Initial management of an outbreak of the HTLV-1 virus in Nunavut, Canada.

Background: HTLV-1 is a retrovirus known to be endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa. HTLV-1 infection is rare in Canada. The last known cases prior to the present cluster in Nunavut occurred in 1993, when three Aboriginal patients with neurological symptoms in British Columbia were found to be infected with HTLV-1.

Respiratory poliomyelitis: a follow-up study.

Data from the medical records of 113 patients living in Manitoba who had contracted respiratory poliomyelitis between 1952 and 1959 were compared with information obtained from interviews with these patients in 1980. The study was designed to determine whether the patients' respiratory function, mobility, ability to perform daily tasks, and employment, residential and marital status had changed between 1 year after the onset of polio and 1980. The patients' dependence on mechanical aids and other people was also studied.

The changing picture of neoplastic disease in the western and central Canadian Arctic (1950-1980).

Data on 239 verified cases of malignant disease diagnosed from January 1950 through December 1980 in 104 male and 135 female Inuit from the western and central Canadian Arctic were reviewed. Tumours of the salivary glands, kidney and nasopharynx were the most frequent between 1950 and 1966, but their frequency declined thereafter. The most frequent tumours in the most recent period studied were lung, cervical and colorectal cancers.

Meningitis in the central Arctic: a 4-year experience.

There were 37 cases of meningitis during a 4-year period among the native and white populations served by the Churchill Health Centre in northern Manitoba, an annual incidence of 128 per 100 000 in the overall population and of 202 per 100 000 among the Inuit. Bacterial meningitis predominated; Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae each accounted for one third of the cases. There were five deaths, and 14 of the survivors had severe sequelae.

Teaching community medicine to undergraduates: the role of student projects.

The community medicine primary care clerkship at the University of Manitoba integrates didactic elements, clinical placements and student projects in teaching community medicine. The clinical clerkship is undertaken in a variety of community settings and emphasizes ambulatory care. The rotation for each student is eight weeks, six of which are spent in the clinical clerkship, bracketed by two weeks of community medicine.