Administration of 2 doses of the combined MMRV vaccine was as immunogenic and well-tolerated as separate injections of MMR and varicella vaccine.

After successful surgical reflux correction susceptibility to urinary tract infection continues for a number of years in many girls and women. However, postoperatively urinary tract infections are primarily afebrile.

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Bacterial attachment to uroepithelial cells (UEC) and the effect of UEC on bacterial growth was investigated in 15 healthy persons and 12 patients suffering from asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI). Desquamated UEC and mannose-resistant Escherichia coli were co-cultivated for up to 90 min. While no difference in bacterial adherence was observed between healthy controls and patients, 33.4% of the bacteria attached to normal UEC were found to be dead under microscopic evaluation (acridine orange staining), whereas no killing effect could be observed in patients' UEC 5 min after the onset of incubation. This phenomenon was confirmed by investigating the E. coli growth rate in the presence of UEC, measured by counting bacterial colony forming units (CFU) on agar plates. While E. coli showed exponential growth in RPMI medium, the addition of normal UEC suppressed bacterial growth (P less than 0.01). UEC from patients with ABU, however, did not show this effect. It has been concluded that bacterial adhesion may initiate an epithelial defence function, present in healthy controls and lacking in ABU patients.

We report three cases of neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection presenting as fulminant hepatitis. None of the patients had clear risk factors for HSV infection and they all died. Antiviral treatment for HSV is currently available but must be administered early in the course of the disease before irreversible liver tissue damage is present. Since the diagnosis may be difficult to establish, we wish to draw the attention of clinicians to the presentation of neonatal HSV infection and suggest that in such cases viral cultures, including culture of liver tissue, should be obtained early and antiviral treatment administered while awaiting the culture results.