Studies on rapid assessment methods in leprosy.

A study was undertaken in Pudukottai district, Tamilnadu, India to test rapid assessment methods: viz (i) sample surveys with lower coverages for clinical examination in estimating the disease problem in the community, (ii) utility of registered case prevalence for estimating the actual prevalence in a given area, (iii) leprosy in school-going children and its utility in estimating leprosy prevalence in the community, and (iv) information on disability and smear positivity in estimating leprosy prevalence; and develop correction factors for estimating leprosy situation. A sample of 23 clusters from 582 clusters of contiguous villages and hamlets was further divided into two random sub-samples for two surveys with differing coverages. One team covered nine clusters comprising 34 villages with a population of 17,562 and examined 15,596 with a population of 26,927 and examined 16,622 (62%) persons for leprosy. The results showed that: (i) leprosy sample surveys with lowered coverages would tend to miss valuable information, in terms of quality and quantity; (ii) from 'known case' registers, to estimate the true burden of leprosy disease and to monitor its trend over time is inadequate; (iii) school surveys are of limited value for estimating the disease burden in the community or to monitor its trend over time; (iv) the number of smear-positive cases is to small to serve as an indicator for the total case load in the community; and (v) the prevalence of active disease and that of grade 2 disability in the community are poorly correlated. Reliable methods other than those used here need to be developed for evaluation and monitoring of the disease burden particularly in the post-MDT era.

Clinical sequelae of Japanese encephalitis in children.

Over a five and a half year period, virological investigations for Japanese encephalitis (JE) were conducted in children admitted with acute encephalitis like illness to a large city hospital. The diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis was made by viral isolation from cerebrospinal fluid and/or a four-fold or higher rise in haemagglutination inhibiting antibodies in paired sera followed by demonstration of specific IgM antibodies by HI test after treatment with 2-mercapto ethanol. All children surviving the illness were contacted by post and followed up for sequelae. A total of 55 children could be followed up after 12-18 months and 22 of these even after 2 yr. A high rate of major sequelae (45.5%) in the form of frank motor deficits (32.7%), mental retardation (21.8%) and/or convulsions (18.2%) was observed. Neurological deficits were of diverse types and improved even after 2 yr of the illness. Fourteen patients (25.4%) had only minor deficits in the form of scholastic backwardness, behavioural problems and/or subtle neurological signs. Only 16 (29.2%) patients were completely normal on follow up. JE may therefore be an important cause of neurological handicap in this area. Sequelae of the disease were more severe if the initial illness was prolonged (P < 0.001, CI 2.45, 12.64), or associated with focal neurological deficits (P < 0.001, CI 1.97, 7.02).