The microbiology of diseases in Jamaican children

ABSTRACT

The pattern of microbial diseases in Jamaican children is reviewed on the basis of specimens received at the Microbiology Department of the University of the West Indies. Data of infant morbidity and mortality in Jamaica in previous years leads one to speculate that suitable immunizations may have prevented much of this illness. Enteric organisms of the Salmonella, Shigella and Pathogenic Bacterium coli groups were frequently isolated from children with diarrhoea who were under two years of age. Typhoid fever was comparatively rare. Hemophilus infleunza type b still remains the commonest cause of bacterial meningitis. Corynebacterium diphtheria gravis has replaced the intermedius type as the species prevalent in nosapharyngeal diphtheria. Eleven viruses were isolated from one hundred and three specimens received from children. These were identical as poliomyelitis virus in seven cases, herpes simplex virus in two, coxsackie virus in one and chicken pox virus in another. In a study of gastroenteritis, twenty-two of forty-five pools of six rectal swabs each, showed cytopathological changes in human thyroid while thirteen control pools proved to be negative. The predominant parasites found in children were Ascaris, Trichuris, Hookworm and Giardia lambia. The incidence was significantly higher in rural areas (AU)