The epidemiology of infant deaths in the Armenian parish records of Lebanon.

It is difficult to study time trends in mortality from most developing countries due to the lack of an appropriate data base. The present investigation is based on data from parish records of the Armenian Apostolic churches in Lebanon. Death and baptismal registers have been regularly maintained in these churches from 1863. Infant deaths were identified in the registers of the 13 churches. Available data on these deaths were abstracted, coded and analysed. Denominators for the different periods of study and for the various churches were calculated from baptismal records. The study shows that there has been a constant drop in the infant deaths over the review period. Infant mortality rates were higher in the parishes located in refugee camp areas. The most important recorded causes of death included diarrhoea and pneumonia. A study of clustering of deaths by time and place revealed a major epidemic of measles with high fatality in 1926. This epidemic had been previously unrecorded. The present study demonstrates the use of non-traditional data sources to assess long-term secular trends of mortality.

Serum immunoglobulin levels in normal children and adults in the Lebanese and other Arab Middle Eastern populations.

Serum immunoglobulin levels were determined in 1000 serum samples of normal middle easterners. Ig levels in mothers at delivery were normal except for a depressed IgG level. In cord blood the level of IgG was higher than its level in mothers, but no IgA or IgD was found. IgD was formed in some instances in the sera of infants in the first week of life. IgG showed a pattern similar to that described by others with the lowest values at 1-2 months, increasing gradually so that by 1-3 years the normal adult blood level is reached. IgA levels continued to increase with age and although no definite explanation is available, it is interesting to speculate on the possible relationship to the increased incidence of intestinal parasitism. IgM showed significant differences between males and females being higher in the latter. IgD levels reached maximum levels by 3-5 years, and mean levels ere lower after the 14th year.

A study of clustering of cases of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas in Bahrain.

One hundred and twenty five cases of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and other lymphomas were compared with 125 matches controls for space, and time and space clustering in the State of Bahrain. These cases and controls were identified from hospital, pathology and death registries over a period of ten years. Thirty-one percent of the cases living in cities had "effective contact' with at least another case compared to 8.7 percent of the city controls, at a distance of "effective contact' equal to or less than 100 meters. no differences were observed as to the number of "effective contacts' between the cases and controls residing in the villages. When the combined data from the villages and urban areas were analyzed using two different methods, no significant clustering could be reported. Although space clustering in the urban areas is attributed to a hypothesized transmissible or exposure factor, the possibility that such clustering is due to some common characteristics of the persons with these conditions has to be considered.