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Background: Viral hepatitis is a major public health issue throughout the world affecting millions of children despite the availability of vaccines, prophylactic measures and improved sanitation. The objective of the study was to analyze the etiology, clinical features, laboratory parameters and sonological findings of Acute Viral Hepatitis in pediatric population.Methods: A total of 88 children admitted in paediatric department and gastroenterology unit of medicine department with confirmed acute viral hepatitis from June 2016 to July 2018 at tertiary health care teaching hospital of north India were included. The patients were divided in 3 age groups; 1-5, 6-10 and 11-18 years. Clinical features, laboratory parameters, ultrasound findings were compared in three age groups.Results: Out of 88 cases 48 were boys and 40 girls. In the present study hepatitis A was the most common (85.2%) etiology. Jaundice (90.9%) is the most common symptoms followed by dark colored urine (86.3%), loss of appetite (83.3%) and fever (68.2%) reported in this study. Icterus (90%) is the most common sign reported followed by hepatomegaly (86%). Out of 88 cases 4 cases died. Out of 4 deaths, 2 cases of hepatitis A and 2 cases positive for Hepatitis B. The cause of death was hepatic encephalopathy in both the cases.Conclusions: Majority of cases in children were hepatitis A cases. Most of the cases were aged above 5 years with slight male predominance. Those cases with elevated liver enzymes (SGOT >5000) and those with PT INR >3.5 at admission has higher mortality.
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Background: Umbilical granuloma is an overgrowth of granulation tissue following the separation of umbilical cord. Treatment options for this common entity are limited and have side effects such as chemical burns. In this study, we want to highlight the salt application method for treatment of infants with umbilical granuloma.Methods: Thirty six infants were enrolled in present study after institutional ethics committee approval and consent from the parents. After thoroughly explaining the method to all mothers, they are advised to apply a pinch of salt on granuloma twice a day for 3 days .The area of application was cleaned, and common table salt was carefully applied over the lesion. The granuloma was then occluded with surgical adhesive tape for 30 minutes. Cases were followed up after 3 days for assessment of improvement.Results: All thirty six cases responded well to this approach with complete resolution of lesions after 3 days. Small clot like shrunken tissue was found at the site of granuloma, which was easily scraped off during gentle cleansing. No major complication or recurrence was noted in follow-up.Conclusions: The use of common salt in treating umbilical granuloma is simple, cost-effective, curative, and safe. It is easily administered and can be performed by parents at home.
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Background: Neonatal care practices are different in different communities. Before any intervention planned to reduce mortality and mortality in community, understanding of local belief and practices is necessary. Some of the harmful practices need to be abandoned and good or harmless practices need to be appreciated. This study was conducted to understand the cultural beliefs and practices in newborn care among residents of Uttarakhand.Methods: This was descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out among 300 postnatal mothers admitted to the hospital. The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. Statistical analyses of the data was done using SSPS version 22.0.Results: 4% of the mothers believed colostrum to be unsuitable for the newborn. 71% mothers were practicing daily baby massage. 71.3% believed that hot and cold foods can harm their baby’s health. 57.3% practiced application of Kajal on baby’s face. 74.7% of mothers would keep Knife under pillow and 16.7% match box under baby’s cloth. 5.3% mother believed in practice of branding. 81% of mothers accept to practice of pouring oil in baby’s ear. 22.3% mothers believed in isolating mother baby together for 30-40 days.Conclusions: Certain practices are still prevalent like Branding, discarding colostrum, Kajal application, pouring oil in baby’s ear and very restricted dietary regime of mothers. These practices need to be stopped by educating mothers and relatives in postnatal wards.
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Background: The advent of 21st century has brought about revolutionary changes in medical education. Medicaleducators are debating the effective application of traditional and newer teaching and learning (T/L)methodologies. The present study aimed to obtain the student’s perspective on the present T/L methodology inanatomy and also the content and duration of anatomy teaching so as to help the educators design a moreeffective anatomy T/L programme.Methodology: The 4th, 5th year MBBS students and interns were administered questionnaires to rate the T/L aidsand give suggestions to improve the teaching of anatomy through close and open ended questions.Results: Amongst the teaching aids, excellent / good rating was given by 80.3% students to classroom teaching onthe black-board, followed by 68.3% to dissection. Amongst the learning aids, excellent / good rating was given by72.3% students to dissection and 67% to lectures. Further, 55% students opined that anatomy should be taughtover 12 months (excluding examinations) whereas 37.6% suggested it to be taught in 18 months. The need tointroduce anatomy teaching sessions during the later part of the medical curriculum was felt by majority (95.2%)of the students.Conclusions: The traditional T/L methods like dissection, lectures and black-board teaching are preferred by thenewer generation learners also and should be integrated with newer teaching modalities and modern technology.The anatomy syllabus being taught in the present MBBS curriculum is adequate, however the time allotted foranatomy teaching needs to be increased by 2 to 6 months. The study further suggests that there is a need toreinforce anatomy teaching in the clinical years.
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Poisoning is a common medical emergency in children. Most of the poisoning in children is accidental. Unfortunately, the incidence of deliberate poisoning among adolescents is increasing due to changing familial and social conditions in our society. Study design: prospective analysis of poisoning seen in children between January 2010 and December 2013 in an academic center of northern India.Results: Eighty one children (Boys 45, 55%; age median [range] 13 [1-18]) were included. All poisoning episodes were either suicidal (38, 46.9%) or accidental (43, 53.1%). Most of the poisoning events in pre-adolescent children were accidental (34/35, 97%) and among adolescents (13-18 years age group) were suicidal (37/45, 80.4%). The most commonly ingested poisoning agent was kerosene (10/35, 28.6%) in <12 age group and organo-phosphorus compound (8/37, 21.6%) in adolescents. Conclusion: We need to take preventive measures for accidental and intentional poisoning in pre-adolescents and adolescents age group respectively.
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We report a case of an 18 month old child who presented with sever eosinophilic pneumonia requiring ventilation as a result of round worm infestation. This child presented with symptoms alike acute severe asthma and had high absolute eosinophil count of 9,234/cmm.A course of steroids, albendazole and diethylcarbazine were followed by rapid recovery and a decrease in eosinophil counts to 616/cmm within one month of treatment. This is the first reported case of a child with severe eosinophilic pneumonia requiring ventilation as a result of roundworm infection.