A morpho-etiological description of congenital limb anomalies.

BACKGROUND: Limb anomalies rank behind congenital heart disease as the most common birth defects observed in infants. More than 50 classifications for limb anomalies based on morphology and osseous anatomy have been drafted over the past 150 years. The present work aims to provide a concise summary of the most common congenital limb anomalies on a morpho-etiological basis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a retrospective study, 70 newborns with anomalies of the upper and/or lower limbs were ascertained through clinical examination, chromosomal analysis, skeletal surveys and other relevant investigations. RESULTS: Fetal causes of limb anomalies represented 55.8% of the cases in the form of 9 cases (12.9%) with chromosomal aberrations (trisomy 13, 18 and 21, duplication 13q and deletion 22q) and 30 cases (42.9%) with single gene disorders. An environmental etiology for limb anomalies was diagnosed in 11 cases (15.7%) as amniotic band disruption, monozygotic twin with abnormal circulation, vascular disruption (Poland sequence, sirenomelia and general vascular disruption) and an infant with a diabetic mother. Twenty cases (28.5%) had limb anomalies as part of sporadic syndromes of unknown etiology. CONCLUSIONS: The morpho-etiological work-up of limb anomalies adopted in the present study is valuable for detecting the cause of the anomaly and is crucial for its prevention. Prevention can be achieved by proper genetic counseling, which includes recurrence risk estimation and prenatal diagnosis.

Avian infectious laryngo-tracheitis in Egypt. I. Epidemiology, virus isolation and identification.

Serious outbreaks of haemorrhagic tracheitis in poultry induced by infectious laryngo-tracheitis virus (ILTV) have been recorded in Egypt for the first time. The disease occurred in different localities during late 1982 and early 1983. The associated drop in egg production ranged between 5% and 35% and there was a mortality rate which ranged from 0.05% to 19.8%. The causal virus was isolated on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of developing chicken embryos where it induced large yellowish-white pock lesions, 3-4 mm in diameter, by the fifth or sixth day post-inoculation. It was non-lethal to the inoculated embryos. It grew also with cytopathic effect (CPE) on the CER cell line. The CPE was characterized by syncytial formation and intranuclear inclusions. Chickens experimentally inoculated with the virus developed respiratory signs and 14 of 20 birds died with subsequent virus re-isolation. The isolated virus was unable to agglutinate chicken red cells and it was precipitated and partially neutralized by reference serum to ILTV. Viral antigen was detected by the indirect fluorescent antibody technique in tracheal smears obtained from naturally and experimentally infected birds. This is the first report of the isolation of ILTV in Egypt.