Migrants and emerging public health issues in a globalized world: threats, risks and challenges, an evidence-based framework.

International population mobility is an underlying factor in the emergence of public health threats and risks that must be managed globally. These risks are often related, but not limited, to transmissible pathogens. Mobile populations can link zones of disease emergence to lowprevalence or nonendemic areas through rapid or high-volume international movements, or both.

Health of displaced Albanian Kosovars in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: fitness to travel and health outcomes assessment.

Introduction: During the 1999 conflict in Kosovo, an estimated 850,000 people were displaced from Kosovo. Many thousands of these people arrived in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), for whom a humanitarian evacuation programme (HEP) was conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). More than 91,000 people were moved to third countries under this programme.

Is compulsory overseas medical screening of migrants justifiable?

For more than four decades the international Organization for Migration (IOM) has been providing medical screening of prospective migrants according to the admission requirements of resettlement countries. The main reason resettlement countries impose mandatory medical screening is to prevent the entrance of migrants with certain health problems in the belief that they pose a potential public health risk or financial burden to the nation. High rates of communicable diseases among foreign-born residents of industrial countries have raised concern about the impact of international migration on transmission of such diseases and the role and efficacy of medical screening.

[Microbiological and serological verification of cornea donors].

A study was made during 1994 about microbiological contamination on the donor eyes before enucleation of whole globe. We studied the efficiency of the decontamination method by checking sterility of corneal storage medium after two days. We give results of serological tests on 252 donors.

[Medium term preservation of corneas. Comparative study of 4 preservation media].

A comparative study of four preservation medium was made (Corneal Storage Solution, K-Sol, RPMI Hepes buffer, RPMI bicarbonate buffer). After a five days preservation delay there is no statistical difference between the percentage of the endothelial cellular mortality amongst the three first medium. In the fourth medium the cellular mortality is statistically higher.

Corneal endothelial cell density in acute angle-closure glaucoma.

The endothelial cell density of 44 eyes after an acute attack of angle-closure glaucoma is statistically lower than the cellular density of 174 control eyes. The decrease in endothelial cell density increases the risk of edematous corneal dystrophy, more specially after surgery (e.g.

[Long-term study of endothelial cell density after penetrating keratoplasty. Comparative study of fresh and median-term preserved cornea].

A retrospective specular microscopic study of 118 clear corneal grafts shows that the endothelium of these grafts is progressively destroyed during the two first years. The reduction of cellular density is rapid at the beginning of postoperative period, stabilizing after two years. The comparison of endothelial cellular density in fresh non selected grafts versus grafts preserved in culture seems to indicate a longer survival of preserved grafts.

[Selection criteria and results of medium-term storage of corneas for keratoplasty (author's transl)].

A double-staining technique allowing calculation of the percentage of dead endothelial cells in corneas during medium-term storage is described. A positive correlation was found between the thickness of the cornea and the time since death, and between the percentage of dead endothelial cells and the thickness of the cornea. A negative correlation existed between age and cellular density of the endothelium.

[Keratoplasty. Urgent treatment of the corneal perforation (author's transl)].

Sixteen keratoplasties (15 perforating, 1 lamellar) were performed on 12 perforated corneas and on 2 eyes threatened by imminent corneal perforation. The causal disease was metaherpetic kératitis (6 cases), chronic and recurrent ulcers (4 cases), acute keratoconus (1 case) and corneal traumas (3 cases). Enucleation has been avoided and the anterior chamber was restored in all the cases, with or without anterior synechiae.

[The effects of intraocular irrigating solutions on the human corneal endothelium (author's transl)].

Human corneas from enucleated eyes get thicker during perfusion with B.S.S.

[Pachymetry in the study of preservation of the cornea].

Rabbit corneas were preserved for between 7 and 14 days at + 4 degrees C in a whole eye in synthetic media (T.C. 199 and T.

[Histology and function of the cryopreserved corneal endothelium].

This work consists of a histological study of cryopreserved corneal endothelium before and after perfusion, and of measurements of the corneal thickness during perfusion. 1) Histoligical study: a) After 7 hours of perfusion, the endothelium of fresh corneas is unchanged. b) The preserving solutions used for freezing do not modify the histological structure of the endothelium.