ABSTRACT
A major outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) infections took place in 2010 in Greece. Apart from the neuroinvasive cases, many additional cases without involvement of the nervous system were observed, characterized by high fever, myalgia, rash, leukopenia, and long-lasting recovery. West Nile non-neuroinvasive disease is a distinct clinical syndrome, and is not always mild.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , West Nile Fever/epidemiology , West Nile Fever/virology , West Nile virus/isolation & purification , West Nile virus/pathogenicity , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Animals , Female , Greece/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Nervous System Diseases/epidemiology , Nervous System Diseases/virology , West Nile Fever/complications , West Nile Fever/pathologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of depressive symptomatology among a group of patients with schizophrenia, both inpatients and outpatients, and speculate as to the reasons why differences among the groups may be occurring. METHOD: Fifty inpatients of Baillie Henderson Hospital, a chronic stay psychiatric hospital in Queensland, and 44 outpatients of this hospital were assessed on a number of measures including the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia, Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Beck Depression Inventory. All patients were assessed in a structured interview for 35-40 minutes by the same clinician. A chart review also occurred. The chief outcome variable was a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale of 17 or greater. RESULTS: Clinically significant depression, as defined by a Hamilton Depression score of 17 or greater, was found in 10% (n = 5) of the inpatient sample. Of the outpatient sample, 4.5% (n = 2) showed a clinically significant depression, which was not significantly different to the inpatient group. The prevalence of mild to moderate depression, as defined by a Hamilton Depression score of between 10 and 17, was 42% in the inpatient group and 47.7% in the outpatient group. There was no significant difference between the two groups on the mean Hamilton Depression scores. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest a high level of depressive symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia. As suicide is common in this group, this finding is important. Self-reporting of this problem by patients with schizophrenia, by means of questionnaire, is feasible and provides comparable results to objective clinician ratings.