ABSTRACT
Ninety-three children with shigellosis were hospitalized in a regional hospital in Kuwait during the year 1988. S. flexneri was the most common isolate (54%) followed by S. sonnei (39%) and S. boydii (7%). In addition to the gastrointestinal manifestations, 14 patients (15%) developed generalized convulsions. The benign and self-limiting nature of the convulsions associated with shigellosis means that neither diagnostic procedure nor drug therapy are usually necessary. The disease was self-limiting in 41% and antimicrobial usage did not seem to shorten the duration of symptoms or hospital stay. All shigellae isolated were sensitive to gentamicin and amikacin, 56% were resistant to three or more antimicrobial agents, 32 were resistant to five or more. These findings may indicate the need for better control of antibiotic use, particularly in developing countries.
Subject(s)
Dysentery, Bacillary/microbiology , Seizures/etiology , Shigella boydii/isolation & purification , Shigella flexneri/isolation & purification , Shigella sonnei/isolation & purification , Shigella/isolation & purification , Amikacin/pharmacology , Breast Feeding , Child , Child, Preschool , Drug Resistance, Microbial , Dysentery, Bacillary/complications , Dysentery, Bacillary/epidemiology , Female , Gentamicins/pharmacology , Humans , Infant , Kuwait/epidemiology , Male , Seasons , Shigella boydii/drug effects , Shigella flexneri/drug effects , Shigella sonnei/drug effectsABSTRACT
During an 18 months' survey of children admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis, oocysts of the protozoan Cryptosporidium were detected in 35 cases (1.6% of the total 2205 surveyed). The affected children (age range 5 months to 8 years; mean 34.2 months) were immunocompetent, and had green and offensive watery diarrhoea. Vomiting (94%) with dehydration (80%), fever (66%) and abdominal pain (26%) were major clinical features of the diarrhoeal illness which lasted a mean 8.2 (range 3-14) days. Five children were infected with other enteropathogens. The illness was self-limiting in all cases and none were excreting oocysts 2 weeks after cessation of diarrhoea. Peak incidence occurred during the months of March and April, with no cases during the hottest months of July and August. There was no known contact with animals or pets; 4 children had other siblings affected and 2 conformed to cases of travellers' diarrhoea. The significance of cryptosporidiosis in Kuwait and the need for epidemiological studies are discussed.
Subject(s)
Cryptosporidiosis , Gastroenteritis/parasitology , Animals , Child , Child, Preschool , Cryptosporidiosis/epidemiology , Cryptosporidiosis/parasitology , Cryptosporidiosis/therapy , Cryptosporidium/isolation & purification , Feces/parasitology , Female , Gastroenteritis/epidemiology , Gastroenteritis/therapy , Humans , Immune Tolerance , Infant , Kuwait/epidemiology , Male , Prospective Studies , SeasonsABSTRACT
To test for the theory of testicular hypoxia in subfertile males with varicocele, the testicular mean blood level of lactate and pyruvate was compared with that of a control group. Statistical analysis of data showed a lower mean of lactate and of pyruvate in the testicular vein of varicocele patients. It is concluded that in varicocele there is no accumulation of lactic acid, thus excluding testicular hypoxia. Since lactate and pyruvate mean concentrations in testicular vein were correlated, it is suggested that in cases of varicocele there is defective glycolysis preceding the stage of pyruvate formation.
