The long-term outcomes of a cohort of Sri Lankan patients with ulcerative colitis: a retrospective study at two national referral centers and review of literature.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease, especially ulcerative colitis, is increasing in many "non-Western" countries, including Sri Lanka. The aim was to evaluate long-term outcomes of ulcerative colitis in a Sri Lankan population.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the gastroenterology clinics of the Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama and the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo; the two major referral centers for ulcerative colitis.

Clinically helpful rickettsial disease diagnostic IgG titers in relation to duration of illness in an endemic setting in Sri Lanka.

Background: Although an initial IFA-IgG titer greater or equal to 1/64 or 1/128 is considered positive in presumptive diagnosis, in clinical practice in an endemic setting for rickettsioses in Sri Lanka, some patients with IFA-IgG titer of 1/128 for either spotted fever group (SFG) or scrub typhus (ST) did not respond to treatment.

Findings: To determine a clinically helpful diagnostic algorithm, IFA-IgG results of serologically confirmed treatment responders were analyzed in relation to duration of illness at sampling. Of 146 suspected SFG, 3 responders of 25 patients had titers ≤1/128 with < 7 days of illness while all 9 with titers ≥1/256 responded (false negative with 1/256 cutoff was 12%, false positive was 0%).