Funding and financial sustainability of pharmacovigilance: suggested models for funding pharmacovigilance in resource-limited African countries.

Background: An important factor hindering the growth of pharmacovigilance (PV) in resource-limited settings is the lack of adequate funds to establish a functional National Pharmacovigilance System. Consequently, the crucial function of monitoring and ensuring the availability of safe medicines in these settings cannot be guaranteed considering the peculiarities of diseases and medicines used.

Objectives: The objective of this paper is to provide an overview as to the availability of potential sources of funds, which could be explored to ensure Medicine Safety and to proffer a potential framework likely to ensure sustainable funding of PV in Africa.

Geographical distribution of health indicators related to snake bites and envenomation in Morocco between 1999 and 2013.

Objectives: Envenomation from snake bites is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological features of snake bites in Morocco and to evaluate time-space trends in snake bite incidence, the mortality rate, and the case-fatality rate.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of snake bite cases reported to the Moroccan Poison Control Center between 1999 and 2013.

National strategy for the integration of pharmacovigilance in the Moroccan TB Control Program.

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the interest of integration of pharmacovigilance in Moroccan Tuberculosis Control Program (MTCP). The integration of pharmacovigilance in MTCP was conducted in October 2012with the Global Fund support. We compared the reports notified before and after this integration (period 1: January 2010-October2012; period 2: October 2012-December 2013).

Juniper tar (cade oil) poisoning in new born after a cutaneous application.

Juniper tar (cade oil) is distilled from the branches and wood of Juniperus oxycedrus. It contains etheric oils, triterpene and phenols, used for many purposes in folk medicine. The authors report a case of a previously healthy new born treated with a topical application of Juniperus oxycedrus for atopic dermatosis The poisoning caused convulsions, collapsus, acute pulmonary oedema, renal failure and hepatotoxicity.

[The epidemiological situation of scorpion stings in the Beni Mellal province].

The objective of this work is to analyse and interpret data from patients bitten by scorpions in a province of Morocco in order to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by scorpion venom. A study was conducted of 901 cases of poisoning among 6959 cases of scorpion stings recorded between January 2002 and December 2006 from bites recorded in Beni Mellal. The results show that poisoning strongly coincides with the summer period, especially in July and August.

Incidence of adverse drug events and medication errors in intensive care units: a prospective multicenter study.

Background: In recent years, medication error has received considerable attention because it causes substantial mortality, morbidity, and additional health care costs. Collecting information in this field depends on the willingness of health professionals to report their errors. Another important point is to identify patients at high risk for an adverse drug event (ADE) to oversee the quality of the entire drug distribution chain, including prescription, drug choice, dispensing, and preparation to the administration of drugs.

Drug interactions with herbal medicines.

The use of herbal medicines (HM) is on the rise among the global population. Although the safety profile of many herbal medicines is promising, accumulated data show evidence of significant interactions with medications, which can place individual patients at great risk. A range of electronic databases have been reviewed for articles published in this field: Medline, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, HealthSTAR, AMBASE, CINHAL, Cochrane Library, as well as Internet documents and manually searched references in medical journals.

[Botanicus and phytotox: data base of plant toxicology. Interest in emergency toxicology and in phytovigilance].

The purposes of this project were to summarize more than 279 standard botanical names and their 2294 vernacular ones (French common names, Arabic common names and Moroccan common names) for the first part of database named "Botanicus". The second part of this data base named "Phytotox", concerns relevant toxic data of 120 plants available in Mediterranean region. The database will be useful for emergency physicians, particularly of Maghreb and French- speaking countries.

[Serious gastrointestinal effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) in a prospective study in Morocco].

In Morocco, the need for post-marketing surveillance of selective Cox2 inhibitors (coxibs) prompted a study to assess the serious gastrointestinal effects of NSAIDs and to compare gastrointestinal tolerance of conventional NSAIDs and coxibs. A prospective study was conducted from April 2001 through May 2002 among hospital-staff gastroenterologists in the public and private sector as well as emergency surgical units. Over this period, 123 patients were reported to have serious NSAID-related gastrointestinal effects, and 63% of them were admitted for bleeding or perforated ulcers.

[Acute intoxication by redoul (Coriaria myrtifolia L.). Three observations].

Introduction: Coriaria myrtifolla L. (Redoul) is a shrub of the Mediterranean area. Poisoning with this plant is often accidental, following ingestion of the plant's fruit that are often mistaken for blackberries.

[Reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (Brooks syndrome)].

Introduction: Although the existence of classical occupational asthma is well known and described after fairly prolonged exposure to moderate levels of air-contaminators, authentic asthma can be provoked by rapid single inhalation of a high dosed corrosive gas: this is Brooks' syndrome.

Observation: A 30 year-old woman, without respiratory past history and no atopy presented with post-toxic asthma following a single accidental inhalation of hydrochloric acid. The diagnosis was established on the 8 criteria of Brooks and the clinical outcome remained stable with, however, excellent response to the inhalation of broncho-dilatators during asthma attacks.