Health in Khulais villages, Saudi Arabia. An educational project.

A field work project was conducted in Khulais villages by the Department of Community Medicine, Riyadh Faculty of Medicine, in February 1977. The project involved jointly Riyadh University and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, as well as other organizations. Over a 10-day period, twenty-five students of the fourth-year medical class under the supervision of seven members of the staff studied health problems and rendered selected health services to the community. Project activities included a study of a sample of 280 schoolchildren by clinical examination, anthropometric measurement and selected laboratory investigations; a house-to-house survey; a study of the epidemiology of schistosomiasis and malaria; immunization of pre-school children; a health education programme and an evaluation of the health centre's activities. The main objective was to give the students an appreciation of the need for team-work in approaching community health and help to cultivate their interest in community medicine as an applied discipline.

Cardiac arrest after intravenous chloroquine injection.

In cases of severe malaria chloroquine phosphate is frequently given--diluted or undiluted--by the intravenous route. It is known that cardiac arrhythmias and hypotension may complicate such therapy, but cardiac arrest is not a well recognised hazard. In this report we describe such a tragic complication, and advocate that undiluted chloroquine should not be administered intravenously in severely ill patients since such patients usually have associated electrolyte disturbances which may render the heart vulnerable to toxic drugs. Chloroquine may be given diluted in normal saline infused over several hours with a close watch over the blood pressure.

Hycanthone therapy in selected patients with S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections in the Sudan.

The results of a clinical trial of hycanthone in 601 selected Sudanese patients with S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections are reported. Hycanthone was given as a single intramuscular injection at a dose of 3.0 mg per kilogramme body weight. The commonest side effects were nausea and vomiting which occurred in 35 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. No incidence of acute hepatic damage and no deaths were encountered. About one third of patients reported for follow-up. Cure rate for S. mansoni was 90 per cent at 6 weeks of treatment and 97 per cent at three months and six months, while for S. haematobium infection it was 82 per cent at 6 weeks and 91 per cent at 3 months and 6 months. A significant reduction in egg excretion was achieved in those who were not cured.