Epidemic acute nephritis in South Trinidad

ABSTRACT

Two hundred and ninety-seven patients were admitted to the San Fernando General Hospital with acute glomerulonephritis from September 1964 to February 1965. Only a small number of the patients gave a history of sore throat and many patients had septic skin lesions one to four weeks before the onset of oedema, the presenting symptom in all the cases. Children between the ages of 3 and 9 years were most commonly affected. There were 46 children under the age of 3 years. 57 percent of the patients were male. The concentration of cases occurred in the rural areas within a radius of 10 miles from San Fernando, and 76 percent of the patients were Indians. Group A beta Haemolytic streptococci were isolated from the skin and throat of a representative sample of nephritic patients. A pilot streptococcal survey was also conducted among normal school-children in both "nephritic" and "non-nephritic" districts. 66 percent of 50 normal children selected at random from the three schools in Dede (nephritic district) had Group A beta haemolytic streptococci either in the throat or skin. 44 percent of 50 normal school-children from the two school in Tortuga (non-nephritic) had Group A beta haemolytic streptococci. The epidemic is on the wane. The present epidemic was compared with the 1958-1959 epidemic of acute nephritis in South Trinidad (AU)