Here we report a familial cluster of 3 cases of coxsackievirus B3 infection: a recent history of illness in a woman's 3-year-old son with a coxsackievirus B3-positive stool culture indicated that he probably infected his mother at home during her last week of pregnancy. Consequently, she delivered an infected neonate who developed severe hepatitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and bi...

INTRODUCTION There is general consensus that hepatitis C virus is efficiently transmitted by the parenteral route, whereas data on viral transmission by sexual or non-sexual intrafamilial contact are conflicting. OBJECTIVE AND METHOD The aim of this study was to investigate the transmission of hepatitis C virus in nine heterosexual couples. RESULT The mean age of the couples was 43.7 years....

A small number of cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have been reported in individuals with no identified risk factors for transmission. We report on the seroconversion of the 61-year-old mother and the subsequent finding of HIV seropositivity in the 66-year-old father of a 31-year-old AIDS patient. Extensive investigation failed to identify any risk factor for intrafamilial ...

RHEUMATOID arthritis is a remittent disease, and in its milder forms the people involved spend more time free of the disease than they do with the disease [l, 21. This means that at a single clinical examination those with mild disease are unlikely to be identified because there is a high probability that they will be free of disease at any given point in time. More specifically, those who spen...

EVER since the days of WILLIAM HEBERDEN [I], it has been commonly held that there exists an appreciable genetic component in the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis [l-4]. However, a recent review of the subject [5] concludes “With improved technics in the design and execution of family studies the evidence for familial aggregation has become less impressive and is, in fact, open to question”. Ano...

This study was performed to determine the risk of family members of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive hemophilia patients (index patients) for infection with HCV compared with the risk of acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection. All index patients (n = 141) were found to be positive by first and second generation anti-HCV ...

The use of adult intrafamilial gamete donors and gestational surrogates is generally ethically acceptable when all participants are fully informed and counseled, but consanguineous arrangements or ones that simulate incestuous unions should be prohibited. Adult child-to-parent arrangements require caution in order to avoid coercion, and parent-to-adult child arrangements are acceptable in limit...