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Biomedical subjects

J E Rohde

Publications and source records attributed to J E Rohde.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Surgical extraction of guinea worm: disability reduction and contribution to disease control.

Surgical extraction of Guinea worm prior to eruption through the skin has long been performed by traditional healers in India. Using modern aseptic techniques under local anesthesia, unerupted worms can be completely and painlessly removed in several minutes. As a result, the average number of working days lost due to a single worm is reduced from three weeks or more to three days. In the field, the procedure results not only in a dramatic decrease in Guinea worm associated disability, but also in an improvement in detecting cases, and appears to reduce disease transmission.

Abscess↗
PubMed1991

Oral rehydration therapy: a community trial comparing the acceptability of homemade sucrose and cereal-based solutions.

Sugar-based oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for diarrhoea is promoted in many countries of the world. One programme in Bangladesh has instructed more than 13 million mothers in the preparation of a sugar-salt solution in the home; despite very high rates of correct mixing and knowledge, subsequent application was found in only some 20% of all diarrhoea episodes. Since rice is far more available in rural homes (95%) than any type of sugar (30%) and rice gruel is a widely accepted food during illness, a field trial was conducted in three areas (total population, 68,345) to compare the acceptability and use of rice-based ORT with that of sugar-based ORT. Although the mothers unanimously agreed that the rice-based solutions "stopped" the diarrhoea more quickly, they used the sugar-based solutions twice as often (in 40% of severe watery episodes) as the rice-based solutions (in 18%), because the rice-ORT was much more time-consuming and difficult to prepare. The observed reduced utilization of home-made rice-ORT makes it a poor substitute for sugar-ORT at the community level in rural Bangladesh.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Child mortality in a rural Javanese village: a prospective study.

Mortality in the first two years of life was studied in a cohort of 510 children born in a rural Javanese village. Lower risk of death was associated with younger maternal age, maternal schooling, ownership of a well, smaller sibship, longer gap between child and next oldest sibling and, in particular, with good nutritional status. Diarrhoea, pneumonia and immunizable diseases accounted for over half the deaths, with malnutrition contributing to most. A primary health care programme focusing on malnutrition, immunization and early treatment for diarrhoea and pneumonia could reduce mortality by half or more in this population.

Birth Order↗
PubMed1981

Polio and lameness in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

This survey for residual paralysis among rural and urban children in Central Java shows an overall rate for polio lameness of 9/10 000 children. A recent rise in reported cases of acute poliomyelitis is reflected in paralysis rate among preschool children of 22/10 000. Three quarters of cases occur before the third birthday. A majority of children below age 3 are lacking antibody titres to one or more types of polio virus, demonstrating the need for mass immunisation. A simple questionnaire detected polio cases with a sensitivity of 84%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Acute diarrhea and rotavirus infection in newborn babies and children in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from June 1978 to June 1979.

A longitudinal study of acute diarrhea in children in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (June 1978 to June 1979), showed little variation throughout most months of the year in numbers of children admitted to hospital and in numbers infected with rotaviruses. Both decreased during November and December coincidentally with seasonal change from dry to wet conditions. Rotavirus particles were identified by electron microscopy in fecal specimens from 126 of 334 (38%) infants and children with acute diarrhea. Nosocomial rotavirus infections occurred in 11% of control children admitted to hospital for other reasons. Socioeconomic level and preexisting nutritional status did not influence the incidence of rotavirus excretion. Rotavirus infections were most common in children aged 6 to 24 months. There was a low incidence of infection in infants less than 6 months old. Rotavirus infection was seldom observed in newborn babies delivered in an urban hospital nursery, in a rural health center, or at home. One of 72 newborn babies with diarrhea excreted rotavirus. One of 53 healthy newborn babies excreted rotavirus. It is concluded that, in Indonesia, rotavirus infection is a major cause of childhood diarrhea throughout the year, but is an uncommon cause of diarrhea in newborn babies.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1981

Ascaris and malnutrition in a Balinese village: a conditional relationship.

In a combined anthropological and parasitological study in a rural Balinese village, two distinct sub-populations were identified on the basis of nutritional and health practices. A significant negative correlation between Ascaris burden and nutritional status (P less than 0.05) was apparent only in the subpopulation characterized by lower nutritional intakes and low utilization of health care facilities. The results of this study suggest that the relationship between Ascariasis and child malnutritional is a conditional one, dependent upon the interaction of multiple biomedical and behavioural factors.

Ascariasis↗
PubMed1980

Elementary-school pupils as health educators: role of school health programmes in primary health-care.

The high proportion of children attending primary schools in rural parts of Indonesia and the low health-care cover in these areas prompted a plan to involve schoolchildren in a health-education programme. Action-oriented health lessons aimed at modifying community-health-related behaviour were designed to suit the teaching format familiar to rural teachers. The lessons involved pupils in health activities in their own homes and neighbourhoods. Evaluation of the teaching module on diarrhoea showed a substantial improvement in knowledge, skills, and attitudes of rural families regarding this illness, and indicated how a vastly increased outreach of primary health-care activities is possible through a well-designed school-health programme.

Child↗
PubMed1980

Teaching epidemiology in developing countries: a field exercise.

A field exercise demonstrating the principles of a sample survey is described which, in 9 steps carried out over 3-4 days, provides reliable data on selected infectious diseases, vital rates, causes of mortality and other health indicators. Survey design, implementation, analysis and interpretation are applied in a practical and visible way during the exercise. Frequent outbreaks of common childhood infectious diseases in developing countries makes an epidemic tracing and characterisation exercise usually possible during the course of this exercise as well. The resulting data appear to be quite reliable, in contrast to existing data gathered passively through the health services system, and provide a useful indicator of present priorities and needed action in the control of infectious diseases.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1978

Preparing for the next round: convalescent care after acute infection.

Infections pose a nutritional stress on the growing child. No therapeutic goal is as important as the rapid recovery of preillness weight after acute infections. Successful convalescence, with supernormal growth rates, can be achieved with relatively brief periods of intensive refeeding, offsetting any tendency toward reduced immune defenses or other nutritionally determined susceptibilities to further infection. Since the mother is the only person who can effectively manage convalescent care, she must be given specific tasks with measurable targets in order to reliably oversee the child's rehabilitation. Not generally considered in the realm of preventive medicine, effective home-based convalencent care is the first crucial step in preventing the next round of illness. An approach to the widespread mobilization of mothers to monitor and sustain their children's growth is proposed in this paper. Rather than a passive recipient of health services, the mother becomes the basic health worker, providing diagnostic and therapeutic primary care for her child. Only the mother can break the malnutrition-infection cycle.

Body Weight↗