role of tea drinking in infants anemia

To evaluate the effect of tea drinking on the occurrence of microcytic anemia in infants, 98 healthy infants who underwent routine blood counts at the age of 6-12 months were studied. An overall high frequency of anemia [Hb < 11 gm/dl-83.7%], microcytosis [MCV < 70 mu3-14.3%] and microcytic anemia [14.3%] was found in the whole group. The percentage of tea drinking infants with microcytic anemia [19.4%] was significantly higher than that of the non-tea drinkers [5.6%]. The daily amount of tea drinking was 40-500 ml [median = 150 ml]. The tea drinkers had significantly lower mean level of hemoglobin [9.5 or - 0.8 gm/dl] than that of the non-tea drinkers [10.6 or - 1.3 gm/dl], and significantly lower mean level of mean corpuscular volume [72.6 or - 4.3 mum3] than that of the non-tea drinkers [81.6 or - 9.9 mum3]. Based on these findings, giving tea to infants is not recommended, however, giving foods rich in vitamin C should be encouraged

Evaluation of a primary health care programme in a rural village in Giza, Egypt

This paper provides detailed analysis of health problems of a cohort of 250 children born in a rural village, El Kata, in Giza, Egypt. During this longitudinal study, morbidity in children under 2 years of age was measured for a 6 month-period before and for 18 month-period the introduction of a primary health care [PHC] programme. Measurements of morbidity showed a lower prevalence of diarrhea, severe cough, conjunctivitis, fever and skin infection after the introduction of the PHC programme. Introduction of the PHC programme had no significant effect on nutritional status or on vaccine coverage. Significant improvement in the health of children in El Kata study area have taken place during the past 2 years

Epilepsy, phenytoin and serum IgA concentrations in some Egyptian children

A study was conducted on 30 epileptic Egyptian children divided into two groups: Group 1 [15 patients without any anticonvulsant treatment] and group 2 [15 patients receiving phenytoin regularly for a duration of 4 months to 7.6 years]. A group of 10 normal children of the same age and social level were used as controls. Serum concentration of IgA was significantly decreased in the phenytoin treated epileptic children as well as in the untreated epileptics in comparison with controls. It was suggested that phenytoin treatment suppresses the normal serum IgA and that epilepsy may be a contributing factor. Further investigations in this direction may give an indication of the etiology of epilepsy or its pathogenesis

Study of the DPT adverse reactions in some Egyptian children

A prospective study of adverse effects of 728 doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and whole cell pertussis vaccine [DPT] was performed in 226 children observed longitudinally from 2 months to 18 months of age. Compliance for completing a clinical observation form in 48 hours following injections was > 99%. Fever, local reactions or adverse adverse behavioral effects were described in association with > 95% of DPT closes. No conclusion, hypotonic hyporesponsive episode, encephalopathy or temperature > 40.5C occurred. Local inflammatory effects occurred maximally in the first 6 hours following vaccine but fever peaked later. There was no interrelationship between occurrence of local reactions and fever. These data suggest that age of the infants has a major effect on the type and rate of adverse clinical events

IgA in saliva and serum of infants with acute diarrhea

Diarrhea is known to be one of the most important causes of infant morbidity and mortality in Egypt. The study included 27 infants suffering from acute diarrhea and 10 healthy infants who served as controls. Their ages ranged between 6 to 12 months. All infants were subjected to full clinical examination and estimation of IgA in saliva and serum. A total of 74 samples were analyzed for IgA concentration by single radial immunodiffusion technique. The results were statistically analyzed and revealed that IgA has significantly increased in saliva and serum of infants with acute diarrhea. Moreover, the statistical correlation between salivary and serum IgA was highly significant [P<0.001] in both groups. We concluded that saliva is a good marker of intestinal immunity. We suggest that saliva rather than serum could be used to monitor the immune responses

Variation in levels of immunoglobulins in breast milk

In this longitudinal study, we aimed to determine the concentrations of the major immunoglobulins, namely IgA, IgM and IgG in colostrum [2-4 days] and in mature milk at 4-8 weeks and at 5-6 months of lactating mothers. In this regard sixteen lactating mothers were recruited from a poor urban district in Giza and 3 milk samples were collected from each mother over a period of 6 months. The analysis was performed by single radial immunodiffusion technique. The data revealed that immunoglobulin concentrations were higher in colostrum compared to mature milk [P<0.001]. Also IgA was the predominant immunoglobulin throughout the stages of lactation while IgG was present in the least concentration. No significant correlation was found between the age of the mother and immunoglobulin concentrations, while weak significant correlation was found between the parity of the mother and IgM in colostrum [P<0.05]. We concluded that passive immunity provided to the infants by immunoglobulins [especially IgA] in breast milk is particularly important during the early neonatal period