[Correlation of diseases and disabilities and allocation and modes of transport among the members of an association of patients with neuromuscular diseases. For the Association Suisse Romande contre la Myopathie].

Seventy-nine patients with various chronic neuromuscular disorders returned a questionnaire. We analyzed the linkage between demographic and socio-economic data, type of disease and disability, and types of transportation used. This study shows that whatever type of disability, all patients attach a significant priority to the use of their private vehicle, and that (i) there is a significant correlation between severity of disability and use of disabled people transportation system but not with revenue nor with type of professional activity, and (ii) satisfaction rate is inversely proportional to severity of disability.

[African human trypanosomiasis: study of a scoring system of presumptive diagnosis in the Congo].

A case-control study was carried out in the Congo to define a scoring system based on a number of clinical and epidemiological criteria of African trypanosomiasis due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense which could be used by peripheral health services to establish a diagnosis. The survey comprised 163 cases and 326 controls. Clinical signs and symptoms were fever, headache, pruritus and skin lesions due to scratching, diarrhoea, oedema, cervical adenopathies, sleep rhythm disturbances, changes in appetite, amenorrhoea or impotence, mental confusion, neurological signs, and other minor clinical disturbances.