Antenatal complications in adolescent mothers aged below 14 years.

Antenatal complications in 340 booked and 710 unbooked adolescent mothers aged 12-14 years were evaluated over a 2-year period at the Specialist Hospital, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Emesis gravidarum was observed in 290 (85.3%) and 612 (86.2%) booked and unbooked mothers, respectively. While 112 (32.9%) booked mothers had malaria, this ailment was observed in 508 (71.5%) of unbooked mothers. Forty-six (13.5%) booked mothers suffered from anaemia as against 483 (68.0%) unbooked patients. It was observed that preeclampsia manifested in 62 (18.2%) booked and 158 (22.2%) unbooked mothers, while eclampsia occurred in 18 (5.3%) and 66 (9.3%) booked and unbooked mothers, respectively. The rates of premature deliveries were 16.20% in booked mothers and 22.82% in the unbooked group. Other notable complications observed in both groups include premature rupture of fetal membranes (PROM), preterm contractions, antepartum haemorrhage, and urinary tract infections. There were slightly higher frequencies of the above complications in 12-year-olds, and these decreased slightly towards the age of 14 years. Nine of the 10 above observed complications occurred more in the lower socioeconomic classes [3-4] than in the upper social economic classes [1-2] in significant proportions.

[A method of determining the sensitivity of urinary microflora to antibacterial drugs]. / Metod opredeleniia chuvstvitel'nosti mikroflory mochi k antibakterial'nym preparatam.

A method has been developed for speedy determination of urinary microflora sensitivity to antibacterial drugs, which differs from other existing techniques by its simplicity and rapid realization. It is based on the capacity of micro-organisms as an aggregate of particles with a refraction coefficient, different from that of the environment, to increase its optic density by multiplication in a liquid nutrient medium in conditions of unlimited nutrition and space. Thus, increased optic density of a urinary specimen with an added antibacterial agent during incubation in a thermostat would indicate an increased count of micro-organism in the medium, i.e. the lack of sensitivity to the antibiotic in question. Optic density being unchanged under such conditions is evidence of the death (lack of growth) of the micro-organism population and, hence, its sensitivity to the anti-bacterial drug being assessed. The ultimate results being obtainable within 2 to 6 hrs and little effort involved are the advantages of this method over conventional techniques of the determination of urinary flora sensitivity to antibacterial drugs that are in current clinical use. Besides, adequate antibacterial treatment can already be initiated within the first day of admission where this test is used.

[A rapid test of urine microflora sensitivity to antibacterial drugs in the treatment of children with nonspecific inflammatory diseases of the kidney and urinary tract]. / Uskorennoe opredelenie chuvstvitel'nosti mikroflory mochi k antibakterial'nym preparatam v lechenii detei s nespetsificheskimi vospalitel'nymi zabolevaniiami pochek i mochevyvodiashchikh putei.

The authors describe their own method for rapid determination of urine microflora sensitivity to antibacterial drugs. The method is based on the capacity of the microorganisms (as a totality of particles with the refractive index different from that of the medium) of increasing the optical density of the medium under the conditions of unlimited resources of the nutrition and space at the expense of reproduction in a liquid culture medium. The lack of the optical density increase in the urine sample after addition to it of a certain amount of antibacterial substances evidences the death of the population of the microorganisms and of its sensitivity to the antibacterial drug under study. The method proposed by the authors was compared to those widely used in clinical practice. With special reference to a concrete patient, the results obtained with the authors' method turned out to correlate with those derived with the use of the conventional methods for urine microflora sensitivity to antibacterial drugs (the disc method and the triphenyltetrazolium chloride test). That the final result of the investigation can be obtained after 2--6 hours and low labour intensivity of the method permit the institution of adequate antibiotic therapy within the first day since the patient's admission to the hospital.