Latex agglutination: an appropriate technology for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in developing countries.

We evaluated prospectively the utility of a latex agglutination technique for the diagnosis of Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis in a paediatric ward in India. Eight of 44 children had H. influenzae grown from cerebrospinal fluid.

Transitional diarrhoea in newborn infants.

A self-limited acute fluid diarrhoea was seen in 80 of 3550 (2.2%) live-born infants not kept in a nursery in this hospital. Rotavirus and enteropathogenic serotypes of E.

The pattern of medical renal disease in children in a south Indian hospital.

A retrospective study of children admitted to a south Indian hospital during an 11 year period showed that 70% of the renal diseases encountered in children in this region are of types which have a good prognosis. Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis was the most common. The relative prevalence of steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome and different histological types of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome was similar to that in developed Western countries.

Efficacy of inactivated poliovirus vaccine in India.

The immunogenic efficacy of inactivated (Salk) poliovirus vaccine (IPV) was evaluated in infants in India, in view of the high frequency of vaccine failure after immunization with oral (Sabin) poliovirus vaccine (OPV). A total of 150 infants, aged 6-45 weeks, were given 3 doses of IPV, with intervals of 4 or 8 weeks between doses. The effect on the antibody response of child's age, presence of maternal antibody before immunization, and interval between doses was assessed.

Outcome of the haemolytic-uraemic syndrome complicating bacillary dysentery.

Seventy-eight children were treated for the haemolytic-uraemic syndrome complicating bacillary dysentery over a ten-year period. Early dialysis favoured survival significantly. The renal status of 22 of the 28 survivors was re-evaluated 18-84 months after initial hospitalization.

Essential athrombia. A report on 4 cases from South India.

Four cases of essential athrombia have been diagnosed in the 14 year period from June, 1966 to June, 1980 at the Coagulation Laboratory of the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore. All cases fit Inceman's description of the original case and fulfill the diagnostic criteria of prolonged bleeding time, decreased platelet aggregation, normal platelet count, normal morphology and normal clot retraction. No cases have been reported from India in the past 15 years.

Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. A review and report of 42 cases from South India.

In the 14 year period from June, 1966 to June, 1980, 42 cases of Glanzmann's thrombasthenia have been diagnosed, all fulfilling the criteria of prolonged bleeding time, with normal venous platelet count, defective clot retraction and decreased platelet aggregation, associated with a lifelong bleeding tendency. Few cases have been reported from India though it is the fourth most common congenital bleeding disorder among the patients seen at the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore. The large number of such cases found in South India as compared with reports from other parts of the world may be due to the high degree of consanguinity which is part of the accepted culture in this area.

Cystic fibrosis in South India.

Cystic fibrosis has been diagnosed during life in three South Indian infants on the basis of characteristic clinical features and a positive sweat test. The patients were respectively 81 days, 23 days and 6 months old. All three presented with the rare characteristic triad of gross oedema, hypoproteinaemia and moderate to severe anaemia; it is described for the first time from South India.

Fetal growth and parental consanguinity.

Anthropometric measurements made on 322 newborn infants in South India were related to parental consanguinity. Uncle-niece and first-cousin marriages were common and the average coefficient of inbreeding was as high as 0·0329. The measurements (weight, length, head circumference, and triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses) of the uncle-niece groups (52 infants) were smaller than those of the first-cousin group (61 infants) which in turn were smaller than the nonconsanguineous group (196 infants).

Maternal and fetal nutrition in south India.

The relation between the nutrition of the mother and that of her baby was assessed in a south Indian community where malnutrition is common and women do not smoke. Unselected mothers and their infants of over 37 weeks' gestation were studied in two groups: those who paid for their care (150) and a poorer group who did not (172). There were significnat differences between the paying and non-paying groups in maternal triceps skinfold thickness, infant weight, and infant length.

Haemolytic-uraemic syndrome complicating shigella dystentery in south Indian children.

Shigella dysentery caused 65% of all cases of acute renal failure (ARF) seen in children treated at the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, during the 33 months ending September 1977. In the 40 children with ARF secondary to shigella dysentery, haematological findings suggested that they were suffering from the haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, and glomerular hypercellularity and fibrin deposition were present in all 12 patients whose renal histology could be studied. Peritoneal dialysis was the main element of treatment: 43% of children who underwent dialysis improved, compared with only 25% of those who did not undergo dialysis.