Paediatricians' perspectives on global health priorities for newborn care in a developing country: a national survey from Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: An understanding of the perception of paediatricians as key stakeholders in child healthcare delivery and the degree of congruence with current investment priorities is crucial in accelerating progress towards the attainment of global targets for child survival and overall health in developing countries. This study therefore elicited the views of paediatricians on current global priorities for newborn health in Nigeria as possible guide for policy makers. METHODS: Paediatric consultants and residents in the country were surveyed nationally between February and March 2011 using a questionnaire requiring the ranking of nine prominent and other neonatal conditions based separately on hospital admissions, mortality, morbidity and disability as well as based on all health indices in order of importance or disease burden. Responses were analysed with Friedman test and differences between subgroups of respondents with Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: Valid responses were received from 152 (65.8%) of 231 eligible physicians. Preterm birth/low birthweight ranked highest by all measures except for birth asphyxia which ranked highest for disability. Neonatal jaundice ranked next to sepsis by all measures except for disability and above tetanus except mortality. Preterm birth/low birthweight, birth asphyxia, sepsis, jaundice and meningitis ranked highest by composite measures while jaundice had comparable rating with sepsis. Birth trauma was most frequently cited under other unspecified conditions. There were no significant differences in ranking between consultants and residents except for birth asphyxia in relation to hospital admissions and morbidity as well as sepsis and tetanus in relation to mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Current global priorities for neonatal survival in Nigeria largely accord with paediatricians' views except for neonatal jaundice which is commonly subsumed under "other" or "miscellaneous" neonatal conditions. While the importance of these priority conditions extends beyond mortality thus suggesting the need for a broader conceptualisation of newborn health to reflect the current realities, paediatricians should be actively engaged in advancing the attainment of global priorities for child survival and health in this population.

Patched mutations and hairy skin patches: a new sign in Gorlin syndrome.

We report on the occurrence of discrete patches of unusually long pigmented hair on the skin of three patients with Gorlin syndrome from two unrelated families with confirmed heterozygous mutations in the Patched (PTCH) gene. The PTCH protein is a negative regulator of Hedgehog signaling, and the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH)-PTCH pathway is known to play an important role in the formation and cycling of the hair follicle. We believe that the patches represent a genuine physical sign associated with Gorlin syndrome, and discuss molecular mechanisms by which they might arise.

Influenza A community-acquired pneumonia in East London infants and young children.

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is common in young children, but there are few data in Europe on influenza A virus as a cause of childhood CAP. The aim of this study was to determine the relative contributions of different etiologic agents to CAP in children. METHODS: This was a 6-month prospective study of pediatric accident and emergency and general practice consultations with a diagnosis of CAP. Nasopharyngeal aspirates for viral immunofluorescence and PCR studies and blood cultures for bacterial studies were taken from 51 children with symptoms, signs and chest radiographic features that satisfied a diagnosis of pneumonia. RESULTS: An etiologic agent was isolated from 25 patients (49%). A viral cause was identified in 22 patients (43%), and influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were detected in 16 and 18% of all cases, respectively. Only four patients (8%) had a positive bacterial blood culture; three had Streptococcus pneumoniae and one had Neisseria meningitidis W135. Mycoplasma pneumoniae was detected in 2 children, and mixed infections were detected in 5 (10%). The use of viral PCR increased the detection rate of influenza A virus by 100%. CONCLUSION: Influenza A virus caused more than one-third of all viral CAP cases, a rate comparable with that of RSV CAP. Viral PCR doubled the diagnostic yield of influenza A virus. The clinical burden of influenza A CAP was comparable with that of RSV CAP, as measured by the duration of fever, hospital stay and total duration of illness.