Subject(s)
Morbidity , Mortality , Accidents/statistics & numerical data , Accidents, Traffic/statistics & numerical data , Ethnicity , Forensic Medicine , Homicide/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Medicine, Traditional , Papua New Guinea/epidemiology , Suicide/statistics & numerical data , Violence , Wounds and Injuries/epidemiologyABSTRACT
A case of a north-Queensland Aboriginal child, who died of a septicaemic illness probably caused by Chromobacterium violaceum, is reported. This organism is a Gram-negative bacillus found in soil and water. Human and animal infections are very rare, but have been reported from various tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Most of these have been fatal, although survival after recognition, appropriate antibiotic therapy, and surgical intervention has also been reported.
Subject(s)
Chromobacterium/isolation & purification , Sepsis/microbiology , Australia , Humans , Infant , Male , Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , Sepsis/pathologyABSTRACT
An unusual infection occuring in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea is reported. The patients come from villages on the Sepik River or its tributaries. The lesions consist of cutaneous nodules and papillomas which are slowly progressive. An unidentified organism, apparently a gram positive bacillus, is seen in large numbers in the lesions; a natural habitat in soil or water or on vegetation seems likely.
Subject(s)
Granuloma/pathology , Skin Diseases, Infectious/pathology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Bacteria , Extremities , Face , Female , Granuloma/microbiology , Granuloma/therapy , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , New Guinea , Skin Diseases, Infectious/microbiology , Skin Diseases, Infectious/therapySubject(s)
Accidents, Traffic , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Alcohol Drinking , Australia , Child , Child, Preschool , Craniocerebral Trauma/mortality , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Seat Belts , Thoracic Injuries/mortality , Time Factors , Wounds and Injuries/mortalityABSTRACT
During an 11 year period 73 cases of amyloidosis were diagnosed at Port Moresby General Hospital as a result of histological examination of autopsy or biopsy material. No case of amyloidosis came from either the Highlands or North Coast regions although these two areas together accounted for 16% of the medical admissions at the hospital and made up a similar percentage of Port Moresby's Papua New Guinean population. Within the sub-district in which Port Moresby is situated there was a much higher incidence of amyloidosis in the inland, more sparsely populated, census divisions of the sub-district. Aetiological factors which may be related to the common occurrence of amyloidosis in Papua New Guinea are discussed in light of the observed geographical distribution of cases.
Subject(s)
Amyloidosis/epidemiology , Amyloidosis/complications , Amyloidosis/genetics , Amyloidosis/pathology , Geography , Humans , Leprosy/complications , Malaria/complications , New Guinea , Tuberculosis/complicationsABSTRACT
In this study of protein composition of amyloid fibrils isolated from eight patients representative of the spectrum of amyloidosis found in Papua New Guinea has been investigated. All fibril preparations, including three from patients with amyloidosis secondary to lepromatous leprosy and one from an unusual juvenile case of primary amyloidosis, contained the non-immunogobulin amyloid protein, protein AA. However, only 44% of thirty-six amyloid patients had detectable levels of the protein AA-related serum component, protein SAA. Alkali-degraded material from each of the fibril preparations failed to react in double immunodiffusion test with antiserum to the amyloid-related light chain VgammaV, but evidence was found for this immunoglobulin light chain-specificity in the serum of one patient.
