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Biomedical subjects

A A Asindi

Publications and source records attributed to A A Asindi.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Mortality pattern among Nigerian children in the 1980s.

A study of paediatric deaths in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria during a 4-year period (January 1984-December 1987) showed an overall mortality of 80 per 1000 paediatric admissions. A majority (47%) of the deaths were the newborn with a decline (7%) in children aged 61 months to 14 years. Major causes of death were tetanus, low birthweight and birth asphyxia in the newborn; malnutrition, pneumonia and measles in the pre-school age, and anaemia in the older children. Neonatal tetanus and malnutrition played a leading role in the overall mortality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Measles in Nigerian children in Calabar during the era of expanded programme on immunization.

Children admitted with measles to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria, were studied to determine the influence of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), launched in Nigeria in 1984. The data suggest a downward trend in the overall incidence of measles in the first 4 years of the campaign. However, compared with a previous study period (June 1981 to May 1983) in the same institution, the proportion of measles victims aged below 9 months had increased from 15 to 21 percent and the overall death rate had increased sevenfold. Delay in administering the measles vaccine (9 instead of 6 months) and the deteriorating nutritional status of Nigerian children probably account for this negative impact. The advantages of altering the immunization age for measles from 6 to 9 months have not been fully established in Nigeria yet.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Preliminary observations on cerebral malaria in Nigerian children.

Seventy-five cases of childhood cerebral malaria (CM) seen within a 30-month period (January 1986 to June 1988) in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, Nigeria were prospectively studied. Fifty-five percent of the victims were aged 1-5 years while 39% were between 6 and 10 years. Eight percent of the cases were postmortem surprises, their condition having been masked by other complications of malaria. At variance with the accepted definition of CM, 20% of the patients neither convulsed nor lost consciousness. In searching for any delineating premortem features of the disease, a combination of fever, multiple seizures, coma with severe anaemia did appear impressive and also a co-existence of tonic-clonic with pure tonic seizures was highly suspicious. The need to heighten the index of suspicion and encourage extensive research into this lethal aspect of malaria is stressed.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1988

Spastic hemiparesis and presumed prenatal embolisation.

An infant with clinical evidence of prenatal right subclavian arterial occlusion subsequently developed left hemiparesis with cystic infarction of the territory of the right middle cerebral artery. Perinatal strokes have not been reported with signs of limb ischaemia at birth; this finding may be a warning of possible simultaneous cerebral infarction.

Female↗
PubMed1988

Vaccine-induced polioencephalomyelitis in Scotland.

A six-month-old British female, living in Glasgow was admitted in June 1986 with a four-day history of fever and lower limb weakness following immunisation with oral polio and triple (DTP) vaccines. Examination revealed paralysis of all limbs, facial muscles and right diaphragm, scoliosis, opsoclonus and ocular flutter. Poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3, isolated from her stool specimens were all vaccine-like strains. Her serial serum IgA levels were persistently low and salivary IgA was undetectable. This appears to be the first fully authenticated case of poliovaccine damage in Scotland. It is unclear whether the selective IgA deficiency contributed to her vulnerability. It is essential to investigate elaborately and process viral isolates in every suspected case of acute poliomyelitis so as to determine the dimension and ramifications of poliovaccine damage in the UK population which is known to be rather apprehensive about vaccine dangers.

Feces↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Brutality to twins in south-eastern Nigeria: what is the existing situation?

Following rumors of some persistence of abuse on twins, a survey was conducted from January through June, 1991 in the rural areas of Efik, Ibibio and Annang tribes of South-Eastern Nigeria to determine the current attitude of the people towards twins and their mothers. Of the 619 women interviewed, 56% cherished having twins; 35% would not desire largely because of the economic and other minor difficulties associated with their up-keep but none of these would abandon the infants. The remaining 9% hold a taboo against twins: as babies derived from the devil, non-human and punishment from the gods for sinfulness. Consequently, 2.3% and 2.6% of the mothers would have their twins rejected and killed respectively and 6% of the twin mothers would be cast out but none killed by their husbands' families. The intention to perpetuate this form of abuse was elicited in all the three tribes but seemed relatively to be most pronounced in Annang people. The information generated, though limited to rural population, suggests that the rejection of twin births has actually not yet disappeared from this part of the country. Health workers in South-Eastern Nigeria who encounter twins with failure to thrive should consider rejection as a possible contributing factor. It would need intensive moral education and religious teaching to stem this brutal culture.

Child Abuse↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The influence of breast feeding on the occurrence of dysentery, persistent diarrhoea and malnutrition among Nigerian children with diarrhoea.

A case-control study of children attending a diarrhoea treatment unit (DTU) in Calabar, Nigeria was undertaken to evaluate the association between failure to breastfeed on one hand, and dysentery, persistent diarrhoea and malnutrition on the other. The prevalence of dysentery, persistent diarrhoea and underweight were 6.3%, 1.2% and 36.4% respectively among a total of 1133 children with diarrhoea. The proportion of the children with persistent diarrhoea or underweight was significantly lower among currently breastfeeding children than the age-matched, non-breastfeeding counterparts (p < 0.05). Dysentery was also less frequent among breastfeeding children (5.8%) than the non-breastfeeding ones (7.4%), but this did not reach statistical significance. The findings lend support to the enormous benefit of breastfeeding as a child survival strategy. Global efforts geared towards the support of breastfeeding should be intensified especially the less developed countries where diarrhoea-related morbidity and mortality constitute a major public health problem.

Breast Feeding↗