Emerging Capripoxvirus disease outbreaks in Himachal Pradesh, a northern state of India.

Both sheep and goat pox are contagious viral diseases and affect small ruminants and are caused by sheep pox virus and goat pox virus respectively that belong to genus Capripoxvirus of Poxviridae family. Huge economic losses emanating from the disease outbreaks are the results of the wool and hide damage, subsequent production losses and also the morbidities and mortalities associated with the disease. This communication highlights clinico-epidemiological observations from the two sheep pox and one goat pox outbreaks. Grossly, multisystemic nodular lesions, mucopurulent nasal discharges and respiratory symptoms were observed in the affected animals. The morbidity, mortality and case fatality rates were 5.18%, 2.45% and 32.37%, respectively. Histopathological, haematological, molecular and serological techniques and also isolation of virus in embryonated chicken eggs were used for the diagnosis of the diseases. The spatial distribution of the disease signifies the role of common pasturelands used for grazing the animals while temporally all three outbreaks occurred in winters and were probably associated with cold stress and fodder scarcity. This is the first recorded report of Capripoxvirus infection in recent times and it highlights the disease as one of the emerging diseases in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh in India.

An analysis of posterior segment complications after vitrectomy using the perfluorocarbon perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene (Vitreon). Vitreon Collaborative Study.

We report posterior segment complications encountered with the use of the liquid perfluorocarbon, perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene (Vitreon) as an intraoperative adjunct to vitreoretinal surgery in 640 patients participating in the Vitreon Collaborative Study. We also evaluated postoperative complications in 60 patients in whom Viteron was intentionally left inside the vitreous cavity for periods ranging from 5 days to 4 weeks as a short-term retinal tamponade. The five most common postoperative complications among these patients as a whole were recurrent retinal detachment, with or without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (11.28%); macular pucker (5.85%); fibrinous reaction (4%); residual Vitreon (3.85%); and vitreous hemorrhage (2.57%).

Postoperative chronic pressure abnormalities in the vitreon study.

Perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene (Vitreon) was used as an intraoperative hydrokinetic retinal manipulator, followed by C3F8 or SF6 gases, silicone oil, or Vitreon as postoperative tamponading agents in 234 eyes. Two chronic intraoperative pressure abnormalities were defined: hypotony (5 mm Hg or less) and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) (25 mm Hg or more at three or more postoperative visits). Postoperatively, 28 eyes (12%) had chronically elevated IOP, and 41 (18%) had chronic hypotony. There was no significant difference in the incidence of abnormal IOP among the groups of eyes in which the various tamponading agents had been used. In particular, the use of Vitreon as an intraoperative tool or as a short-term tamponade did not affect the incidence of chronic abnormal IOP any more than did the use of silicone oil, C3F8, or SF6 as tamponading agents.

The prevalence of microalbuminuria in diabetes: a study from north India.

Geographic/population variation in the prevalence of diabetic nephropathy is well recognised. In a study of 'native' Indians, we screened 102 non-proteinuric diabetes mellitus patients (64 NIDDM, 38 IDDM; mean age and diabetic duration 48.7 and 6.5 years, 21.6 and 6.2 years, respectively) with blood pressure less than or equal to 170/105 and without congestive heart failure, ketonuria or urinary tract infection, for the presence of microalbuminuria (albumin excretion rate greater than 20 micrograms/min). Fifty-six patients (34 NIDDM, 22 IDDM) also underwent detailed fundus examination. Seventeen NIDDM (26.6%) and 3 IDDM (7.9%) patients had microalbuminuria. Glycated hemoglobin was significantly higher in microalbuminurics in the NIDDM group (P less than 0.05). Diabetic retinopathy tended to occur more frequently in microalbuminurics (NIDDM and IDDM).

Metastatic endophthalmitis: a reappraisal.

In view of the lack of studies of metastatic endophthalmitis and the controversies surrounding its management, we did a retrospective study of ten cases of metastatic endophthalmitis admitted to our center in 1987. A disproportionately high incidence of pediatric patients was found. The etiologic diagnosis was possible in eight of the ten cases. Bacterial infection was responsible in five of the eight cases where positive cultures were grown. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common bacterial pathogen isolated. Most of the cases responded poorly to medical management. Seven of the ten patients finally underwent vitrectomy. Four of these seven cases had a postoperative visual acuity equal to or greater than 6/60 after vitrectomy. We believe that pars plana vitrectomy has a definite role in the management of metastatic endophthalmitis.

Study of an outbreak of epidemic conjunctivitis in Delhi in 1986.

An epidemic of acute conjunctivitis occurred in Delhi during July-September 1986. The clinical presentation in total of 350 patients were characteristic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC). Bacterial cultures from conjunctival swabs were sterile in 85 out of 105 (80%) patients, virus cultures in Vero and HeLa cells were negative in 30 patients. However, conjunctival scrapes from 20/30 (66.7%) patients showed specific cytoplasmic fluorescence with enterovirus 70 (EV 70) antiserum, suggesting EV 70 to be the etiologic agent of the epidemic.

Pathogenesis of epidemic dropsy glaucoma.

Thirty-one cases of epidemic dropsy with raised intraocular pressure were studied. Glaucoma was bilateral in all, with open angles and no signs of anterior segment inflammation. The outflow facility was unimpaired (C value, 0.24 +/- 0.09 microL/min/mm Hg). Aqueous bioassays revealed significantly elevated prostaglandin E2 level (23.33 +/- 4.32 ng/mL) and histamine activity (13.0 +/- 2.76 ng/mL) in all samples from patients with epidemic dropsy glaucoma as compared with negligible levels in control samples from patients with open angle glaucoma. Aqueous biochemical analysis revealed increased total protein level (1.03 +/- 0.10 g/L) with a normal globulin pattern as compared with controls (0.26 +/- 0.08 g/L). On histopathologic and histochemical testing, a normal trabecular meshwork was found in 11 of the 12 trabeculectomy specimens. It is concluded that dropsy glaucoma is hypersecretory in nature; prostaglandin and histamine release may have significant roles in its pathogenesis.

Comprehensive visual and cosmetic rehabilitation of cornea plana.

A case of bilateral cornea plana with high hypermetropia is reported in a 20-year-old woman. Neither routine spectacles nor polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) contact lenses could achieve satisfactory visual and cosmetic results. Comprehensive visual and cosmetic rehabilitation was accomplished with a high-plus, low-water-content, lenticular soft lens. This new concept of management of cornea plana appears promising in cases not amenable to routine spectacles or hard contact lenses.