[Child acute rheumatic fever in Marrakech hospital]

The aim of this study is to specify the characteristics of rheumatic fever in children in the Ibn Zohr Hospital of Marrakech. 450 cases of rheumatic fever were collected from 1995 to 1999 and they represented 6.54% of the whole hospitalizations. The mean age was 9.4 year-old. The socio-economic status was very low in stand 87.8% of cases. A personal history of rheumatic fever was found in 12.9% of cases and a family history in 3%. 89.5% of children had recurrent pharyngitis. Fever was present in 88.8% of children, arthritis in 74.3% and rheumatic heart disease in 52%. Sedimentation rate and serologic test of streptococcal was frequently abnormal. Electrocardiography was abnormal in 12.7% of cases. Echocardiography, performed in only 47 cases, was abnormal in 39 cases. All the children had penicillin prophylaxis, 67.7% were treated by steroids and 31.7% by aspirin. 3 patients died, and 77 children presented persistent heart valves disease. We recommend the application of the National Program for the Prevention of Rheumatic Fever, and the education of the population for the prevention of infectious diseases

[Practices of breastfeeding in the Ibn Tofail Maternity Hospital of Marrakech]

The national data shows a receding of the child percentage nursed exclusively to the breast and the length of the breast-feeding. The aim of this study is to assess mothers' breastfeeding knowledge and practices, and the nurses' knowledge of breastfeeding. Materiel and method: this study is a prospective, descriptive and analytic survey of 400 couples mother newborn hospitalized in the Ibn Tofail Maternity Hospital of Marrakech, and 8 nurses in this unit. This survey was made by a questionnaire for the mothers and for the nurses. The mean mothers' age was 28 years [14 to 44 years]. The mean number of children was 1.2 per family. 88.7% of mothers were homemakers, and 29.7% were rural. Only 86% of mothers breastfeed their children. The first breastfeeding was given after the first 6 hours of life in 53.3% of cases. The frequency of breastfeeding is lower than 6 in 39.5% of cases. The duration of breastfeeding was 5 to 20 minutes in 72.6% of cases. Only 41.2% of women considered that the maternal milk is efficient for their babies and 62.7% of them gave other non milky liquids. Breastfeeding was given less than 3 months in 59.3% of cases. 75% of the nurses in charge of these mothers and their children recommended starting the breastfeeding between 2 and 6 hours of life. All the nurses thought that the artificial milk is not justified. Breastfeeding decreases in our country. This can be explained by the leak of mothers' information and education before the delivery, and by the leak of nurses' education