This study examined the possible association between melanoma and exposure to fertility drugs, specifically clomiphene citrate, human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). A cohort of 3186 women who attended a fertility clinic between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1990 was studied; by January 1996, 14 women had been diagnosed with primary melanoma. Details of fertility treatment were extracted from the clinical records. The incidence of melanoma in the cohort resembled that of the female Queensland population (standardized incidence ratio = 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.54-1.48). Exposure to clomiphene citrate, HMG or HCG did not affect the incidence of melanoma. Women with infertile partners who were treated with fertility drugs were at increased risk of melanoma (odds ratio [OR] = 3.17, 95% CI = 1.01-9.98). Compared with women exposed only to clomiphene citrate and HMG, a lower incidence of melanoma was observed among those who received HCG as well (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.02-0.42). Women exposed to two or more cycles of either clomiphene citrate (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.08-0.94) or HMG (OR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.07-0.84) had a significant reduction in melanoma risk compared with women exposed to no or one cycle. In summary, a woman's infertility per se was not found to be associated with melanoma, while exposure to fertility drugs was positively associated with melanoma in women with infertile partners and negatively associated in women with low doses of fertility drugs.

Summary A tool of 142 young animals including 10 domestic and 14 feral pigs, 12 Hereford calves, 12 crossbred and 24 Merino lambs, 11 dogs, 8 domestic and 16 feral rabbits, 14 Grey kangaroos, 9 Agile wallabies and 12 chickens was exposed to infection with 4 strains of Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVE), mainly using orally infected Culex annulirostris mosquitoes. In terms of their viraemic response, the animals were grouped into high (Grey kangaroos, rabbits), moderate (pigs, dogs, chickens) and low (calves, lambs, Agile wallabies). Recipient Cx annulirostris induced to bite these animals 1–7 d post‐inoculation exhibited infection rates up to 95% but usually were much lower. Some animals in which virus was not detected by intracerebral inoculation of suckling mice were capable of infecting up to 5% Cx annulirostris. Haemagglutination‐inhibiting antibody (HI) was of high titre and persistent in rabbits und Grey kangaroos but moderated in others, e.g., cattle, sheep, Agile wallabies to be transient and of low titre. Cattle and Merino lambs were often completely non‐responsive. This study increases the range of vertebrates that could be considered as maintenance or amplifying hosts of MVE and, on the basis of their HI antibody responses, evaluates them as potential sentinels of infection in Australia.

Seroreactivity of sera from 109 patients with first-infection primary syphilis was 98.2% in the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test, 92.7% in the rapid plasma reagin 18-mm circle card test, 72.5% in the microhemagglutination test (MHA-TP), and 72.5% in the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test. Seroreactivity of sera from 18 patients with primary syphilis with documented previous infection(s) was 100% in the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test, the rapid plasma reagin 18-mm circle card test, and the MHA-TP test and 88.9% in the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test. The MHA-TP test failed to confirm reactivity in 13 of 79 sera which were reactive in the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test and in 24 of 101 sera which were reactive in the rapid plasma reagin 18-mm circle card test. Testing another production lot of MHA-TP reagents resulted in even poorer correlation. The reactivity of the MHA-TP test in primary syphilis appeared to vary with the sensitivity of the production lot of reagents.

Melanomas of the soles and palms resemble other cutaneous melanomas in their association with sun exposure, but are distinguished from them by their strong positive associations with nevi on the soles, previous penetrative injury, and exposure to agricultural chemicals, and by their inverse association with smoking.