Effectiveness of the nitroblue tetrazolium test in demonstrating reduced bactericidal activity of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in schistosomal hepatosplenomegaly and ascites

The nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) test was carried out on blood from ten normal individuals and 20 schistosomal patients, ten of whom had hepatosplenomegaly and ten hepatosplenomegaly and ascites. The test revealed defective neutrophils in patients who had hepatosplenomegaly accompained by ascites. The phagocytic and bactericidal effects from five of each of the two groups of patients; results substantiated tose obtained by the NBT screening test. The NBT screening test thus proved useful in detecting acquired defective function of neutrophils in a helminthic parasitic disease that is accompanied by frequent bacterial infections.

The Mauriac syndrome

A ten-year-old girl, treated for diabetes mellitus with single daily doses of short acting insulin preparations for three years, presented with short stature, truncal obesity, round facies, and hepato megaly : the Mauriac syndrome. She had elevated levels of plasma cortisol suggesting hyperadreno corticism secondary to the poor diabetic control. The urinary excretion of 17 hydroxycorticoids and 17 ketosteroids were normal, however. The hypothalamic-hypophyseal-adrenal cortex axis was functionally normal. She had a normal growth hormone response to the administration of arginine monochloride. On adequate control of the diabetes mellitus, all the manifestations disappeared.