While evaluating quinolone resistance in a sample of Campylobacter isolates recovered from patients with campylobacteriosis in Los Angeles County, California, in 1998, we discovered that the second most frequently isolated species was Campylobacter upsaliensis (6 [4%] of 155 isolates). The ability of laboratories to recover this species may be dependent on the culture conditions and the media used. Three dogs living in the households of 2 of these 6 patients had C. upsaliensis isolated in their stool specimens.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most widespread zoonoses in the world. Congenital toxoplasmosis (CT) is particularly risky due to its fetal complications. Global risk of CT transmission is approximately 40%, reaching 90% in the last month of pregnancy. Children with CT frequently require treatment, usually in Argentina with sulfadiazine (SDZ) and pyrimethamine (PYR), to prevent morbidity. Therapy for pediatric patients is hampered by the absence of pediatric formulations. To address this problem, SDZ and PYR are prepared as extemporaneous formulations by hospital pharmacies in the form of syrups. At the moment, serological concentrations of these formulations have not been corroborated in patient serum samples. The objective of this study was to develop a bioanalytical method for identification and simultaneous quantification of SDZ and PYR by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. The validated method was tested with residual serum samples obtained from 6 pediatric patients undergoing treatment with SDZ 42.20 a 93.70 mg/kg/day and PYR 0.77 a 2.70 mg/kg/day. Calibration curves were made for SDZ and PYR by spiking both drugs on drug-free serum samples. Pretreatment consisted of a deproteinization step with trichloroacetic acid followed by centrifugation and then injection of supernatant. Limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were (0.17 ±0.02 and 0.13 ±0.02) µg/mL and (0.46 ±0.01 and 0.36 ±0.01) µg/mL for SDZ and PYR respectively. The validated method had a linear range of (< LOQ -210.00 ±0.02) µg/mL for SDZ and (< LOQ -15.05 ±0.02) µg/mL. Serum samples range concentrations found were (