Coats' disease in Tanzania: first case report and literature review.

Background: Coats' disease is an exudative retinal detachment with vascular telangiectasis occurring mostly in male children, the age group most affected by retinoblastoma.

Objectives: Compare the differential diagnoses of Coats' disease Establish recommendation to early disease detection.

Materials And Methods: A 3-year-old female child was referred to Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Tanzania, in September 2011.

The role of heredity in pterygium development.

Several risk factors, which include heredity, ultra-violet (UV) light and chronic inflammation, contribute to pterygium development. However, there is no report integrating these factors in the pathogenesis of pterygium. The aim of this review is to describe the connection between heredity, UV, and inflammation in pterygium development.

Thirty years old lady with nephrotic syndrome: a case of biopsy proven lupus nephritis in Tanzania.

We describe a case of a 30 years old female patient who presented with nephrotic syndrome and impaired renal function diagnosed to have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This is the first biopsy proven lupus nephritis in Tanzania. SLE is common among females and is reported be more common among Africans as compared to other races.

Chronic inflammatory cells and damaged limbal cells in pterygium.

Background: Chronic inflammation in pterygium occurrence has not been explained. Whether damaged limbal basal epithelial cells are associated with pterygium occurrence in black Africans is not clear.

Objective: To explain chronic inflammation in pterygium, and to clarify whether damaged limbal basal epithelial cells were associated with pterygium occurrence in black Africans.

Vascular malformation of the jejunum associated with nodal non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma.

We report a case of multiple minute angioectasia of the jejunum presenting with fatal gastrointestinal bleeding. Repeated endoscopies, mesenteric angiography and scintigraphy failed to locate the bleeding site. Multiple minute angioectasia was suspected on intraoperative enteroscopy; however, surgical resection failed to permanently control gastrointestinal haemorrhage.

AIDS and non AIDS-related malignant lymphoma in Tanzania.

Background: Malignant lymphoma (ML) in HIV patients, are second in frequency to Kaposi's sarcoma (AKS) as AIDS-defining tumors. In Africa the frequency of AIDS-related lymphoma (ARL) is rare and the findings are controversial. Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) lesions are now causally associated with KSHV/HHV-8 but whether African ARL shows this association is not clear.

Mob justice in Tanzania: a medico-social problem.

Objective: To investigate the magnitude of mob justice and associated factors.

Background: Mob justice is a social and public health problem that has grown in Tanzania in recent decades that has negative effects on social and health of the country, communities, and families.

Materials And Methods: A four-year autopsy study was conducted at the Department of Pathology, MUCHS.

Deaths from accidental steam inhalation during traditional therapy.

Death from accidental steam inhalation is quite a rare occurrence. Two cases of children who died during the inhalation of superheated steam in a closed room are reported. To our knowledge this is the first case report where children died from the injurious effects of steam while inhaling steam.

Neuropathology of human immunodeficiency virus infection: a forensic autopsy study in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

The objective of this study was to examine the neuropathological changes in the brain of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, and investigate whether the prevalence of different forms of HIV-related neuropathology varies from other countries. The subjects were patients with risk factors for HIV infection in whom forensic autopsies were performed between 1997 and 1999. In Dar Es Salaam, forensic autopsy constitutes more than 90% of all autopsies, because hospital autopsy is limited due to socio-cultural and religious reasons.

HPLC analysis of anti-malaria agent, chloroquine in blood and tissue from forensic autopsy cases in Tanzania.

HPLC analysis of anti-malaria agent, chloroquine (CQ) in blood and tissues with a simple HCl back extraction method was applied to three forensic autopsy cases in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. CQ concentrations in femoral vein blood were 8.5, 48.

Homogeneous immunophenotype and paucity of secondary genomic aberrations are distinctive features of endemic but not of sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with MYC rearrangement.

The present study has compared immunohistological marker expression profiles and genomic imbalances in seven African endemic Burkitt's lymphomas (eBLs) with those in ten European B-cell lymphomas with MYC rearrangement as shown by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. eBLs showed a typical histomorphology and a homogeneous immuno-profile: CD10+, CD38+, CD77+, bcl-2-, and IgM+. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA was present in all cases.

Histopathology of malignant tumours of childhood in Tanzania.

Objective: To determine the frequency distribution of malignant tumours of childhood aged 0-14 years.

Design: A retrospective histopathological review of 541 cases of malignant tumours of childhood.

Setting: Cancer Registry, Department of Histopathology, Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Toxoplasma encephalitis in HIV: case report.

In Tanzania, no data are available on the prevalence of brain infection by toxoplasma in HIV-infected patients. A case of a 35-year old man with fulminant toxoplasma encephalitis (TE) is reported for the first time. TE was not suspected clinically in our patient who presented with a one week history of severe headache and treated empirically with antimalarial drugs.

Expression of oestrogen and progesterone receptors, Ki-67, p53 and BCL-2 proteins, cathepsin D, urokinase plasminogen activator and urokinase plasminogen activator-receptors in carcinomas of the female breast in an African population.

Objective: To determine the expression of oestrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR), Ki-67, p53, bcl-2 proteins and the proteolytic enzymes cathepsin D (CD), urokinase-plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPA-R) in primary carcinomas of the breast from indigenous Tanzanian female patients by immunohistochemistry.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Proliferation and apoptosis in the evolution of endemic and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related Kaposi's sarcoma.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a multifocal lesion that occurs predominantly in the skin, most frequently in people infected with HIV-1, and that evolves through early stages (patch and plaque) to a tumor-like late stage (nodular). Both, endemic African (EKS) and AIDS-associated (AKS) KS expressed human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) as shown by PCR. By immunohistochemistry the expression of cellular Bcl-2 and c-myc was confined in early stages of both EKS and AKS to relatively few endothelial cells (EC) whereas in nodular KS most of spindle cells (SC) strongly expressed both genes.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis in sputum negative patients in Dar es Salaam.

Objective: To determine diagnostic criteria for tuberculosis among sputum smear acid fast bacilli negative patients with chronic cough, based on symptoms, signs and simple laboratory tests.

Design: A two-month prospective follow up study.

Setting: Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in carcinomas of the female breast in Tanzania.

In Africa breast cancer has been reported to occur frequently in young females and to show an aggressive histological and clinical picture, suggesting that this malignancy might have a different biology from this disease in Western females. To investigate this, the present study assessed by immunohistochemistry the expression of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PgR) in 60 fresh frozen breast cancer tissues from indigenous Tanzanian patients. This prospective study collected tissues from routine patients treated at the Muhimbili Medical Center, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Neuropathology of human immunodeficiency virus 1 infection. Significance of studying in forensic autopsy cases at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Objective: In sub-Saharan Africa, only a few studies of neurologic complications of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection have been done. The authors studied neuropathology of HIV-1 infection in Tanzania.

Design: Forensic autopsy study at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Immunological profile of endemic and epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma patients in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) presents in four clinicopathological types namely classical/sporadic (CKS), endemic African (EKS), iatrogenic (IKS) and that associated with AIDS (AKS). Recently a putative herpes virus (HHV-8) was described and shown to be present in all four types of KS. The immunological status of patients with EKS has been conflicting.

Characterisation of benign lesions and carcinomas of the female breast in a sub-Saharan African population.

Carcinoma of the breast is the second most frequent tumour in African females. Breast carcinomas in African females appear about a decade earlier and follow a more aggressive clinical course than those in developed countries. To elucidate this difference we investigated 63 biopsied benign lesions of the female breast for their potential to malignant progression.

Comparison of PCR, culture, and histopathology for diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis.

Nucleic acid amplification techniques for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) are rapidly being developed. Scant work, however, has focused on pericardial TB. Using cryopreserved specimens from a prior study of pericarditis, we compared PCR to culture and histopathology for the diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis in 36 specimens of pericardial fluid and 19 specimens of pericardial tissue from 20 patients.

Kaposi's sarcoma before and during the HIV epidemic in Tanzania.

The Tanzania cancer registry recorded 39,920 cancer cases from 1968 to 1995. Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) constituted 4% of the cases of which 79.9% were males.

Evaluation of risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in elderly east Africans.

A number of biological risk factors have been implicated for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The investigation of prevalence rates of AD in crosscultural populations has much potential in validating these factors. We previously assessed brain amyloid beta (A beta) protein deposition and other lesions associated with AD as possible markers for preclinical AD in elderly nondemented East Africans.

Expression of adhesion molecules in endemic and epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma.

Spindle cells and vascular endothelium in nodular lesions of AIDS associated (epidemic) and endemic Kaposi's sarcoma showed similar immunohistochemical patterns of expression for cell adhesion molecules and extracellular matrix proteins. Spindle cells as well as endothelium also expressed both alpha 5 and alpha V integrin subunits and ICAM-1 suggesting a possible role for inflammatory cytokines in spindle cell formation. The spindle cell compartment was rich in collagen, laminin, fibronectin and tenascin suggesting an important reactive component in the evolution of Kaposi's sarcoma.