[Epidemiologic aspects of acute respiratory infections in children less than 6 months of age through a retrospective study in Algiers--Algeria]. / Aspects épidémiologiques des infections respiratoires aiguës chez des enfants de moins de 6 ans à travers une étude rétrospective à Alger--Algerie.

Personal medical files of 874 children from 0 to 4 years old monitored in a Maternal and Child Health Center were reviewed. Acute respiratory infections (ARI) represent about 37% of the total of these outpatients. Annual frequent occurrence of ARI has been estimated at 2.13 per child/per annum among babies less than 1 year old, and diminishes regularly with age to reach 0.74 per child/per annum in the age group 3-4 years. ARI were a motive for medical advice more frequent among boys than girls (p less than 0.01). Distribution of ARI according to their level shows that ARI above glottis represent 46% of total ARI, this percentage increasing with age. Approximately 63% of these ARI were treated by antibiotics.

[Acute respiratory infections of viral origin in the children of Algiers, Algeria based on a seroepidemiological study]. / Les infections respiratoires aiguës d'origine virale chez les enfants à Alger--Algérie, à travers une étude séro-épidémiologique.

401 double serum samples from 0 to 14 year old children with acute respiratory diseases (ARD) were analysed in view to establish the viral etiology. 198 (49.4%) out of the 401 were positive. The syncytial respiratory virus (SRV) was the most frequent (29.8%) among the positives, followed by the parainfluenzae virus type 3 (24.7), the influenza A virus (23.7%), the parainfluenzae type 1 (8.5%), the influenza B (7%) and the parainfluenza type 2 (2%). Seven samples out of 109 were positive for adenovirus. The SRV infections were very frequent before one year of age and after six. The parainfluenza virus type 3 was found mostly during the second year of life and was different in this from the types 1 and 2 prevalent after the age of six. The SRV is responsible for subglottic ARD (73%), as well as the parainfluenza virus type 3 (68.5%), the influenza virus types A (69%) and B (61.5%). On the contrary, the parainfluenza viruses types 1 (70%) and 2 (67%) attacked especially the upper respiratory tract. Studies were also worked out on the effects of season, sex, antibiotherapy, as well as on the viruses most incriminated in hospitalization.

Diarrhoea control: the experience of a health team in a primary care unit, Algeria.

PIP: This article reports the experiences of a primary health care unit located in Algeria's Zeralda district in the control of diarrhea. Curative and preventive care is provided to the adult and child populations of the district by a medical and paramedical team. The overall goal of the diarrheal control program, initiated in 1980, is to combat mortality from diarrhea in children under 2 years of age. Intermediate goals include improvement of care provided to infants with diarrhea, early hospitalization of cases of diarrhea, improvement of contacts between the primary care unit and the hospital, and prevention of diarrhea. Children in the target group are located through use of a register of children living in the district, and their families are sent cards containing information on diarrhea and its control. Children are followed from the 1st day of consultation for diarrhea until the 30th day after the episode. Record keeping and careful follow-up are stressed. In 1983, 335 children 18 months of age or younger (47% of the target population) consulted health structures in Zeralda for diarrhea. About 1/3 of children fail to return for follow-up visits. This is attributed both to long waits in the clinic and the fact that children are usually cured by the time of this visit. The number of children hospitalized for acute dehydration has declined from 33 in 1980 to 18 in 1983; the number of deaths from dehydration declined from 16 to 8 in this same period.^ieng