During treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients with interferon and ribavirin, a lot of side effects are described. Twenty-three percent to 44% of patients develop depression. A minority of patients evolve to psychos...During treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients with interferon and ribavirin, a lot of side effects are described. Twenty-three percent to 44% of patients develop depression. A minority of patients evolve to psychosis. To the best of our knowledge, no cases of psychogenic parasitosis occurring during interferon therapy have been described in the literature. We present a 49-year-old woman who developed a delusional parasitosis during treatment with pegylated interferon alpha-2b weekly and ribavirin. She complained of seeing parasites and the larvae of fleas in her stools. This could not be confirmed by any technical examination. All the complaints disappeared after stopping pegylated interferon alpha-2b and reappeared after restarting it. She had a complete sustained viral response.展开更多
Objectives: To study the incidence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in Crete and to test a designed protocol for handling those at risk of delivering congenitally infected infants. Study design: Pregnant women were ...Objectives: To study the incidence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in Crete and to test a designed protocol for handling those at risk of delivering congenitally infected infants. Study design: Pregnant women were screened serologically over a period of 5 years. Cases with suspected acute toxoplasmosis were treated, peripheral blood (PB), and amniotic fluid (AF)tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture, and fetuses monitored by ultrasonography. The absence of congenital infection in infants was confirmed by serology and clinical evaluation. Results: Of the 5532 pregnant women followed, 70.57%remained seronegative, 29.45%were seropositive, and there was direct evidence of seroconversion in six cases. Acute toxoplasmosis was suspected in 185 cases, maternal parasitemia was detected in five cases and positive amniotic fluid in one case. Congenital infection was excluded in all infants followed, based on the absence of ultrasound findings in utero, lack of clinical symptoms at birth, negative Western blotting (WB) at birth and 3 months later, and descending serology for a year. Conclusion: Overall, 29.45%of the pregnant women followed were seropositive, 3.3%with suspected acute toxoplasmosis, and in 0.02%cases there was evidence of maternofetal transmission. The protocol tested allowed differentiation between acute andlatent toxoplasmosis, safe management of the cases at risk and assisted in avoidance of unwarranted pregnancy terminations.展开更多
文摘During treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients with interferon and ribavirin, a lot of side effects are described. Twenty-three percent to 44% of patients develop depression. A minority of patients evolve to psychosis. To the best of our knowledge, no cases of psychogenic parasitosis occurring during interferon therapy have been described in the literature. We present a 49-year-old woman who developed a delusional parasitosis during treatment with pegylated interferon alpha-2b weekly and ribavirin. She complained of seeing parasites and the larvae of fleas in her stools. This could not be confirmed by any technical examination. All the complaints disappeared after stopping pegylated interferon alpha-2b and reappeared after restarting it. She had a complete sustained viral response.
文摘Objectives: To study the incidence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in Crete and to test a designed protocol for handling those at risk of delivering congenitally infected infants. Study design: Pregnant women were screened serologically over a period of 5 years. Cases with suspected acute toxoplasmosis were treated, peripheral blood (PB), and amniotic fluid (AF)tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture, and fetuses monitored by ultrasonography. The absence of congenital infection in infants was confirmed by serology and clinical evaluation. Results: Of the 5532 pregnant women followed, 70.57%remained seronegative, 29.45%were seropositive, and there was direct evidence of seroconversion in six cases. Acute toxoplasmosis was suspected in 185 cases, maternal parasitemia was detected in five cases and positive amniotic fluid in one case. Congenital infection was excluded in all infants followed, based on the absence of ultrasound findings in utero, lack of clinical symptoms at birth, negative Western blotting (WB) at birth and 3 months later, and descending serology for a year. Conclusion: Overall, 29.45%of the pregnant women followed were seropositive, 3.3%with suspected acute toxoplasmosis, and in 0.02%cases there was evidence of maternofetal transmission. The protocol tested allowed differentiation between acute andlatent toxoplasmosis, safe management of the cases at risk and assisted in avoidance of unwarranted pregnancy terminations.
