RESUMO
So much attention is focused on the current HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa that there is a tendency to overlook the grievous burden of disease from which the peoples of that Continent have suffered for centuries. This paper, based on letters sent in 1953/54 by a young doctor in Sierra Leone to his parents in Scotland, together with extracts from Makeni Hospital records of the same period, provides a factual account of front-line medicine in West Africa half a century ago.
Assuntos
Medicina Tropical/história , Filariose Linfática/história , Feminino , Hérnia/história , Herniorrafia , História do Século XX , Humanos , Hanseníase/história , Malária/história , Masculino , Complicações do Trabalho de Parto/história , Gravidez , Serra Leoa , Varíola/história , Bouba/históriaRESUMO
During 1977 and 1978 an unusual epidemic of measles occurred in Shetland, affecting 1032 (5%) of the population. All age groups were represented, and 309 cases occurred in people over 15. Geographical distribution of notified cases ranged from 1% to over one-third of the population aged under 65. All the recognised complications occurred, with a significant excess of respiratory troubles (p less than 0 . 05). Complications were much less common in female patients (p less than 0 . 05). Only about 30% of children under 5 had been vaccinated against the disease, and, based on a sample population, vaccination was found to have had a protective effect of 92%. On cost effectiveness alone, uptake of vaccination by a community as susceptible as that of Shetland should clearly be encouraged and probably given high priority.
Assuntos
Surtos de Doenças , Sarampo/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Demografia , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , Sarampo/complicações , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Doenças Respiratórias/etiologia , Estudos Retrospectivos , Fatores Sexuais , Reino UnidoRESUMO
In view of the known relation between infection of the maternal circulation of the placenta with Plasmodium falciparum and impaired fetal growth a study was made of the effect on birth weights of a malaria eradication campaign in the British Solomon Islands. Mean birth weights rose substantially within months of starting antimalarial operations. The increases between 1969 and 1971 averaged 252 g in babies of primigravidae and 165 g in all babies. The proportion of babies with birth weights of less than 2,500 g fell by 8% overall and by 20% among babies of primigravidae. The adverse effect of malaria transmission on fetal growth was apparently reversible if transmission of infection in the community was interrupted up to as late as the third trimester of pregnancy. The beneficial effects of malaria eradication operations on infant survival, child development, and social attitudes in developing countries are discussed.
