Prediabetes in South Indian rural adolescent school students.

Prediabetes is a condition with blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Most people with prediabetes are asymptomatic but are considered to be at a high risk of developing heart disease and stroke. 140 students of both sexes between ages 14-18 years were given a predesigned questionnaire to obtain information on socio-economic status and family history of Diabetes mellitus. A fasting plasma glucose level was measured and 6.8% of students were in the prediabetic range (>100 mg/dl). No significant correlation was found between fasting plasma glucose and Body Mass Index or waist to hip ratio. 41.5% of the boys and 10.3% of the girls had a family history of DM but were in euglycemic range. It is beneficial to identify people with prediabetes so that appropriate lifestyle modification may be done to prevent or postpone onset of Diabetes mellitus.

Post-vaccination scenario of measles: a retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: Routine vaccination against measles was introduced in India during 1985-86 through the Universal Immunization Programme. Its effect on the current prevalence of measles is not known. METHODS: Information on the total number of patients admitted and deaths due to measles from January 1982 to December 1997 were obtained from the records of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hyderabad, the only infectious diseases hospital in the city. Details on age, sex, number of complications, duration of hospital stay, vaccination status and information on vitamin A administration in the hospital were collected from the case records. RESULTS: A total of 20,926 cases of measles were admitted from 1982 to 1997. There was a 69% reduction in hospital admissions from the pre-vaccination to the post-vaccination period, and deaths due to measles decreased by 90%. Over the years, a rise in the age of children admitted with measles was observed. Boys were admitted more frequently to the hospital (p < 0.001) than girls. All the children showed one or more complications. From 1992 onwards, vitamin A was administered to 45.4% of the children admitted. CONCLUSION: A significant reduction was observed in the number of cases admitted to the hospital as well as deaths due to measles. Apart from the effect of the vaccination programme, this could also be due to increased awareness and availability of better health care facilities in the hospital and peripheral health clinics. Administration of vitamin A to children with measles as recommended by the World Health Organization needs to be implemented. A significant increase in the number of older children (> 5 years) with no significant reduction in the infants affected by measles indicates inadequate vaccine coverage and accumulation of susceptible older children.

An outbreak of poliomyelitis in Andhra Pradesh (South India).

An outbreak of poliomyelitis that occurred in the year 1992 in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, South India was investigated to understand the reasons for persistence of poliomyelitis in the general population and for the outbreak in Andhra Pradesh in particular. The study comprised of a detailed investigation of epidemiological and clinical features, serology and vaccination status and a case control study to calculate vaccine efficacy by matched pair analysis. The outbreak occurred after a relative quiescence of 3 years. The age group of the patients ranged from 2 months to 5 years, 26.5% being infants and 70.2% being children between 1 and 5 years. The outbreak was mainly caused by Type 1 poliovirus. Vaccine efficacy was found to be 70%. Antibody response was not high in cases. Seventy six per cent of the children with poliomyelitis were unvaccinated. Ignorance of the mothers and family interference were the main causes for not vaccinating the children. The study indicates the need to increase the vaccination coverage and inclusion of children upto 5 years in the programme. Absence of vaccination is the major risk factor for the outbreak. The persistence of poliomyelitis in older children, low antibody response and suboptimal vaccine efficacy point out the problem of achieving control with OPV in tropical countries and suggest the need for alternate strategies. Better health education strategies need to be developed.