Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in Wardha district of Maharashtra, Central India.

A house based survey was conducted during 2007-2009 in a representative sample of population in Wardha district implementing Directly Observed Treatment Short Course strategy for tuberculosis (TB) control since 2001. The objective was to estimate prevalence of bacillary pulmonary TB (PTB) in individuals aged 15 years or above, and to estimate trends in prevalence when compared to a previous survey carried out in mid 1980's. Two sputum samples (one spot, one early morning) collected from individuals having symptoms suggestive of PTB, history of previous anti-TB treatment (ATT) or abnormal pulmonary shadow on Mass Miniature Radiography (MMR) consistent with possibly or probably active tuberculosis were subjected to Ziehl-Neelsen microscopy and culture on Lowenstein-Jensen medium.

Hirayama disease.

A 17-year-old male, who gave up his favorite sport cricket and started playing football, presented with one-year history of slowly progressive atrophic weakness of forearms and hands. Neurological examination showed weak and wasted arms, forearms and hand but no evidence of pyramidal tract, spinothalmic tract and posterior column lesions. Plain cervical spine radiographs showed no abnormal findings.