Tropical treatment of new world cutaneous leishmaniasis in Belize: a clinical study

BACKGROUND: Many studies have been performed during the past decade to find an effective topical therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of paromomycin ointment (P-ointment) containing 15 percent paromomycin sulfate and 12 percent methylbenzethonium chloride on Belizean patients with New World CL. METHODS: Fifty-three patients were treated twice daily for 14 to 21 days with P-ointment. RESULTS: Sixty-eight percent of the patients healed, 6 percent had a delayed cure, and 26 percent did not respond. No toxic effects from the ointment were observed. CONCLUSION: Topical paromomycin is as efficacious in the treatment of New World CL as other currently accepted modalities that are potentially more toxic (AU)

The social nexus of ganja in Jamaica

The contemporary behavior and values associated with cannabis use among the working-class population of Jamaica is considered as an institution. Preceding the main discussion, brief summaries of the East Indian paternity of the complex as well as the extent of current cannabis use are presented. Substantive sections are organized around 3 principal themes: patterns of activities related to cannabis (cultivation, distribution, and consumption); social groupings of cannabis users (as related to specific activities and to age factors); beliefs and values underlying the cannabis institution (variations related to different modes of consumption, cannabis as energizer, and "the motivational syndrome"). A final section considers cannabis use as a social class marker; cannabis and social mobility; and stereotypes and misconceptions about cannabis reportedly held by the socially superordinate sections of Jamaican society. (AU)