Epilepsy and full-thickness burns.

This paper presents various aspects of severe burns involving epileptic patients, who may suffer dramatic accidents during seizure attacks. Epileptics may fall onto an open fire or hot surface (e.g. a kitchen range) and they may upset containers full of boiling liquids, suffering deep burns and scalds. In our experience in this field, the most commonly affected body areas are the face and hands, the trunk, and the lower limbs. All such injuries are full-thickness burns, owing to the very long contact of the skin surface with the lesional agent. Three cases are presented of epileptics with severe burns who were admitted to the Burn Unit of Targu Mures Teaching Hospital, Romania, where they were hospitalized; conservative debridement using polyurethanefoam (PUR-foam) dressings was the standard procedure, which all the patients received. Split-thickness skin grafting was the final method for closing the granulating bed resulting from the conservative debridement. We have found that conservative debridement using PUR-foam dressings is a cheaper and more reliable alternative than sharp debridement (which may remove healthy tissue at the same time as burn eschars).

Khat chewing spread to the Somali community in Rome.

The habit of chewing Khat (Catha edulis) to experience its euphorizing and psychostimulant effects has prevailed for centuries among the inhabitants of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula. In recent years, air transport has removed the major obstacle to the diffusion of Khat, its perishableness. Khat is now air-freighted to Europe and we were able to buy some in Rome. We report the results of interviews with 20 members of the Somali community in Rome, who had continued their habit of chewing Khat whilst abroad. They asserted that they gathered together whenever possible, but preferably at weekends, to chew moderate quantities of Khat (one bundle, about 400 g). The customary habit of drinking tea or other soft drinks containing methylxantines during Khat sessions was maintained and very few subjects admitted drinking alcohol. In this small study sample, Khat chewing still seems to be a social event, as it is in Somalia.