RESUMO
Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a heterogeneous group of medical conditions that commonly occur in underprivileged populations. NTDs are primarily diagnosed in tropical areas. Although South Africa is not situated in a tropical region, the high poverty rate makes the country susceptible to some NTDs. Limited data are available on the burden of NTDs in the Free State province of South Africa. This study aimed to determine the number of NTDs diagnosed on histopathological specimens in the public sector of the Free State province over a six-year period and to evaluate the patient demographics. Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study was performed. All NTDs diagnosed in histopathological specimens from public sector hospitals in the province submitted to the Department of Anatomical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service, and University of the Free State between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2020 were included in the study. The demographic information, biopsy site, and referring hospital were noted for each case identified. Results: A total of 72 NTDs were diagnosed. The five most common diagnoses were echinococcosis (n = 33; 45.8%), bilharzia (n = 13; 18.1%), leprosy (n = 9; 12.5%), mycetoma (n = 8; 11.1%), and intestinal worms (n = 5; 6.9%). Ten (30.3%) patients diagnosed with echinococcosis came from the Free State's neighbouring country, Lesotho. Conclusion: Echinococcosis was the most prevalent NTD diagnosed in central South Africa. We recommend that the South African Department of Health add echinococcosis to the principal NTDs of significance in South Africa, alongside soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis, leprosy, and rabies.
RESUMO
AIM: Studies defining eosinophil densities in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are limited. To assess whether eosinophils are pathologically infiltrating the GIT, it is important to evaluate eosinophil densities for specific populations. METHODS: A retrospective, quantitative, comparative study was conducted to determine the number of eosinophils in the oesophagus, stomach and small bowel of patients in central South Africa and to investigate whether a statistically significant difference occurred between ethnic and gender groups. RESULTS: In total, 309 histological sections from the oesophagus, gastric corpus, gastric antrum and small intestine were sampled from male and female, African and Caucasian patients. Histology reports and review of the slides confirmed the absence of histological abnormality. The number of eosinophils in the epithelium and lamina propria were manually quantified. The eosinophil values across gender, ethnicity and location were 0-2.0/mm² for the oesophagus, 0-53.0/mm² for the gastric corpus and 7.1-115.3/mm² for the small intestine. Regarding the gastric antrum, African and Caucasian females had eosinophil values of 1.0-35.7/mm² and 0-22.4/mm², respectively. Males had an eosinophil density of 0-31.6/mm² in the gastric antrum. The eosinophil values in the oesophagus, gastric corpus and small bowel were not significantly different between genders and ethnic groups. The only site where ethnicity influenced the number of eosinophils was the gastric antrum, a discrepancy that cannot be explained. CONCLUSION: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report on the eosinophil densities in the oesophagus, stomach and small bowel of adults in South Africa.
