This review article deals with the current status and future trend in the treatment of toxoplasmosis. Recent progress in the search of new drugs or therapeutic regimens which have shown promising results in vitro and in vivo models, are highlighted with special reference to antibiotics, folic acid antagonists, immunomodulators, hydroxyn-aphthoquinones, dapsone, pentamidine, arprinocid, cyclosporin A and qinghaosu.

Serum samples were collected from 60 male professional and 33 male and 7 female voluntary blood donors and tested for the presence of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type-I (HTLV-I) by using Gelatin Particle Agglutination Test (GPAT) using serodia kits supplied by Fujirebio Company, Japan. HTLV-I infection was detected among four male professional blood donors, the seroprevalence rate being 6.6%. HTLV-I infection was not detected among voluntary blood donors.

A total of 206 (66.88%) strains of non-fermenters were isolated from 308 blood cultures of hospitalized immunocompromised patients. Commonest non-fermenting bacteria isolated was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (93), followed by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (62) and Alkaligenes faecalis (15) in decreasing order. Ps.aeruginosa was the common cause of bacteraemia in patients with burns whereas A. calcoaceticus was equally prevalent in patients with burns and terminal cancers. Antibiotic sensitivity pattern showed that most of the isolates were resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Sensitivity to newer antibiotics like ciprofloxacinand netilmicin ranged from 93-100% in different strains. Nonfermenters have important strains. Nonfermenters have an important etiological role to play in infection of hospitalized patients.

The response to purified protein derivative (PPD) was tested in 50 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, 105 healthy volunteers and 75 Non RA patients. The positive response (> 10 mm indurations) was observed in 80% RA patients, 30.4% of healthy volunteers and 24.0% of Non RA Group. The incidence of positive response in seropositive and seronegative RA patients were 65.2% and 92.5% respectively. The degree of reactively was more among the RA patients compared to the other two groups. An increased response to PPD was seen, suggesting that myco-bacterial antigens may play a role in the pathogenesis of RA.

Significant increase in the frequency of curing against PBR322 and PBR329 plasmids in E.coli was observed on Mutilations of IBH, AMUH and AMUT ligands with transition metals like cobalt, copper, nickel etc. Enhancement in curing efficiency was not observed with large conjugative Tp181 and R162 plasmids.

R plasmid carrying genetically defined strains of E.coli were screened for resistances to streptomycin, kanamycin, ampicillin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. In a study of transfer of tetracycline resistance (Tc1) from multiple antibiotic resistant E.coli strains to different Tc-sensitive could be transferred singly and combindly with other antibiotic resistances at high frequencies following in situ genetic transformation system. Transformation was also achieved by applying a heat-pulse to CaCl2-treated recipient strains of E,coli. Presence of DNase (but not RNase) in transformations. Agarose gel electrophoresis showed the presence of R plasmids in the donors and their transformants.

Fifty clinical Shigella isolates were investigated for serotyping and pathogenic mechanisms. Shigella flexneri (72%) was the most frequent isolate with S.flexneri 3 as the predominant serotype. Enter toxin was detected in 58% (29/50) isolates by rabbit ileal loop test and in 64% (32/50) isolates by rabbit skin permeability test. These included toxin extracts from all four sero-groups. Vero cell cyto-toxicity was observed in all the 47 extracts tested. TCID50 values for S.dysenteriae toxin was 10 fold lower as compared to corresponding values for other serogroups. This higher level of cytotoxin produced by S.dysenteriae could be related to the documented greater frequency of severe diarrhoea and dysentery caused by it in comparison with other forms of shigellosis.

A study was carried out from a village “Chandra� rural area near Kot Lakhpat about 15 Kilometers away from Lahore. 1010 cases could be screened out of whom 253 cases were suffering from hookworm infection 25.04%. Hb levels were estimated by cynamethemoglobin method and quantitative estimation of hookwork ova in stool was carried out by Stoll’s Modified Egg counting technique. The result of study show statistically relationship between haemoglobin levels and number of hook worm per gram of faeces with a coefficient of correlation of the order of R=0.563 for 253 hook worm positive cases. Which reflects a high degree of negative correlation. Negative correlation of hookworm infection load and degree of iron deficiency anaemia has therefore been proved.

In a series of 191 culturally proven fungal ulcer cases 51.8% were caused by species of the genus Fusarium. Fusarium solani was the commonest species accounting for 33.5% of all cases of mycotic keratitis. Young males were most commonly affected. Corneal trauma was reported by 53.5% of the patients. Thin, hyaline, septate filaments of Fusarium were seen in 10% KOH mount preparations of corneal scrapings in 86% of causes. Observation of microcondidia along with hyphae in 3 causes was interesting finding. Freshly prepared potato dextrose agar for culture and identification of Fusarium was found extremely useful. Topical Ketoconazole (2%) prepared in MoisolIM was tried on 11 patients and successful healing was achieved in 8. Amphotericin-B, either alone or in combination with Hamycin, and Miconazol and Natamycin did not yield encouraging results.