Summary:Fifty patients affected by sickle cell anaemia underwent transplantation of HLA-identical haematopoietic stem cells (bone marrow, 48; cord blood, 2). Two groups of patients were considered for transplantation. Group 1 included 36 permanent residents of a European country who, retrospectively, met the inclusion criteria accepted at a consensus conference held in Seattle in 1990, wherein children were selected because they already had evidence of a morbid course. Group 2 included 14 patients who were transplanted earlier, had not received more than three blood transfusions and were transplanted because they had decided to return to their country of origin. Kaplan-Meier estimates of overall survival, event-free survival and disease-free survival at 11 years of the whole grafted population are 93, 82 and 85%, respectively. In group 1, overall survival, EFS and DFS were 88, 76 and 80% and in group 2, 100, 93 and 93%, respectively. Clinical manifestations of the disease, as well as disease associated haemolytic anaemia, disappeared in all successfully treated patients. Recovery of spleen function was present in seven out of 10 evaluated patients. Adverse events (death, absence of engraftment, mixed chimerism and relapse) occurred more frequently in group 1 than in group 2 (25% vs 7%, P Ͻ 0.001). Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was present in 20 patients (grade I or II, 19; grade III, 1), chronic GVHD in 10 (limited, 7; extensive, 3). One patient developed an acute myeloid leukaemia. Gonadal dysfunction was present in all patients (six boys and eight girls) transplanted close to or after puberty, although transient in one adolescent girl.

A taxonomic characterization was carried out on strains of the bacteria that cause the brown ring disease of clams. On the basis of their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, these strains can be considered to constitute a new taxonomic unit, distinct from other Ebrio species. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of the strains ranged between 42.9 and 45.5 mol% (43.2 mol% for the proposed type strain). DNA-DNA hybridization studies showed 100% intragroup relatedness, but levels of genetic relatedness to the reference strains of different Ebrio species tested ranged between 15 and 58%. The strains have all the properties characteristic of the genus vibrio and can be clearly differentiated from other species of this genus by their growth at 4°C and their negative responses for growth at 30°C and in 6% NaCl, arginine dehydrolase, lysine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase, and Voges-Proskauer reaction. The name yibrio tapetis is proposed for the new species; strain B1090 (CECT 4600) is the type strain.Since 1980, the genus Vibrio has been subject to an extensive taxonomic revision, and 15 new species have been described (12,22). At present, the genus Vibrio includes more than 35 species, most of which are of aquatic origin. Some of them have been demonstrated to be pathogenic for aquatic animals, including fish (Vibrio anguillarum, V. alginolyticus, K damsela, K Jischeri, K ordalii, K salmonicida, V. splendidus, and I/: vulniJicus) and shellfish (V. haweyi, K pelagtus, K splendidus, and

Individuals of several species of European regular echinoids are affected by a spectacular disease that causes conspicuous lesions on the echinoid body surface. It is a communicable non-specific disease that produces loss of appendages and necrosis of dermal and skeletal tissues. Preliminary investigations indicate that the pathogen is not an alga but could be a bacteria.

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