Childhood burns at the Paediatric Institute Kuala Lumpur

A prospective study of 94 burned children was carried out from January 1993 to October 1994. Scalding was the predominant cause of injury affecting mainly toddlers between 1 and 3 years old. Ninety-six per cent of the injuries occurred at home. There was 1 death following an 81% flame burns. An intense campaign to make parents aware of the hazards is required as almost all the injuries were preventable.

Glaucoma screening

National screening programmes probably cannot be justified at present given difficulties with test validity, manpower, and some doubts about the natural history of the disease. The opportunity cost could be prohibitive, especially when resources are badly needed in other areas of ophthalmology, such as cataract programmes, diabetic retinopathy, and low vision services. The situation could change with an improved test with greater validity for primary screening and such tests are currently under investigation. The results of these investigations will not be available for at least three years. Screening for eye disease at the primary care level begs questions about manpower which need to be answered not just for glaucoma screening but also for detection of diabetic retinopathy and visual impairment in the elderly. A new cadre of ophthalmic paramedics as is already in wide use in some developing countries, who amalgamate the skills of optometrist, orthoptist, and eye trained nurse, is an interesting possibility. Meanwhile, much has to be done to improve current case finding with agreed standards of examination and referral criteria and special facilities available for those at increased risk.

A Pilot Study into the Prevalence of Ophthalmic Disease in the Indian Population of Southall

A pilot study was carried out to determine the prevalence of ophthalmic disease in the Indian community of Southall and to ascertain the best methods applicable for a larger formal study. Three sites were chosen for the study, a Sikh gurdwara, a mosque and a Hindu temple. The subjects were volunteers aged 30 years and over who had visited the appropriate place of worship at least twice in the previous month. A total of 184 subjects were examined. The prevalence of blindness was 2.7% by the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, while 9.8% had uniocular blindness. The prevalence of glaucoma and ocular hypertension was 2.7% and 7%, respectively. Of the 184 subjects examined, 58% had cataract and 3.8% had age-related maculopathy. The prevalence of visually disabling trachomatous eye disease was 9.7%. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 17.9%, and that of hypertension 22.8%. This small study suggests that people with origins from the Indian subcontinent have a higher prevalence of ophthalmic disease than the Caucasian population.

Studies on biologically active complexes of cobalt(II) and nickel(II) with dithiooxamide-derived ligands

A number of cobalt(II) and nickel(II) complexes with novel dithiooxamide ligands derived from precursors such as benzonitrile, benzosulfonamide, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, and phenol have been synthesized and characterized on the basis of their elemental analysis molar conductance, magnetic moment, H NMR and electronic and IR spectral data. These ligands and their complexes have been screened for their antibacterial activities against bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Tuberculi bacilli. The studies indicate that in comparison to the ligands their metal complexes are more potent and antibacterial.

An outbreak of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis in Pakistan

An epidemic of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis occurred at a college in Sargodha, Pakistan in early 1987. There were 133 clinical cases, an attack rate of approximately 20%. Though the disease was relatively mild, all clinical cases required hospitalization and prolonged convalescence. Nearly all cases were associated with a single water source. The epidemic ended when the water supply was improved. This is the 4th described epidemic of non-A, non-B hepatitis in Pakistan.

Health status of school age children employed in carpet weaving in Ganderbal Block

In a health and morbidity screening among 500 carpet weaving children and 450 children attending school selected at random in a rural field practice area the age group studied was from 6 to 16. Each child was thoroughly interviewed and examined for any deviation from health. The height and weight were taken by standard procedures and clinical assessment of morbidity and nutritional status was also observed. The results showed that the heights and weights of schoolchildren were greater than those of the carpet weaving children in both boys and girls. Clinically, 56% of the schoolchildren as against 41.6% of carpet weaving children had no nutritional defects. The main complaints in the carpet weaving children were in order of descent, headache, blurring of vision, backache, abdominal pain, limb pains, and respiratory tract infection. Both groups of children were later followed up for six months from September 1981 to March 1982. The incidence of subjective and objective deviations from health were higher in the carpet weaving than in the schoolchildren and the first ten major complaints in the carpet weaving children were respiratory tract infection, headache, backache, pain in the abdomen, injuries (major and minor), joint pains, diarrhoea and dysentery, fever of unknown origin, dermatitis, and chilblains.