Early detection of oral cancer reduces mortality rates so there is a professional responsibility to ensure that comprehensive oral cancer screenings are being performed on patients. Dental hygienists may not have the authority in a dental practice to overcome all of the barriers that are preventing them from performing these screenings. Public awareness about oral cancer screenings could increase the demand for screenings and thereby play a role in changing practice norms.

The following abstracts are taken from journals of interest to our readers and are reviewed by Thomas M. Julian (TMJ) and L. Steward Massad (LSM). Streptococcus pyogenesPharyngeal Colonization Resulting in Recurrent, Prepubertal Vulvovaginitis MT Hansen, VT Sanchez, K Eyster, KA Hansen J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol 2007;20(5):315Y7This report is a case of a 4-year-old girl with culture-proven recurrent Streptococcus pyogenes vulvovaginitis from vaginal reinoculation from pharyngeal colonization. Symptoms repeatedly resolved with penicillin therapy but recurred after antibiotic therapy. Evaluation included physical examination, transabdominal pelvic ultrasound, and vaginoscopy. Both the patient and her mother demonstrated culture-proven group A Streptococcus pharyngeal colonization. Because of repeated inoculations of the vaginal area from the colonized pharynx, both were treated for decolonization with a regimen of amoxicillin and rifampin for 10 days. After this therapy, there was resolution of vaginal symptoms with no further recurrence. Follow-up pharyngeal culture done on mother and child were negative for group A Streptococcus. The authors conclude that this case demonstrated an unusual specific cause of recurrent vaginitis from group A A-hemolytic Streptococcus from pharyngeal colonization. Group A A-hemolytic Streptococcus are consistently sensitive to penicillin, but up to 25% of acute pharyngitis cases treated with penicillin have continued asymptomatic bacterial carriage within the nasopharynx. This case stresses the importance of considering reinfection through this route in the patient with recurrent group A A-hemolytic Streptococcus vulvovaginitis. Comment: This case is interesting in that it provides evidence for streptococcal vaginitis and shows what steps may be necessary in its eradication. (TMJ)

e45214th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) Abstracts gate prime-boosting strategies, and the cost-effectiveness of mass-vaccination programmes.

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