These data suggest that the time trends in HIV and STD prevalences are partly due to the changing sex work milieu, but that the intervention also had an impact. Prevention programmes aimed at FSW should be highly prioritized.

A panel of monoclonal antibodies to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and a subclassification scheme were developed in a collaborative project among three laboratories. The seven most useful monoclonal antibodies were selected from three previously developed panels on the basis. of indirect fluorescent antibody patterns with 83 strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 that were obtained from widely distributed geographic locations. The isolates were divided into 10 major subgroups on the basis of reactivity patterns that can be readily reproduced in any laboratory and are not subject to major inconsistencies of interpretation of staining intensity. A standard protocol for the indirect fluorescent antibody procedure was also developed.

Study findings indicate that male sex partners of female sex workers form a 'bridging population' for HIV/STD transmission both to female sex workers, as well as from female sex workers to the general population of women, particularly regular female partners.

Potable-water supplies that harbor L. pneumophila are an important source of community-acquired legionnaires' disease. Future studies should include attempts to identify the environmental sources of this infection.

Luis Cuevas and colleagues report findings from a multicenter diagnostic clinical trial in tuberculosis, showing that the sensitivity and specificity of a “front-loaded” diagnostic scheme is not inferior to that of a standard diagnostic scheme.