Etiologic spectrum of acute sporadic viral hepatitis in children in India.

The relative magnitude by hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis Non-A, Non-B virus (HNANBV) was determined in 496 children from three different parts of India suffering from acute viral hepatitis by tests for specific IgM class anti-HAV and anti-HBV antibodies in the serum. HAV, HBV and NANB infections accounted for 55.8 per cent, 20.2 per cent and 23.2 per cent of cases respectively. Hepatitis A largely (59.5%) affected younger children of 1-5 yr. Nearly a third of children affected by NANB hepatitis were additionally positive for HBsAg. The proportions of HAV and HBV infected cases respectively decreased and increased with increasing age whereas the incidence of HNANBV infection remained almost constant throughout childhood. Acute NANB hepatitis, a major health problem in the adults of India is also common throughout childhood. This study suggests that this infection does not impart long lasting protective immunity.

Status of newborn care in India.

A questionnaire regarding the existing facilities and concept of newborn care was sent to 135 hospitals. A total of 18 teaching, 9 non-teaching and 5 private hospitals responded. Space provided for most of the nurseries was inadequate. Ratios of nurse: baby and doctor: baby fell short of the recommended. Maintenance of asepsis was lacking in many NSCUs. Regarding equipment, the general concept seems to be that having incubators and phototherapy units is adequate and most of the NSCUs did not go beyond it. Only 40% of the hospitals run special antenatal clinic for high risk deliveries and not all hospitals followed up high risk babies. Among the admitted LBW babies, those belonging to 1000-1500 g group outnumbered others, had higher morbidity and mortality, thereby taking away a major share of newborn care. It was a pleasure to note that most nurseries preferred breast milk for LBW babies. It is concluded that status of newborn care in India has a long way to go.