| neisseria meningitidis infections in northern norway: an epidemic in 1974-1975 due mainly to group b organisms. | a severe epidemic of disease due to neisseria meningitidis has been occurring in northern norway since 1974. based on bacteriological and clinical examination of cases during the 18 months between january 1, 1974 and june 30, 1975, an overall attack rate of 26.3 cases per 100,000 population per year has been calculated. the attack rates were highest in 1975 (total, 37.4 cases per 100,000 population; troms county, 54.5) and in children younger than four years (total, 173.6; troms county, 328.9). ... | 1977 | 404365 |
| preventing secondary cases of meningococcal disease by identifying and eradicating disease-causing strains in close contacts of patients. | in norway, the use of chemoprophylaxis after cases of meningococcal disease is not recommended. instead, household members less than 15 years are treated with penicillin for 7 days. failures of this treatment have been reported. we therefore used dna fingerprinting to identify the disease-causing strain in healthy contacts combined with selective rifampicin prophylaxis to these carriers to prevent secondary cases. during a 2-year period (1987-89) there were 13 cases of meningococcal disease in t ... | 1992 | 1641593 |
| two cases of verified clinical failures using internationally recommended first-line cefixime for gonorrhoea treatment, norway, 2010. | neisseria gonorrhoeae has developed resistance to most of the available therapeutic antimicrobials. the susceptibility to extended-spectrum cephalosporins, the last remaining first-line treatment option, is decreasing globally. this report describes the first two cases outside japan of verified gonorrhoea clinical failures using internationally recommended first-line cefixime treatment. enhanced awareness and more frequent follow-up examination, test-of-cure and appropriate verification/falsific ... | 2010 | 21144442 |
| properties and clinical performance of vaccines containing outer membrane vesicles from neisseria meningitidis. | meningococcal outer membrane proteins have been used for over 20 years in more than 80 million doses; either as carrier protein in a haemophilus influenzae type b (hib) polysaccharide conjugate vaccine or as vesicle vaccine formulations against meningococcal disease. conventional wild-type outer membrane vesicle (wtomv) vaccines are the only formulations that have shown efficacy against serogroup b meningococcal disease. this has been demonstrated in cuba, norway and new zealand; where epidemics ... | 2009 | 19481313 |
| the epidemiology of gonorrhoea in norway, 1993-2007: past victories, future challenges. | gonorrhoea, a bacterial infection caused by neisseria gonorrhoeae, has been increasing in several european countries, particularly among men who have sex with men (msm) and teenagers. we describe the epidemiology of gonorrhoea in norway in the recent 15 years in order to guide recommendations on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of gonorrhoea. an evaluation of the norwegian surveillance system for communicable diseases (msis) in 1994, involving gps and microbiological laboratories, suggest ... | 2009 | 19298649 |
| comparison and correlation of neisseria meningitidis serogroup b immunologic assay results and human antibody responses following three doses of the norwegian meningococcal outer membrane vesicle vaccine menbvac. | the prediction of efficacy of neisseria meningitidis serogroup b (menb) vaccines is currently hindered due to the lack of an appropriate correlate of protection. for outer membrane vesicle (omv) vaccines, immunogenicity has primarily been determined by the serum bactericidal antibody (sba) assay and omv enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). however, the opsonophagocytic assay (opa), surface labeling assay, whole blood assay (wba), and salivary antibody elisa have been developed although cor ... | 2006 | 16861642 |
| opsonophagocytic and bactericidal activity mediated by purified igg subclass antibodies after vaccination with the norwegian group b meningococcal vaccine. | to study how the different immunoglobulin (ig)g subclass antibodies may confer protection against systemic meningococcal disease, we isolated igg1, igg2 and igg3 antibodies from plasma from vaccinees immunized with the norwegian meningococcal outer membrane vesicle vaccine. four igg1, one igg2 and four igg3 preparations were purified. the igg2 and igg3 subclass preparations were free from contaminating subclasses, whereas the igg1 preparations contained from 0 to 14% of igg2 and/or igg3. immunob ... | 1998 | 9600322 |
| bacteriocins in neisseria meningitidis. screening of systemic patient strains and pharyngeal isolates from healthy carriers. | systemic meningococcal isolates and meningococci from healthy pharyngeal carriers in norway were screened for production of growth antagonistic substances. seven (4.9%) of a total of 142 systemic strains and 3 (2.1%) of 140 carrier isolates spontaneously released diffusible growth antagonistic substances. properties shown by these substances complied with the criteria used in the definition of a bacteriocin. a cluster of producers among systemic strains registered during the first half of 1975 i ... | 1996 | 8611195 |
| meningococcal disease in scandinavia. | scandinavia (denmark, finland, iceland, norway, and sweden) comprises with mutual borders and 22.3 million inhabitants an area where the socioeconomic and cultural conditions are similar. epidemic diseases, such as meningococcal infection, might therefore be expected to be uniformly distributed. an epidemiological study in the 10-year period 1970-9 shows, however, remarkable differences in the incidence, age, and serogroup and type distribution, as well as in the general dynamics of the disease. ... | 1982 | 6805630 |
| virulence markers in patient and carrier strains of neisseria meningitidis. | patient and carrier strains of neisseria meningitidis from 2 different periods were compared with respect to serogroups, serotypes and sensitivity to sulphadiazine. the majority of 249 patient strains were resistant to sulphadiazine, and belonged to the groups a, b or c. the group b and c strains were mainly type 15/16 and 2, respectively. in contrast, most of the 400 carrier strains belonged to serotypes other than 2 or 15/16, or were non-typable, and most strains were sensitive to sulphadiazin ... | 1984 | 6436964 |
| meningococcal group b vaccine trial in norway 1981--1982. preliminary report of results available november 1982. | a combined serogroup b capsular polysaccharide and serotype 2a outer membrane complex meningococcal vaccine and a placebo preparation were tested double-blindly in 55 adult, male volunteers. the vaccine gave twofold increased binding antibodies, measured by elisa, against non-capsular outer membrane antigen in 85 per cent of those vaccinated. bactericidal antibodies towards a meningococcal serogroup c serotype 2a strain also increased fourfold or more among 85% vaccinated. new acquisition of men ... | 1983 | 6427703 |
| gonococcal w serogroups in scandinavia. a study with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. | a total of 849 gonococcal strains from 659 patients in copenhagen (denmark), helsinki (finland), oslo and trondheim (norway) and stockholm (sweden) were included in the study. using coagglutination reagents with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies the strains were serogrouped into the previously described gonococcal serogroups w i, w ii and w iii. w ii strains were dominating in all five towns (60.0%-70.9% of the strains), but w iii strains were rarely isolated. w i strains were more frequent a ... | 1983 | 6419540 |
| the comparative in vitro activity of spiramycin and erythromycin against norwegian bacterial isolates. | the in vitro activity of spiramycin and erythromycin has been determined by an agar diffusion method against relevant clinical isolates. generally, erythromycin was more active than spiramycin on a weight-for-weight basis. spiramycin showed only moderate activity against haemophilus influenzae and streptococcus pyogenes. gonococci were sensitive in vitro to both agents. many erythromycin-resistant staphylococci were sensitive to spiramycin. | 1986 | 3101004 |
| some phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of prevailing gonococcal strains in northern norway. | ninety two non-penicillinase producing neisseria gonorrhoeae (non-ppng) strains were investigated by the restriction enzyme technique with hind iii enzyme. serogrouping by coenzyme. a with monoclonal antibodies and testing susceptibility to doxycycline were also performed by an agar dilution method. fifteen different restriction enzyme patterns were shown, of which three represented 50% (46/92) of all strains. one band, representing a deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) fragment of 1.45 kilobase pairs, ... | 1986 | 3081425 |
| induced abortion: microbiological screening and medical complications. | preoperative cervical screening of 1,193 women undergoing first-trimester induced abortions yielded chlamydia trachomatis in 11.7%, neisseria gonorrhoeae in 0.8%, mycoplasma hominis in 22.1%, ureaplasma urealyticum in 10.1%, herpes simplex virus in 0.9% and group b streptococci (gbs) in 2.9%. c. trachomatis and n. gonorrhoeae were especially frequent among teenagers. a total of 2.2% (26 women) developed postoperative pelvic inflammatory disease (pid) and 0.9% (13 women) endometritis. pid develop ... | 1991 | 1800368 |
| effect of outer membrane vesicle vaccine against group b meningococcal disease in norway. | for more than 15 years, norway has had the highest incidence of meningococcal disease in northern europe, with 80% of cases being due to serogroup b meningococci. the case-fatality has remained high, at about 10%. in this study, an outer membrane vaccine, which had previously been shown to induce an increase in bactericidal antibodies to the parent strain, was assessed in a large-scale, randomised, double-blind trial. from october, 1988, 171,800 students in secondary schools volunteered to take ... | 1991 | 1682541 |
| elisa test for antimeningococcal igg and igm antibodies: application to epidemiology and diagnosis. | we have developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) in order to quantitate antimeningococcal igm and igg serum antibodies. the b:15 meningococcal strain was used as coating antigen, and class specific antibodies were detected by using alkaline phosphatase labelled rabbit anti-human igm or igg as conjugate. the specific igg activity was higher in sera from healthy meningococcal carriers than non-carriers, but the difference was not statistically significant. antimeningococcal igm serum ... | 1992 | 1589725 |
| [contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases]. | contraceptives that protect against pregnancy tend to offer the least protection against sexually transmitted diseases (stds), particularly needed by young people who change partners frequently. oral contraceptive (ocs) protect best against pregnancy and salpingitis, but they do not protect against infections of the cervix; thus, there is a higher incidence of chlamydia trachomatis and neisseria gonorrhea among oc users. the iud is also very effective, but there is an elevated risk of infectio ... | 1992 | 1561591 |