Cephalofacial characteristics of children under 6 years of age in East of Nigeria.

Objectives: The present study aimed at measuring the length and width of the head and face of children under the age of six years in Anambra state, a South Eastern state of Nigeria. Data obtained was used to calculate their respective craniofacial indices. Methods: Four hundred and fifty four children (226 males and 228 females) below the age of six were randomly sampled from pre-nursery and nursery schools. Subjects with signs of deformities or history of head and facial injuries and mental retardations were excluded from the study. Measuring tape and spreading callipers were used to measure the length and width of the head and face. Results: Results indicated that the mean head length and breadth, face length and breadth, cephalic index and facial index did not indicate significant gender differences. Mesocephalic head type was the predominant, accounting for 39.9% of the study population; brachycephalic, dolicocephalic, hyperbrachycephalic heads accounted for 35.9%, 12.1% and 7.7% respectively, while ultrabrachycephalic was the least prevalent (4.4%). The dominant type of face was found to be hypereuryprosopic accounting for about 44.5% of the study population. Euryprosopic, mesoprosopic, and leptoprosopic types of face accounted for 39.2%, 11.2%, and 4% of the sampled population respectively, while the rare type was found to be hyperleptoprosopic with 1.1%. Conclusion: This study indicates no significant gender differences in the craniofacial variables in a cross-section of Nigerian children under 6 years of age. The most prevalent type of head was the mesocephalic type while the most dominant type of face shape was hypereuryprosopic in both male and female subjects.

Evaluation of cardiac sizes of normal nigerians using posteroanterior chest radiographs.

Background: There is paucity of data on cardiac sizes and other related parameters among Africans. This study aims to establish normal values of aortic, cardiac and thoracic diameters and the cardiothoracic ratio in a normal Nigerian population. Methods: The cardiothoracic ratio of 200 males and 200 females aged between 5 and 95 years were calculated from the cardiac and thoracic diameters in posteroanterior chest radiographs in a cross-sectional study at two imaging and radiodiagnostic centres. The mean and standard deviation of aortic, cardiac, thoracic diameters and cardiothoracic ratio were established. Results: The mean values for cardiac diameter for males and females were 13.8±1.89 and 13.2±1.28cm respectively. The mean values of cardiothoracic ratio for both male and female were 46% and 48% respectively. Conclusion: The cardiothoracic ratio increased with age in both sexes. These values were larger than those reported for the Caucasians.

Comparative virulence of Scedosporium species in animal models

Scedosporium species are an emerging opportunist group of fungi that have been found to cause infections in both immunocompetent and non-immunocompetent individuals. The infections are not regularly distributed among different countries of the world either because of improper identification or other geographical reasons. Strange as it may, disseminated systemic infections have only been reported in some specific countries. We used a mouse model of disseminated infection to assess if strains from Nigeria were virulent and compared it to a few other strains from other countries. S. apiospermum isolated from Nigeria were clearly less virulent than those obtained elsewhere. This may be the reason why this group of fungi has not been associated with specific clinical problems in Nigeria in pa'rticular and Africa in general.

In vitro susceptibility testing of dermatophytes isolated from pediatric cases in Nigeria against five antifungals

The antifungal activities of itraconazole, ketoconazole, fluconazole, terbinafine and griseofulvin were tested by broth microdilution methods against 71 isolates of dermatophytes isolated from Nigerian children. Most drugs were very active against all the dermatophytes and the MIC 90 ranged from 0.03 to 8.0 µg/mL. This appears to be the first documented data on the antifungal susceptibility testing of isolates of dermatophytes from Nigerian children.

Atividades antifúngicas de itraconazole, ketoconazole, fluconazole, terbinafine e griseofulvina foram testadas por métodos de microdiluição em caldo contra 71 isolados de dermatófitos de crianças nigerianas. A maioria das drogas foi muito ativa contra todos os dermatófitos e o MIC 90 variou de 0,03 a 8,0 µg/mL. Estes parecem ser os primeiros dados documentados sobre os testes de susceptibilidade antifúngica de isolados de dermatófitos de crianças nigerianas.

Keratinolytic activity of five human isolates of the dermatophytes.

The keratinolytic activity of five species of the dermatophytes which include Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans, Microsporum audouinii and M. gypseum isolated from school children were tested using human hair as the substrate. M. gypseum was found to possess the highest keratinolytic activity with a net value of released protein being 78.8 ug/ml after five weeks of incubation. Also the net value of released protein for T. tonsurans, T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and M. audouinii were 55.5 ug/ml, 52.5 ug/ml, 43.8 ug/ml and 26.3 ug/\ml respectively. Only T. mentagrophytes and M. gypseum were able to cause structural damage in form of perforations on the hair shaft. Also during the degradation of the hair, the pH of the basal medium for each dermatophyte increased. The increase in pH was highest in the medium with M. gypseum but lowest in that of M. audouinii.

In vitro effects of three metallic salts and soot on the growth of five species of the dermatophytes.

The antifungal effects of zinc chloride (znCl), Calcium chloride (CaCl), magnesium chloride (MgCl) as well as soot collected from a local kitchens were tested on five isolated species of the dermatophytes from cases of human dermatophytoses. Of these three metallic salts, ZnCl showed the highest inhibitory effect on the dermatophytes. At a concentration of 0.01 M it showed 100% inhibition on these fungi. Although the other two metallic salts showed some inhibitory effect CaCl at concentration between 0.01 M and 1 M showed only 50% inhibitory effect while MgCl at concentration between 0.1 M and 1 M showed less than 50% inhibitory effect on the fungi. Also soot inhibited the growth of all the dermatophytes tested at concentration between 0.1 and 2%. Trichophyton rubrum and Microspum audouinii appeared to be most sensitive to these compounds compared to the other three species which include T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans and M. gypseum.

Dermatophytoses among school children in Aba, Abia State--Nigeria and some physiological studies on the isolated etiologic agents.

A total of 1,136 school children comprising 433 males and 703 females, within the age groups 4 to 16 years and all resident in Aba municipal town of Abia State were examined for clinical signs of dermatophytoses. Out of this number examined 196 (17.3%), which included 108 males and 88 females, had clinical lesions on various parts of the body including the head, skin, finger nails and toe webs characteristic of dermatophytoses. While the infection occurred highest among children between the ages of 10 and 12 years, male children were significantly more infected than the females (P = 0.05). The most common type of the disease was tinea capitis (10.8%) followed by tinea corporis (5.8%). The dermatophytes identified included Trichophyton mentagrophytes (19.4%). T. tonsurans (12.3%), Microsporum audoninii (7.7%) and M. gypseum (2%). All the isolates grew well at both 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C but none survived at 45 degrees C. On solid media, all, with the exception of M. gypseum produced extracellular lipase enzyme while none produced lecithinase, deoxyribounclease and protease enzymes. Only T. tonsurans and T. mentagrophytes produced urease enzyme.

Some pathogenic fungi involved in serious cases of urinary tract infections in Nigeria.

Three hundred early morning midstream urine samples collected from 200 females and 100 males between the ages of 20 and 60 years, suffering from urinary tract infections (UTI) were studied to determine the etiologic agents. The caliberated loop-direct method used for culturing each sample on both bacterial and fungal media showed significant microbial growth in 117 of the 300 samples. Bacteria were the sole agents of infection in 30% of the cases while pathogenic yeasts were the sole agents of infection in 8% of the cases. Only 1% showed mixed infection. The bacterial pathogens identified from the culture were Escherichia coli (12.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (8.0%), Proteus mirabilis (4.3%), Klebsiella aerogenes (2.7%), Streptococcus faecalis (2.0%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.3%). The fungal pathogens isolated were Candida albicans (0.3%). While patients between the ages of 20 and 40 years were significantly more susceptible to UTI caused by bacteria (P = 0.05), patients between the ages of 41 and 60 years were more prone to UTI caused by fungi. Also females appeared to contact UTI more often than males.

Prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in faecal samples of some school children in Enugu State, Nigeria.

A total of 373 stool samples comprising 38 watery stool and 335 normal formed samples, collected from primary school children in Enugu State, Nigeria, were processed for the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts. The formalin-methylene blue staining techniques were employed for the concentration and identification of the Oocysts in each sample. The results obtained were subjected to cross-tabulation analysis. Cryptosporidium Oocysts were identified in 15 of the 38 watery stool samples and in 81 of the 335 formed stool samples. Analysis of the data obtained showed that there was no significant difference in carrier rate of the parasite between school children from the urban town of Nsukka and those from the rural towns of Ovoko and Obukpa (P = 0.441). However, the rate of occurrence of the Oocysts was significantly higher in the watery stool than in the formed stool samples (P = < 0.0001).

Cryptosporidiosis in patients with diarrhoea in five hospitals in Nigeria.

A total of 413 soft, loose or watery stool specimens from patients with acute diarrhoea were screened for presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts. Safranin-methylene blue staining technique was used for detecting Cryptosporidium oocysts in the stool samples. The oocysts were identified in 52 (12.5 per cent) of the samples, while 69 samples (16.7 per cent) showed mixed infections. Children between the ages of 2 and 15 years were most infected by this parasite while infection occurred more in females than males for all age groups. These findings indicate that Cryptosporidium is an important etiologic agent of diarrhoea. Hence there is need to include its identification in laboratory analysis of diarrhoeal stool samples.