scholarly journals Emergence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kishor Pandey ◽  
Anup Bastola ◽  
Gong Haiyan ◽  
Uttam Raj Pyakurel ◽  
Basu Dev Pandey ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in 70 countries worldwide. Nepal is considered non-endemic for CL and hence the control program is targeted to visceral leishmaniasis (VL) only. Here, we report the emergence of CL cases in different parts of Nepal. Methods We analyzed the CL and VL cases reported to Epidemiology and Diseases Control Division (EDCD), Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal through District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) and Early Warning and Reporting System (EWRS) during the past 4 years (2016–2019). Any laboratory-confirmed case was included in the study. Demographic and clinical details of each patient were transcribed into Excel sheets, verified with the case report forms and analyzed. Results VL has been reported in Nepal since 1980, but CL was reported very recently. From 2016 to 2019, 42 CL cases were reported from 26 different hospitals to EDCD which had been diagnosed on the basis of clinical presentation, and laboratory findings (demonstration of amastigotes in Giemsa-stained smears and rK39 test results). Majority of the patients (31.0%, 13/42) visited to the hospital within 1–6 months of onset of lesions. Facial region (38.1%, 16/42) was the common place where lesions were found ompared to other exposed parts of the body. CL was successfully treated with miltefosine for 28 days. The majority of CL patients did not have history of travel outside the endemic areas and there was no report of sandfly from these areas. Conclusion These evidences highlight that the Government of Nepal need to pay more efforts on CL and include it in differential diagnosis by clinicians, and plan for an active surveillance when the country is targeting leishmaniasis elimination by the year 2025 with the decreasing number of VL cases.

1940 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivan A. Peterson

The body of law dealing with discipline, polity, and sacramental administration which has grown up in the history of the church is ordinarily styled Canon Law (jus canonicum), because it is a collection of canons. Canon (derived from the Greek kanon) means a rule, in a material and moral sense. Its original meaning was a straight rod. In apostolic times it signified the truth of Christianity as an authoritative standard of life and a statement of doctrine in general. It is, therefore, easy to understand how the word kanon later came to mean the ecclesiastical legislation which governed the conduct of the faithful. The excellent definition given by Archbishop Cicognani. states that “The Canon Law may be denned as ‘the body of laws made by the lawful ecclesiastical authority for the government of the Church’.”


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 800-804
Author(s):  
John H. Fuerth ◽  
Paul Teng ◽  
Erwin Goldenberg

THE UNUSUAL bleeding tendency in hemophiliacs has been known since biblical times, and its hazards have been recognized in even such simple surgical procedures as circumcision.1 Perhaps the most dangerous complication of hemophilia is bleeding into the central nervous system.2 It therefore seems worthwhile to report the case of a 2-year-old hemophiliac who survived several intracranial hemorrhages, with two surgical interventions, but who 4 months later had a fourth and fatal hemorrhage. CASE REPORT History D. H. was a 2-year-old hemophiliac with numerous admissions to the Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles, for bleeding episodes. He was born at another hospital, was circumcised shortly after birth and had excessive bleeding following this. His first admission was at the age of 1 year for bleeding following a tongue bite. At that time he had an abnormal result of a prothrombin consumption test, with 55% residual prothrombin in the serum. The prothrombin consumption was corrected by fresh normal plasma and barium sulfate adsorbed plasma, but not by serum or plasma from a known hemophiliac type A. The diagnosis of hemophilia type A was thus established. He had two brothers who were investigated and found to be normal. There was no abnormal bleeding tendency on his father's side, but two uncles of his mother and two first cousins were said to be "bleeders." No further details were known. Physical and Laboratory Findings The boy was admitted to the hospital on the evening of October 13, 1957, with a history of vomiting and progressive lethargy of 2 days' duration.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shima Salehi ◽  
Rozita Hosseini Shamsabadi ◽  
Hassan Otukesh ◽  
Reza Shiari ◽  
Monir Sharafi

Abstract Background: Lupus is an inflammatory and autoimmune disease that involves various tissues and organs of the body. Identification of diagnostic elements to rapid identification of seronegative lupus cases is very important in order to prevent morbidity and progression of disease. This study aimed to compare clinical and laboratory findings of seropositive cases with seronegative lupus patients. Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study was performed on 43 children (17 seronegative and 26 seropositive) with lupus who were admitted to Ali Asghar Hospital during 2007-2017. Seropositive patients had anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titration >1/80, while seronegative patients had ANA titration <1/80 (at the time of disease diagnosis). Clinical and laboratory findings were compared between two groups.Results: Serositis in patients with ANA- was significantly higher than ANA+ (41.17% vs. 23.07%; p = 0.042). ANA- group had higher autoimmune disease history than ANA+ group (42.85% vs. 15.0%; p = 0.041). The family history of the disease in the ANA- group was greater than ANA+ group (50% vs. 23.52%). The percentage of hypertensive patients in ANA- group was higher than ANA+ group (52.94% vs. 26.92%; p = 0.037). Neurologic symptoms in ANA+ and ANA- groups were 38.46% and 17.64%, respectively (p = 0.043). The frequency of patients with thrombocytopenia in ANA+ group was significantly greater than ANA- group (32% vs. 12.5%; p=0.041). There was no significant difference in other clinical and laboratory findings between two groups. Conclusion: Seronegative lupus patients had higher percentage of musculoskeletal symptoms, autoimmune disease history, familial history of disease, and hypertension, while neurological and thrombocytopenia symptoms were higher in seropositive patients compared to seronegative cases. Therefore, evaluation of these factors can be helpful to diagnosis of seronegative patients.


Author(s):  
Simukai Chigudu

Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic of 2008/09 is almost unrivalled, in scale and lethality, in the modern history of the disease. The disease infected nearly 100,000 people, claiming over 4000 lives over a ten-month period. This chapter examines the political and economic origins of the outbreak and analyses some of the meanings, memories, and narratives that the outbreak has left in civic life. It makes three key arguments. First, it contends that the origins, scale, and impact of the cholera outbreak were overdetermined by a multilevel failure of Zimbabwe’s public health system, itself a consequence of the country’s post-2000 political conflicts and economic crisis. Second, by recounting stories of the relentless suffering and dispossession that accompanied the cholera outbreak the chapter reveals how the disease mapped onto and exacerbated the contours of abandonment, abjection, and exclusion within Zimbabwean society. Third, the chapter ultimately argues that cholera emerged from prolonged and multiscalar political-economic processes for which no short-term or easy solutions are available. While the outbreak aroused public anger and outrage at the government for its causal role in the epidemic and the inadequacy of its relief efforts, this anger did not translate into any effective political mobilization or permanent change. Thus, the politics of cholera, in its making and aftermath, show the grim and profound consequences of state transformation for public health and for notions of belonging in the body politic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsuko Yamaguchi ◽  
Keisuke Furumitsu ◽  
Jennifer Wyffels

Batoids comprise five of the seven most threatened families of sharks and rays. The East Asian endemic Naru eagle ray Aetobatus narutobiei is a large bodied ray whose estuarine habitat overlaps with an economically valuable bivalve fishery. In response to decreased bivalve yields, the government initiated a predator control program and as a result, Naru eagle rays have faced intense and targeted fishing pressure during the last two decades. The long-term impacts of the predator control program on the population of rays and bivalves and their balance in the ecosystem are unknown because the life history of the Naru eagle ray has not been characterized. To begin to fill these critical knowledge gaps, the reproductive life history of the Naru eagle was described. Females mature at a larger size than males and require nearly twice as many years to reach maturity (DW50, 952.0 mm vs. 764.2 mm; Age50, 6.0 years vs. 3.5 years). Both males and females reproduce annually and their reproductive cycles are synchronized and seasonal. Females have a single ovary and paired uteri, are viviparous, and reproduce via matrotrophic histotrophy. Mating occurs in August and September and gestation lasts approximately 12 months including a 9.5-month diapause that begins soon after mating and ends in June of the following year, leaving 2.5 months for embryos to complete development. Fecundity ranged from 1 to 7 embryos per brood (n = 158, mean ± SD = 3.36 ± 1.26) and was positively correlated with female disc width (linear regression; F = 105.73, d.f. = 151, P &lt; 0.05). Naru eagle rays are vulnerable to overfishing because of their low fecundity, long reproductive cycle and long time to reach sexual maturity. Obligate embryonic diapause during overwintering and seasonal migrations is a survival strategy that benefits the adults and neonates. This research is a valuable resource to help guide science-based management, conservation and protection of the endemic Asian A. narutobiei and its nursery areas.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (02) ◽  
pp. 119-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhara H Vyas ◽  
Parul D Shah

ABSTRACTVisceral leishmaniasis (VL), though widely prevalent in India, is not seen in the Rajasthan where the dry, hot and arid climatic conditions create a hostile environment for the growth of the parasite or its vector, the sandfly. We present a case of VL in a patient co-infected with HIV from this region. A 34-year-old known case of a HIV-positive patient presented to the skin department of our hospital with multiple, nontender, erythematous, papulonodular lesions all over the body for 6 months with history of weight loss and low-grade fever. Important examination findings were pallor, inguinal lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory findings included anemia, leucopenia, hypergammaglobulinemia and altered leucocytes to erythrocyte ratio. Buffy coat examination and bone marrow aspirates showed the presence of leishman bodies inside monocytes and macrophages respectively as well as extracellularly also. The patient was treated with amphotericin B intravenously and responded well to the treatment.


Author(s):  
Ignacio Ruiz-Arrondo ◽  
José A. Oteo ◽  
Javier Lucientes ◽  
Ana Muniesa ◽  
Ignacio de Blas

Background: Animals and people in many Spanish regions are increasingly being affected by blackfly bites in the last decade. Because of blackflies, the city of Zaragoza has become in recent years a paradigm of discomfort in Europe, with thousands of citizens affected. The OMI-AP system (Stacks, Barcelona, Spain) implemented by the Government of Aragón, a software that manages the electronic medical history of all patients, has been evaluated in order to document the increase of insect bite recorded by the primary care consultations in Zaragoza after the first outbreak of blackflies occurred in 2011. Methods: An observational, ecological and longitudinal study of insect bites recorded at the primary care consultations was carried out in primary care during the period 2009–2015. Results: The incidence of medical consultations by insect bites in Basic Health Areas (BHA) near to rivers is higher than the furthest BHA. Rural BHA are more affected by insect bites than the urban ones. The increase of medical assistance due to insect bites in Zaragoza since 2011 is correlated with the blackflies bites. Conclusions: This tool was very useful to describe the initial stage of this public health problem. It could be used for guiding public health responses in terms of surveillance and management of this pest.


Author(s):  
Henry O. Owuor ◽  
Stephen A. Asito ◽  
Samson O. Adoka

Background: The Government of Kenya introduced the free maternity services (FMS) policy to enable mothers deliver at a health facility and thus improve maternal health indicators.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine if there was a differential effect of the policy by region (sub-county) and by facility type (hospitals vs. primary healthcare facilities [PHCFs]).Setting: The study was conducted in Nyamira County in western Kenya.Methods: This was an interrupted time series study where 42 data sets (24 pre- and 18 post-intervention) were collected for each observation. Monthly data were abstracted from the District Health Information System-2, verified, keyed into and analysed by using IBM-Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-17).Results: The relative effect of the policy on facility deliveries in the county was an increase of 22.5%, significant up to the 12th month (p < 0.05). The effect of the policy on deliveries by region was highest in Nyamira North and Masaba North (p < 0.001 up to the 18th month). The effect was larger (46.5% vs. 18.3%) and lasted longer (18 months vs. 6 months) in the hospitals than in the PHCFs. The increase in hospital deliveries was most significant in Nyamira North (61%; p < 0.001). There was a medium-term effect on hospital deliveries in Borabu (up to 9 months) and an effect that started in the sixth month in Manga. The relative effect of the policy on facility deliveries in PHCFs was only significant in Nyamira North and Masaba North (p < 0.001).Conclusion: The effect of the FMS policy was varied by region (sub-county) and by facility type.


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