Primary splenic hodgkin lymphoma masquerading as splenic abscess

Hodgkin lymphoma is a form of malignant lymphoid neoplasm. It can have various clinical presentations such as prolonged fever, night sweats, weight loss and asymptomatic lymphadenopathy. It has a distinct fever pattern known as Pel Ebstein fever. However, in some instances, its clinical presentation can mimic some tropical infections. Here, we present a case of primary splenic lymphoma masquerading as splenic abscess in a 53-yearold man with underlying dyslipidemia.

Isolation of Laribacter hongkongensis, a novel bacterium associated with gastroenteritis, from drinking water reservoirs in Hong Kong

AIMS

Freshwater fish has been found to be the reservoir of Laribacter hongkongensis, a recently discovered bacterium associated with community-acquired gastroenteritis. However, little is known about the ecology of this bacterium in the aquatic environment. We carried out a surveillance study to investigate the presence of L. hongkongensis in water and freshwater fish from 10 drinking water reservoirs in Hong Kong.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Using membrane filtration, L. hongkongensis was isolated from the waters of six reservoirs, with numbers ranging from 1 to 12 CFU l(-1). Higher recovery rates were observed in summer and during days of higher water and ambient temperatures. Of 27 freshwater fish collected from the reservoirs, L. hongkongensis was recovered from the intestines of two fish, a Goldfish and a Nile tilapia. Overall, 35 different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns are found among the 59 isolates recovered from water and the two isolates from freshwater fish.

CONCLUSIONS

The present report represents the first to demonstrate the presence of L. hongkongensis in natural water environments.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Although it is unlikely that treated, drinking water is an important source of L. hongkongensis-associated gastroenteritis, one should be aware of the possibility of other contaminated water as a source of human infection.

Postprandial glucose response to Chinese foods in patients with type 2 diabetes

The objective of this study is to examine the glycemic response to common Chinese foods in patients with type 2 diabetes. Twenty-four Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes participated. Subjects were allocated to eat a pair of test meals in random order. Test meals included plain porridge with lean pork (meal 1A), plain porridge and Shrimp Shao Mai (Doll Brand, Winner Food Products Limited, Hong Kong) (meal 1B), boiled rice with boiled egg white (meal 2A), fried rice with whole egg (meal 2B), plain noodles in clear soup (meal 3A), and Pickled Vegetable and Pork-flavored Instant Bowl Noodles (Doll Brand, Winner Food Products Limited) (meal 3B). Nutritional content of the meals was calculated from the nutritional label on the food package and the food composition table. Plasma glucose was checked before the meal and in 30-minute intervals for up to 4 hours after the meal. Significant differences in the area under the curve of glucose up to 2 hours after the meal were detected between meal 1A and 2A ( P =.044), 1A and 3A ( P =.001), and 3A and 3B ( P =.017). The results suggest that fat alone does not alter the glycemic response to rice or porridge. Porridge produces a higher glycemic response than rice and noodles despite similar carbohydrate contents, and different noodles lead to differences in glycemic excursion, suggesting that the glycemic index of common Chinese foods is affected by cooking methods and food processing.