Biomedical subjects

E J Peters

Publications and source records attributed to E J Peters.

56 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Time of presentation for treatment and profile of deformities among leprosy patients in South Eastern Nigeria.

A 10 year review of leprosy patients seen at Leprosy Hospital Ekpene Obom in South Eastern Nigeria (1988-1997) was carried out to evaluate the effect of early identification and treatment of leprosy patients in the limitation of deformities among them. A total of 2,597 patients comprising 1,714 (66%) males and 883 (34.0%) females formed subjects for the study. Of these 288(11.1%) were aged 15 and below while 2,309 (88.9) were above 15 years. Their case records were thoroughly reviewed noting the duration of disease before presentation, type and location of deformity as well as the type of leprosy. Though there was a steady decline in the total number of leprosy patients seen over the study period as well as a decrease in the mean duration of illness before presentation, approximately 19% of patients still had deformities at presentation, a figure much lower than those reported by other workers. Analysis of the pattern of deformities shows that most patients 71.2% presented with affectation of the upper and lower limbs with consequent functional disability. We conclude that early treatment is an effective means of reducing the prevalence of deformity and thus disability from leprosy. More effective implementation of health education and treatment programmes initiated by the W.H.O should further reduce the scourge of leprosy in our community.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lung function, oxygen saturation and symptoms among street sweepers in calabar-Nigeria.

Chronic inhalation of dust impairs lung function and may cause respiratory symptoms. However, knowledge about the type of dust that can cause these problems is uncertain. Very little attention has been paid to the health of workers chronically exposed to dust raised by street sweeping without precautionary measures. Therefore, a study of lung function, oxygen saturation and symptoms among female street sweepers and their control groups in Calabar, Nigeria was carried out. Ventilatory function tests were done using 200 female street sweepers whose length of service was less than two years and 200 sex, age, weight, and height - matched external controls who were not exposed to any known air pollutant. The percentage of oxygen saturation (SPO((2)) of both the subjects and their control population was determined using a pulse oximeter. Respirable dust level in the test sites was 0.194 +/- 0.002 mu g/m3 and it was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than in control sites, which was 0.015 +/- 0.003 mu g/m3.There was no significant difference in the mean values of SPO((2))between the test and control subjects. However, there was also a significantly higher [P < 0.001] prevalence of back pain, cough, chest pain , catarrh and sneezing among the street sweepers compared to control. Lung function values, namely; FVC, FEV((1)), FEV((1)) % and PEFR were not significantly different in the two groups. Street sweeping; without precautionary measures may predispose to respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms.

Journal Article↗