Acute bacterial meningitis in Malawi

Acute bacterial meningitis [ABM] is a life threatening disease which often occurs after colonization of the nasopharyngeal mucosa by pathogenic bacteria. Although other organisms do not occur infrequently; Neisseria meningitidis; Haemophilus influenzae; and Streptococcus pneumoniae are responsible for more than 90 percent of the cases outside the neonatal period. The epidemiology of each of these bacteria differs in geographical distribution; incidence; mortality rates; age of the population affected and susceptibility to antibiotics and these factors are discussed in the article

Cryptosporidiosis in children in Malawi

Cryptosporidium accounted for 9 (4.3 percent) of cases of gastroenteritis among 208 children with diarrhea attending an Under Five out-patient clinic at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital; but was not excreted by 96 children without diarrhea. It was second only to rotavirus (41.7 percent of cases) in causing gastroenteritis. Breast feeding apparently did not provide complete protection against cryptosporidiosis. In a prospective survey the safarin methylene blue and flourescent auramine phenol staining techniques had the same sensitivity (85 percent) and specificity (100 percent)

Bacterial meningitis in KCH; Lilongwe

A study of epidemiological patterns of bacterial meningitis in Lilongwe using laboratory records from the period 1983-1986 and clinical records of patients admitted to Kamuzu Central Hospital