Skin Biopsy and Histopathological Diagnosis of Dermatological Diseases.

Microscopic examination of skin and mucous membrane is an established investigation in diagnosis and follow up of many dermatological conditions frequently encountered during practice. Histopathological examination is performed with biopsied specimen from skin and or mucous membrane where required. However neither do all skin biopsies produce neither a conclusive diagnosis nor the dermatologists routinely perform this procedure to every patient they consult. This cross sectional descriptive study conducted by reviewing the records of all biopsied cases studied for histopathology in Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh and Shaheed Mansur Ali Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2012 to December 2016. The aim of this study was to investigate the favourable clinical diagnoses set by dermatologists when performing skin biopsy, the diagnoses reached by the dermatopathologists after microscopic examination, and the relationship between them and finally to comment on the instances that skin biopsy fails to fulfill the diagnostic task. Fourteen hundred and thirty six (1436) cases of skin biopsy were reviewed and descriptive statistics were performed. Maximum cases 39.1% (562) were in 2nd decade with almost equal sex distribution. The most frequently proposed clinical diagnoses included papulosquamous dermatoses 28.6% (410), whereas histological confirmation was in 13.1% (188). Histological diagnosis was more as nonspecific dermatitis 31.6% (454). After microscopic examination, a specific histological diagnosis was found in 83.5% (1199) of the cases and a consensus between clinical and histological diagnoses was observed in 69.2% (994). Neither histological diagnosis nor any feature consistent with clinical suspicion was observed in 10.1% (145) cases. Histopathological examination of skin biopsy is still a valuable diagnostic tool in many skin diseases and dermatoses with diagnostic dilemma. There are cases in which diagnostic inefficiency are being faced even after skin biopsy examination.

Household Animal and Human Medicine Use and Animal Husbandry Practices in Rural Bangladesh: Risk Factors for Emerging Zoonotic Disease and Antibiotic Resistance.

Animal antimicrobial use and husbandry practices increase risk of emerging zoonotic disease and antibiotic resistance. We surveyed 700 households to elicit information on human and animal medicine use and husbandry practices. Households that owned livestock (n = 265/459, 57.7%) reported using animal treatments 630 times during the previous 6 months; 57.6% obtained medicines, including antibiotics, from drug sellers. Government animal healthcare providers were rarely visited (9.7%), and respondents more often sought animal health care from pharmacies and village doctors (70.6% and 11.9%, respectively), citing the latter two as less costly and more successful based on past performance. Animal husbandry practices that could promote the transmission of microbes from animals to humans included the following: the proximity of chickens to humans (50.1% of households reported that the chickens slept in the bedroom); the shared use of natural bodies of water for human and animal bathing (78.3%); the use of livestock waste as fertilizer (60.9%); and gender roles that dictate that females are the primary caretakers of poultry and children (62.8%). In the absence of an effective animal healthcare system, villagers must depend on informal healthcare providers for treatment of their animals. Suboptimal use of antimicrobials coupled with unhygienic animal husbandry practices is an important risk factor for emerging zoonotic disease and resistant pathogens.