The burden of poisoning in children hospitalised at a tertiary-level hospital in South Africa.

Introduction: Globally, childhood poisoning, accounts for a significant proportion of emergency department admissions. There is a paucity of data from low- and middle-income countries on poisoning in children.

Objective: To describe the incidence, case fatality rate, and types of poisoning in children admitted to a tertiary-level hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Clinical Characteristics and Histopathology of Coronavirus Disease 2019-Related Deaths in African Children.

Background: Globally, very few childhood deaths have been attributed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We evaluated clinical, microbiologic and postmortem histopathologic findings in childhood deaths in whom severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified antemortem or postmortem.

Methods: Surveillance of childhood deaths was ongoing during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa from April 14, 2020, to August 31, 2020.

Bone mass and vertebral fractures in South African children on prolonged oral glucocorticoids for chronic non-malignant illnesses.

Introduction: We hypothesized that the prevalence of vertebral fractures would be low and that bone mineral density (BMD) would be less severely affected in a black South African (SA) population treated with glucocorticoids (GCs) than that reported in mainly white populations.

Methods: All children aged 5-17.9 years with chronic non-malignant illnesses who were on GCs (intravenous or oral) for greater than 3 months duration were evaluated.

Scabies education in secondary schools: A multicenter study.

Background: The aim of this study was to educate secondary school students on etiology, risk factors, clinical features, treatment, and prevention of scabies; to evaluate their knowledge base on scabies before and after an educational intervention; and to reassess this knowledge base and behavioral change, 6 months after, on a second visit.

Methods: Questionnaires with standard questions on scabies, graded to a maximum score of 10, were administered to students in junior secondary Classes 1 and 2 across 4 states in Nigeria. Information obtained included subjects' demographics, scabies symptomatology, risks, and preventive behaviors.

Outcomes of paediatric patients ventilated in a high-care area outside an intensive care unit.

Background: Limited availability of paediatric intensive care beds in the public sector is a major challenge in South Africa. It often results in patients being ventilated in a high-care area (HCA) outside an intensive care setting. The outcomes of paediatric patients ventilated outside a paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) are not well documented.

Outcomes of Kasai hepatoportoenterostomy in children with biliary atresia in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: Without timely surgical intervention, most children with biliary atresia (BA) are not expected to live beyond 2 years of age. The initial intervention, the Kasai hepatoportoenterostomy (KPE), aims to achieve biliary drainage. Liver transplantation (LT) is performed if jaundice fails to clear or when biliary cirrhosis occurs.

Prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in an urban slum in Enugu South East Nigeria.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy and treatment gap in two Urban slums in Enugu South East Nigeria.

Methods: A 3 phase cross-sectional descriptive study was done to survey individuals ≥ 15 years in 2 slums in Enugu, South East Nigeria.

Results: The prevalence of epilepsy was 6.

Population-based prevalence of high blood pressure among adults in an urban slum in Enugu, South East Nigeria.

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), rapid urbanization and changing lifestyle have modified the profile and pattern of various medical disorders. Apart from high prevalence rates, recent trends with regard to hypertension in Africa include: low levels of awareness, treatment and control. Although a large number of studies provide data about hypertension in SSA, few studies focused on special populations such as urban slum dwellers.

Prevalence of primary headaches in an urban slum in Enugu South East Nigeria: a door-to-door survey.

Objective/background: This study aims to determine the prevalence of primary headache disorders using the second edition of international classification of headache disorders among urban slum dwellers. Headache is a common neurological disorder and one of the most common reasons for visiting the neurology clinics in Nigeria. Low socioeconomic status has been linked with primary headaches.