Fanconi's aplastic anaemia in two sisters in Trinidad and Tobago

This report describes two cases of Fanconi's anaemia in Trinidadian sisters of East Indian origin. The cases have been confirmed by chromosomal analysis which showed increased breaks and ring forms. Anorexia was a persistent finding in both cases. One of the sisters also had a poor growth hormone response. (AU)

Relations entre diarrhee a rotavirus et contenu energetique de l'alimentation dans un groupe d'enfants jamaicains d'age prescolaire: une etude prospective / Relations between rotavirus diarrhea and food energy content in a group of Jamaican children of pre-school age: a prospective study

The cancerous role of frequent infections, particularly intestinal ones, on the growth of the child, has already been noted by several authors. Therefore, with acute diarrhea, the convergence of factors as varied as anorexia, accrued loss of nutrients, or familiar dietary habits all alter the nutritional state of the child. On the other hand, it seems that the part played by each one of these factors varies according to the type of diarrhea. Therefore, it has been suggested that with acute rotavirus diarrhea, refusal of food was responsible for the reduction of food consumption, rather than dietary "taboos", and children who were breastfed had a higher energy consumption level then those who were not breastfed. Therefore, the objective of this work is to study the relations between energy consumption in Jamaican preschoolers and the presence of rotavirus diarrhea.(AU)

Preliminary report on clinical trials of hycanthone in s. mansoni infections - abstract

Hycanthone, a therapeutically active metabolite of lucanthone, was identified in 1965. In experimental schistosoma infections it was found to be three times as active as lucanthone in mice and ten times as active in hamsters. A single intramuscular dose was found to be as effective as a 5 day oral regimen. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the chemotherapeutic effect of hycanthone administered parenterally in patients infected with s. mansoni. All patients were admitted to the hospital ward for treatment. S.mansoni eggs in fecal specimens were counted by the filtration-staining technique. Three stool specimens were examined before treatment and at each follow-up visit. At the time of abstract preparation, sixty-one patients have been treated with intramuscular hycanthone at a dose level of 3mg/kg. Thirty-three (54 percent) of these had vomiting as the major side effect. Other side effects included anorexia, nausea and abdominal pain. For the most part side effects did not last beyond 24 hours. Thirty four patients have been seen at 6 weeks follow up examination. Seventeen (50 percent) have no eggs in three specimens. In those who are still excreting eggs, the average percent reduction in egg excretion is 97.92 percent. Of those not excreting eggs at six weeks eight (47 percent) had an initial egg count of less than 50 eggs/gm faeces; five (29.4 percent) of those still excreting eggs had initial egg counts of less than 50. The mean reduction in egg excretion for the entire group is 98.96 percent (AU)

Pernicious anaemia in Jamaica

Clinical and laboratory details are given on 10 negro patients with pernicious anaemia admitted to the University College Hospital in Jamaica in the 30 months from January, 1958, to June, 1960. All showed the usual clinical and laboratory features of pernicious anaemia; and in the patients on whom these tests were carried out the Schilling test and gastric biopsy findings were characteristic. Anorexia and loss of weight were conspicuous features. It is thought that the rarity of this disease in the negro has been overemphasized and that hospital statitics may be misleading in this respect. The literature on pernicious anaemia in other parts of the tropics is briefly reviewed. There is evidence that, in addition to the basic gastric lesion, dietary and economic factors may play a part in the genesis of the disease (AU)