ABSTRACT
Prescriptions for children with acute gastroenteritis, requiring hospital admission were compared for the first 3 months of 1980 and 1985. Thirty-three children were identified in 1980 compared with 30 in 1985. Of these, 20 were prescribed a total of 46 drugs by their general practitioners in 1980 compared with 12 and 15 respectively in 1985. Although general practitioners still prescribed more medicines than did hospital doctors the improvement over 5 years was statistically significant (P less than 0.05).
Subject(s)
Drug Prescriptions , Gastroenteritis/drug therapy , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Infant , Medical Staff, Hospital , Physicians, FamilyABSTRACT
A full-term baby boy had respiratory distress, fever and pneumonia within 20 h of birth. Isolation of Mycoplasma hominis from blood taken after 20 h and 11 days was accompanied by an antibody response. Although chlamydial IgM antibody was detected, chlamydial infection probably did not cause the pneumonia. Penicillin was ineffective but treatment with gentamicin, and particularly tetracycline, was associated with slow improvement. Mycoplasma hominis should be considered as a cause of respiratory disease and fever in neonates.
