ABSTRACT
The first twenty-one cases of Paediatric Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (PAIDS) in Trinidad and Tobago were studied. An overwhelmingmajority of patients were of African descent. Most of the children presented within the first year of life, the average time between presentation and death was and a half months, and the majority presented with either diarrhoea or pneumonia or failure to thrive, common conditions in the West Indies. Fever lasting longer than two weeks as well as hepatomegaly were clues which led to a definite diagnosis
Subject(s)
Humans , Infant , Child, Preschool , Male , Female , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , Diarrhea/etiology , Failure to Thrive/etiology , Hepatomegaly/etiology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/mortalityABSTRACT
Two apparently healthy children from the same family were found to have moderate to heavy Blastocystis hominis in their stool samples whilst being investigated for intestinal symptoms: sporadic, painless, rectal bleeding in one and persistent diarrhoea in the other. After treatment with metronidazole, they had no further signs, and stool samples became negative. Eighteen months later, both were asymptomatic, and stool samples continued to be negative for the parasite