Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H B Valman.
A high prevalence of iron deficiency was found in apparently healthy Asian immigrant children in Harrow. After excluding children with overtly abnormal red cell indices, Asian and European children had identical haemoglobin values, but Asian children had much lower mean cell volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin values and higher red blood cell values.
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The mean, age adjusted, serum IgA values of 47 children with febrile convulsions were almost identical to those of controls. Five children had serum IgA values less than 0.1 g/l by nephelometry, suggesting that in some cases at least there may be an association between a low serum IgA concentration and febrile convulsions.
Thirty pre-school children with recurrent respiratory infections had a higher age adjusted mean serum IgG level than their siblings or a reference group. One index child had persistently low serum IgA, but mean serum IgA and IgM levels for the index children were normal. All of the 23 index children and 17 siblings studied had a four-fold or greater rise in virus neutralizing antibody titre. There was no correlation between serum immunoglobulin levels and frequency of infections. There was, however, a significant inverse correlation between salivary IgA levels when healthy and the number of infections experienced by each child in the study year. Salivary IgA levels rose considerably during acute infections.
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Human coronaviruses were found by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in upper respiratory tract secretions taken during 30% of 108 acute respiratory infections experienced by 30 children under age 6 years with recurrent respiratory infections (index group), and during 29% of 51 acute infections experienced by their siblings. Lower respiratory tract infection--predominantly wheezy bronchitis--occurred in 30% of the index children's coronavirus positive infections but in none of their siblings' infections. Reinfections were common. Two peaks of infection were seen each year in the late autumn/early winter and in the early summer.
Serum immunoglobulin concentrations were determined on sera from 298 healthy children aged six months to six years using the Hyland laser nephelometer PDQ system. Age-specific 95% reference ranges for serum IgG, IgA and IgM are presented; considerable care has been taken to ensure statistical validity of the reference ranges. The wide range of values in children under two years suggest that measuring immunoglobulin concentrations in this age group is of little value in diagnosing immunodeficiency.
Thirty preschool children presenting with recurrent respiratory infections and their unaffected siblings were observed prospectively for a year. The index children experienced more episodes of acute respiratory infection than their siblings. Respiratory viruses were the major cause of respiratory infections. The index children had lower respiratory tract disease, predominantly wheeze, during 34% of proved respiratory virus infections compared with 11% of such infections experienced by the control children (p less than 0.02). Atopic children had an increased tendency to wheeze that did not reach significance, but atopy was not associated with increased susceptibility to respiratory infections.
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