Coeliac disease in Sudanese children with clinical features suggestive of the disease

Our prospective hospital- based study examined frequency, clinical presentation and serological indicators of coeliac disease that correlated with intestinal biopsy among high- risk Sudanese children. From July 2001 to July 2002, 80 children aged 15 months- 18 years presented with poor appetite, weight loss, pallor and proximal muscle wasting. We diagnosed coeliac disease in 18 [22.5%]. Antigliadin antibodies [AGA- IgG, AGA- IgA or both] were high in 44; endomysial antibody retest was high in 30. Guardians of 12 children refused consent for biopsy. The other 18 were biopsied: 5 had total villous atrophy, 8 subtotal and 5 partial. All improved with gluten- free diet. Degree of villous atrophy did not correlate with diarrhoea duration or severity, anaemia severity or serological titres

Field evaluation of latex agglutination test for detecting urinary antigens in visceral leishmaniasis in Sudan

A latex agglutination test to detect urinary antigens for visceral leishmaniasis [VL] was studied. In 204 patients with suspected VL, KAtex had a sensitivity of 95.2% with good agreement with microscopy smears but poor agreement with 4 different serology tests. It was also positive in 2 confirmed VL cases co-infected with HIV. In all KAtex-positive confirmed cases actively followed up after treatment, the test became negative 1 month after completion of treatment. While KAtex had a specificity of 100% in healthy endemic and non-endemic controls, the direct agglutination test [DAT] was positive in 14% of the KAtex-negative healthy endemic controls. KAtex is a simple addition to the diagnostics of VL particularly at field level and as a complementary test for the diagnosis of VL in smear-negative cases with positive DAT results