rats which received TMP 100 mg/kg-SMZ 500 mg/kg, twice a week (3-4 days interval), were also negative for P. carinii.
From the results mentioned above, it can be said that intermittent prophylactic regimens in Group D, E and F showed satisfactory effect for preventing the onset of P. carinii pneumonia. Among those, the methodused in Group F seems to be most applicable in the clinical field, considering the side effects and in practical point of view.

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Trichomonas tenax was observed in the pleural effusion of Japanese male patient (70-year-old) with purulent pleuritis. The trichomonad protozoan was found to be concomitant infection with Escherichia coli in the purulent effusion. The protozoan measured an average size of 12.44μ in length and 8.52μ in width (n=30). Based on the morphological features, such as size of trichomonad, number of flagella and short undulating membrane, the organism was identified as T. tenax. The aetiological aspects in this case, however, still remained uncertain, though the patient might be partially affected by a great number of T. tenax in the pleural cavity. As to the two organisms found in the pleural effusion, the route of invasion was not known. The homosexual behaviour of the patient, however, might have some connection with the route of invasion.

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We have experienced a case of transfusion vivax malaria. A man aged 60, a wrapper, had been in Siberia from October, 1944, to October, 1948, where he suffered jaundice for a month in October, 1946. He had no other trip abroad and no history of malaria in the past. He was in a hospital to treat fracture of the right femoral neck since January 30, 1985, and an orthopedic surgery of the right hip joint was done on June 19, 1985. He was transfused with three packs of red cell concentrates on June 19 and two on the 20th to cover the bleeding at the surgery. He developed moderate fever from July 5 (16 days after the operation), and high fever and nausea and anorexia from July 10, and anemia from July 13. He was diagnosed as Plasmodium vivax malaria on July 17 (28 days after the operation) and treated intravenously with quinine dihydrochloride (400 mg), and then Fansidar (3 tablets for 3 days). He was completely cured by the treatment.
Four of 5 blood donors were Japanese and had no association with malaria. Another donor was an Indian from Punjub State, a known malaria endemic region. After coming to Japan in October 1984, she stayed in Osaka without any malarial symptom. The vivax malaria was most possibly induced by the red cell concentrate from this blood donor. This is the second case of transfusion malaria in Japan since the war-induced transfusion malaria had disappeared in 1965.
Since personnel interchange between Japan and many malaria endemic foreign countries increased heavily in recent years, we have to pay attentions to transfusion malaria in Japan again.

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A survey for the detection of Paragonimus ohirai metacercariae in brackish water crabs was carried out during the period from October 1982 to September 1985 in the six rivers in the Tokai district, central Japan. These rivers are the Ibi, Nagara, Kiso, Nikkou, Shin and Shounai river which flow into the Ise Bay between Aichi and Mie Prefectures. The brackish water crabs collected were of the species Sesarma dehaani, S. intermedia, Helice tridens and Chasmagnathus convexus. Paragonimus ohirai metacercariae were detected in the first two species. Metacercariae were detected in crabs collected at 17 out of 19 study sites which are situated from about 5.5 to 13.0 km from the estuaries of the Ibi, Nagara and Kiso rivers. The infection rate was 2.7-100 per cent for S. dehaani and 0.9-100 per cent for S. intermedia, while the average number of metacercariae per positive crab was 1.0-96.0 and 1.0-30.2, respectively. The infection rate was higher among the crabs collected from the twelve study sites situated about 6-11 km up from the estuaries of the three rivers. Although a survey done in 1958 reported that only two sites in the Nagara river were positive for crabs, the present study revealed that the infected areas were distributed widely along the three rivers. In the present survey, a new P. ohirai-infected area was found along the Shin river for the first time, despite only limited investigations in the other three rivers. No crabs with metacercariae were observed along the Nikkou river, where P. ohirai had been found in the past.

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