Circulating cytokines in pulmonary tuberculosis according to HIV status and dietary iron content.

Objective: To evaluate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serology, dietary iron and serum concentrations of markers of T-helper type (Th) 1 and Th-2 immune pathways in the setting of tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: A total of 49 patients with pulmonary TB in rural Zimbabwe, 32 of whom were HIV-positive, were evaluated at presentation and over 10 weeks of anti-tuberculosis treatment.

Results: Interleukin (IL) 12 and neopterin, Th-1 markers, were both elevated at presentation in 92% of the subjects.

Association of pulmonary tuberculosis with increased dietary iron.

To determine whether increased dietary iron could be a risk factor for active tuberculosis, dietary iron history and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status were studied in 98 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and in 98 control subjects from rural Zimbabwe. Exposure to high levels of dietary iron in the form of traditional beer is associated with increased iron stores in rural Africans. HIV seropositivity was associated with a 17.

Neoplasms involving the spinal cord in Zimbabweans: an analysis of 262 cases.

A review of 262 histologically verified spinal cord tumours in Black Zimbabweans who were operated on in Harare Central and Parirenyatwa Hospitals, Harare, Zimbabwe during the period 1st January 1972 to 31st December 1991 is presented. Fifty one pc of the neoplasms were found in the thoracic region, 53.4 pc were found extradurally, and of these the majority were metastatic (52 pc) and malignant tumours (85 pc).