Rubella immunity status in a pregnant population in Trinidad - abstract

The purpose of this project is to study rubella immunity percentage in one hundred pregnant women and to try to get some guidance as to the necessity for an effective rubella vacination programme. Excluded from the study were women who were vaccinated against rubella and women who had had recent rubella and requested a termination of pregnancy. The method used to determine the rubella immunity was the rubella test which is a complement fixation method. Of the 100 patients studied, 51 percent were in the age group 15 to 25, 36 percent in the 25-35-age group and 13 percent in the 35-year group and over. Fifty-three per cent of the patients showed immunity and 47 percent were non-immune. A survey done in Trinidad in 1969 showed that 75 percent of women 15 to 30 years of age were non-immune and 60 percent of 15-year-olds and over were not immune. A W.H.O. collaborative study showed rubella positive percentage to be low in Trinidad and other islands. It had been previously proposed that a certain minimum population density is necessary to maintain the disease in epidemic form. Theoretically, the minimal levels is not reached on the island, and the disease must be periodically introduced from mainland areas. Although the rubella immunity rate has increased over the years, the authors feel that a 53 percent immunity rate is still low and, coupled with the increasing numbers of rubella syndrome babies being born at Mount Hope, we recommend that a more intensive programe of vaccination be instituted. Rubella reinfection after vaccination has been demonstrated. However, 85 percent of vaccinated patients may be sero-positive after 5 years (AU)

The Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC)

The Caribbean Epidemiology Centre began operating on 1 January 1975 under the adminstrative management of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) at the request of the Caribbean Health Ministers' Conference held in the Bahamas in 1974. This presentation outlines the events leading to formation of the Centre and describes its structure, objectives, and development from January 1975 through 1978 (AU)

Lead absorption in a community of potters in Barbados

In a community of potters in Barbados where lead glazes traditionally have been used, a survey of 12 potters, 19 of their family members, and 24 controls revealed elevated blood lead levels in the potters, their family members, and the neighbours who used pottery for culinary purposes. Dust from the potters' homes and work areas contained lead in concentrations up tp 320,000 ppm. Pottery was found to have lead release levels up to 3,125 microgram/ml. Six people had upper extremity tremor associated with elevated blood lead levels. This survey demonstrates the risk of using lead glazes in pottery production to family members of potters as well as the potters themselves and emphasizes the need for surveillance of occupational hazards in developing countries. (AU)

Fatal parathion poisoning caused by contamination of flour in international commerce

In January 1976, 79 persons in Jamaica were acutely poisoned by the organophosphorous insecticide parathion. Seventeen died. Cases occurred in three episodes at separate locations, but all patients had consumed wheat flour from a single lot consisting of 5264 cotton bags. Parathion in concentrations of <1 to 9900 ppm was identified in flour from six bags in this lot: three had splash marks. The flour had been milled in Wertern Europe from European wheat, carried in trucks to a dockside warehouse, and loaded aboard ship after 2-5 days' storage. In Jamaica, the flour had moved from quayside to outbreak locations along separate routes through two import houses. Site inspections and review of shipping records suggested that the likely point of contamination was the European port, where foodstuffs and insectisides were stored in the same warehouse (AU)

Child welfare in a rural community

A low cost health education programme was described and the impact of the programme on the public and the staff described (AU)