Irritable bowel syndrome among patients attending General Outpatients' clinics in Jos, Nigeria.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder in the Western world. Its prevalence is yet to be fully determined in the African setting. This was a cross-sectional study of patients attending three General Outpatient clinics in Jos, Nigeria. Four hundred and eighteen randomly selected patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire based on the Rome II diagnostic criteria for IBS. Excluded from the study were patients with established organic disease, memory problems, and pregnant women. Eighteen patients were excluded based on these criteria and 400 were analysed using Epi Info 2000 (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) statistical computer software. One hundred and thirty-two (33%) out of the 400 patients fulfilled the criteria for the diagnosis of IBS, the female to male ratio being 1.13 : 1. IBS was significantly associated with increasing age (P=0.03) and depression (P<0.001). The prevalence of IBS is high among patients attending primary care in the African setting with depression being the likely reason for seeking care.

Surgical pathology of schistosomiasis.

Schistosomiasis remains an important health problem in many tropical countries and is being seen with increasing frequency in immigrant populations and tourists in developed countries. The pattern of organ involvement and clinical presentation of schistosomiasis in 80 patients (male: female, 9:1) during a five-year period (2001-2005) was examined from archival histopathology records. The urinary bladder was the most common organ affected [50 (62.5%)]. Gastrointestinal, male and female genital schistosomiasis were detected in 12 (15%), eight (10%) and five (6.1%) cases, respectively. Hematuria was the most common presenting symptom [34 (42.5%)], and bladder cancer was the only malignancy found to be associated with the infection. A high clinical index of suspicion usually allows for a preoperative diagnosis where indicated and avoidance of radical surgery. While research for the development of an effective vaccine continues, a plea is made for the expansion of multinational control programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

AIDS mortality in a tertiary health institution: A four-year review.

Africa contains 70% of adults and 80% of children living with AIDS in the world and has buried 75% of the 21.8 million worldwide who have died of AIDS since the epidemic began. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has 5.8% of her adult population having HIV infection at the end of 2003. We reviewed the causes of death among AIDS patients in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano, Nigeria over four years. Four-hundred-fifty-five (9.9%) of the 4,574 adult medical admissions were due to HIV/AIDS-related diagnosis. HIV/AIDS admissions increased progressively from 45 cases in 2001 to 174 in 2004. HIV/AIDS caused 176 deaths over the period giving an HIV-related mortality of 38.7%. This also showed a gradual increase from 24 deaths in 2001 to 61 deaths in 2004. The most common causes of death were tuberculosis (33.4%), septicemia (23.8%), advanced HIV disease (9.1%), meningitis (7.4%), other pulmonary infections (5.1%) and Kaposi's sarcoma (4.5%). The present dismal situation of patients living with HIV/AIDS calls for enhanced strategies to decrease the mortality trend observed. With the introduction of affordable highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in several centers in Nigeria, it is hoped that infected patients can be made to live longer.