Smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis in a prison setting: experience in the penal camp of Bouaké, Ivory Coast.

SETTING: Bouaké prison camp, Ivory Coast. OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical, radiographic and therapeutic characteristics of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in the prison camp of Bouaké. METHODS: The study included 108 cases of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis who had never been treated previously. Triple chemotherapy of 6 months' duration was recommended for all of the patients. RESULTS: The incidence of smear positive tuberculosis in the prison population under study was very high (5.8%). In the majority of cases tuberculosis infection is associated with other conditions: here they were malnutrition (75%), anaemia (70%) and dermatoses (64%). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was observed in 30% of the cases, and alcohol and tobacco dependence in 50%. Radiographic lesions were extensive in 70% of the cases. The 6-month treatment regimen is still effective: 80 of the 108 (74.1%) were cured, i.e. 97.6% of those who completed their treatment. The death rate, however, was alarming at 24% (one patient in four). The main reason for incarceration was theft (73%). CONCLUSION: Other epidemiological studies are needed urgently in order to pin-point those factors that favour the progression from tuberculous infection to disease in this very specific setting, and to improve socio-sanitary conditions for prison inmates.

[Prevalence of asthma and respiratory diseases in schools in Bouake (Ivory Coast): preliminary results]. / Prévalence de l'asthme et des maladies respiratoires en milieu scolaire à Bouake (Côte d'Ivoire): résultats préliminaires.

Using an auto-administered questionnaire, a cluster sample survey was carried out in January 1990 among 2433 secondary schoolchildren in Bouake (Cote d'Ivoire). The prevalence rate of asthma was fairly high (10.8%), as well as that of wheezing (19.8%), dyspnea (42.8%), broncho-pulmonary diseases (25.8%) and smoking habit (14.5%). The results are discussed with regard to the published data.

[Hepatic manifestations in typhoid fever (author's transl)]. / Atteintes hépatiques au cours de la fièvre typhoïde.

Typhoid fever is always endemic in Ivory Coast. Among the various visceral injuries able to arrive during the course of the illness, a study of hepatic manifestations realized in 279 patients show, by the realization of systematic LBP, that, beside clinically and/or biologically certain forms, an hepatic injury is histologically constant. Aetiological, clinical, biological, diagnostic and therapeutic particularities connected with the hepatic localizations are considered and compared with findings of other authors. To remark, in Ivory Coast, on one hand the great predominance of Eberth bacillus aetiology, on the other hand the lack of statistically significative relation with drepanocytary waste. The pathogenic signification of the constancy of the hepatic injury and its peculiar histological pattern of non specific reactive hepatitis is discussed.