Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0015672 (fatigue)
 51,768 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Seroepidemiological, clinical, immunological, and pathological features were studied in 315 intravenous drug abusers (IVDA) seen in five centers for drug addicts' assistance in the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region of Italy, close to the borders of Austria and Yugoslavia. No case of AIDS has been observed. Sixty-five (21%) were affected by persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL). HTLV-III seropositivity was noted in 86 (27%) of the overall 315 IVDA, in 50 (77%) of 65 patients with PGL, and in 1 (0.5%) of 205 blood donors tested as a control group. Patients with PGL had a significantly lower OKT4/OKT8 ratio than the rest of the IVDA population and controls. Systemic symptoms were present in 52% of the patients with PGL, the most frequent symptoms being fatigue and night sweats. In 20 patients with PGL, DR typing revealed a significant increase in DR-5 frequency and a significant decrease of DR-2 frequency. The predominant histological features in the lymph nodes taken from 25 patients consisted of an exuberant follicular hyperplasia, capillary vessel proliferation, and plasmacytosis. Nineteen (22%) females reporting occasional prostitution were compared to 10 non-IVDA female prostitutes and concomitantly evaluated. HTLV-III seropositivity was noted in 11 (58%) of 19 IVDA female prostitutes and in none of the 10 non-IVDA prostitutes. Thirty-five couples composed of both IVDA were compared to 24 couples composed of an IVDA and a non-IVDA. Among the 24 couples of whom one or both partners were seropositive, concordance in HTLV-III seropositivity was present in 5/11 (45%) couples composed of both IVDA, and in only 1/13 (8%) couples composed of an IVDA and a non-IVDA. This suggests that the sharing of contaminated needles, universally practiced by our IVDA population, plays a more important role in the transmission of HTLV-III than sexual contact.
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PMID:HTLV-III infection among 315 intravenous drug abusers: seroepidemiological, clinical, and pathological findings. 381 61