EPIDEMIOLOGIA DELLA PEDICULOSI DEL CAPO IN UNA POPOLAZIONE SCOLARE LOMBARDA

From September 1978 to May 1979, a total of 3076 children, all the pupils at school in 19 small municipalities in an agricultural or mixed-economy region in the Oltrepo Pavese area and organized in a Health Consortium based at Casteggio, was studied for head lice. 81 cases were found, the rate of infection being 26,33‰. Females (34.2‰) and children of mothers who work outside the home were infected more frequently than males (19.2‰) and children of housewifes. These differences were statistically significant. Marked overcrowding in the home was associated, though not significantly, with an increased likelihood of infection. Statistically significant peaks were noted shortly after children returned to school from each holiday. In this Health Consortium, where schools are carefully checked, the reservoir for pediculosis still appears to be the family environment

Arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction of individual Trichinella specimens

Recently, 5 sibling species and 3 other phenotypes were identified in the genus Trichinella. Single primers of arbitrary nucleotide sequence were used to produce random amplified polymorphic DNA starting from decreasing amounts of Trichinella spiralis and Trichinella britovi DNA. Reproducible amplification products from 30 pg of DNA were obtained using 1 of 6 examined primers. These fragments distinguish between 2 European Trichinella species, T. spiralis, showing a 1,350-bp band, and T. britovi, showing 400- and 1,100- bp bands. The developed procedure allows the characterization of crude DNA preparations of single muscle-stage larvae, avoiding time-consuming passages of parasites in laboratory animals