Hepatitis b virus antigenemia in healthy blood donors at Faisalabad

Hepatitis B and C along with chronic liver disease are prevalent at Faisalabad. We screened 435 healthy blood donors coming from local community to find out carrier rate of HBV in this locality. Of these 435 peoples, screened for this purpose, 432 were males [99.3%] and age group 18-30 years was the major group [302 out of 435 i.e, 69.4%] as potential blood donors. Out of the total, 9 people were found to be positive for HBs-Ag. Incidence of hepatitis B carrier state was found to be 2.06%. People were tested with Dot Immuno Assay for this purpose. This study concludes that less obvious modes of transmission are also operative in transmission of HBV. Further community based studies should be conducted to find out relative importance of these less obvious modes of transmission of HBV and strategies should be devised against the transmission of HBV

Healthy voluntary blood donors; incidence of anti hepatitis c virus antibodies

Out country is endemic for hepatitis B and C types of hepatitis can be transmitted by transfusion of contaminated blood. We conducted this study to find out local incidence of HCV in healthy blood donors. 426 people were screened for anti-HCV antibodies. Anti-HCV antibodies were detected by kit using Dot Immunoassay for visual detection [DIPSTICK HCV] developed by Immunochemical Lab Company Limited Bangkok Thailand. Out of 426 people screened, 423 were males, younger age group, i.e. 18-30 years being most common [70.18%]. Over all incidence of Anti-HCV antibodies positivity was 20.89%. Around one third [29 out of 89 i.e. 32.58%] of anti-HCV positive people had previously given blood donation. This study concludes that incidence of anti-HCV positivity is pretty high and practice of screening blood donations for HCV is poorly observed in this locality. To control the situation we must start public education campaign about preventive measures against HCV and strictly adapt screening of blood donations for HBV and HCV

open non-comparative multicentre study of efficacy and toleration of amlodipine in the treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension in general clinical practice

This was an open non-comparative multicentre study of efficacy and toleration of amlodipine in the treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension in general clinical practice. This study was carried out at four centers. One hundred and twenty hypertensive out patients were enrolled in this study, 4 patients were lost to follow, and 116 patients were considered evaluable. Patients with base- line sitting diastolic blood pressure in the range of 95- 115 mm Hg at two consecutive visits received a single dose of 5 mg of amlodipine daily for a period of two weeks. In patients who did not show a satisfactory reduction in blood pressure, the dose of amlodipine was increased to 10 mg daily to achieve a sitting diastolic blood pressure of < 90 mm Hg. Out of 116 patients who were evaluated, in 7 patients the treatment was discontinued due to inadequate response. In 109 out of 116 patients the reduction of blood pressure was systolic 23 mm Hg and diastolic 18 mm Hg after having six weeks of treatment with amlodipine. 69 patients required 5 mg/ day and 40 patients required 10 mg/ day of amlodipine. There was no change noted in the heart rate of these patients. In overall assessment of their efficacy of amlodipine, the response was rated as excellent to good in 95[82%] of the patients, fair in 11[9%] of the patients, and poor in 10[9%] of the patients respectively. 15 patients [13%] experienced side effects which were either mild or moderate in nature and none of the patients was withdrawn from the study due to side effects. The overall assessment of the toleration of amlodipine was rated as excellent to good in 97[83%] of the patients, fair in 16[14%] of the patients, and poor in 3[3%] of the patients. Amlodipine was found to be an effective and well tolerated antihypertensive as monotherapy in mild to moderate hypertension with few transient side effects

Delayed radiological resolution of pulmonary edema

A case of acute pulmonary edema following anterior myocardial infarction with early clinical but very late radiological resolution is described. This is believed to be a unique case in the literature. The report highlights the importance of serial radiological follow-up of such cases even in the absence of significant clinical signs and symptoms