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Biomedical subjects

M G Rowland

Publications and source records attributed to M G Rowland.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Immunisation of 4-6 month old Gambian infants with Edmonston-Zagreb measles vaccine.

Five different vaccination schedules were used to immunise Gambian infants aged 4-6 months against measles with the attenuated Edmonston-Zagreb strain of virus, which has a history of passage in human diploid cells. Vaccine aerosol given either by mask in a dose of 3500 or 7000 plaque-forming units (PFU) or from a plastic bag at a dose of 7000 PFU raised haemagglutinin-inhibiting or plaque-inhibiting measles antibody 16-24 weeks after vaccination to a titre of 1 in 8 or greater in all but 3 of the 51 children so vaccinated. All 21 infants given 11 400 PFU of vaccine intradermally in two divided doses and the 21 given 39 000 PFU of the virus subcutaneously also had satisfactory levels of measles antibody 16 weeks after vaccination. None of the vaccinated children had clinical evidence of measles in the 12 to 17 months after vaccination. The Edmonston-Zagreb vaccine, given subcutaneously or by other routes at 4-6 months, may be useful in preventing measles in infants in African cities, where 15-30% of children have measles before they are 9 months old, which is the recommended age for immunisation with the chick-cell-adapted strains of measles virus.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1984

Food and water hygiene and diarrhoea in young Gambian children: a limited case control study.

During the annual rainy season epidemic of diarrhoea in The Gambia, two groups of urban children were identified, one of which remained completely free of diarrhoea and another in which diarrhoeal prevalence exceed 30% over a period of three months. Microbiological studies on the food and water consumed by these children during one day showed widely varying degrees of contamination in both groups. No difference was observed in levels of contamination, faecal or otherwise, between the two groups. The real problem seemed to lie in accounting for the freedom from diarrhoea of some children rather than explaining possible causes of morbidity in others.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1981

Weanling diarrhoea in The Gambia: implications of a jejunal intubation study.

Abnormalities in jejunal flora and bile salt metabolism were most marked in the youngest members of a group of Gambian village children in the weanling age group. These may be linked with the profound change in diarrhoeal morbidity, particularly diarrhoea-induced growth impairment, which occurs as soon as breast-fed infants are regularly supplemented. The pathogenesis of these changes is not understand. The presence of small bowel colonization did not appear to be a causal factor but, it is speculated, its appearance may mark the development of a post-enteritis enteropathy which is responsible for the weanling diarrhoea syndrome and which is caused and perpetuated by traditional weaning foods.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1980

Commercial milk products and indigenous weaning foods in a rural West African Environment: a bacteriological perspective.

Two commercially available baby milks, one 'biologically acidified', the other 'non-acidified', and a traditional weaning food, millet gruel, were prepared and stored under village conditions in West Africa. Increases in total colony count and in number of Bacillus cereus, Clostridium welchii, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were determined in these products when stored as commonly practised at ambient temperatures over a period of 8 h. Poor hygiene during preparation was indicated by readily detectable numbers of coliforms and E. coli in freshly prepared samples of each of the milks, though the cooked local gruel seemed less vulnerable in this respect. The rate of increase in the numbers of these organisms was lower in the acidified milk when prepared with unboiled water containing high numbers of coliforms and E. coli. Increases in total colony count and in numbers of Staph. aureus were also less marked in the acidified milk. When food was not eaten soon after preparation the problem of bacterial overgrowth was as great with the local gruel as with the considerably more nutritious reconstituted milks.

Africa, Western↗
PubMed1980

Bacteriostasis of Escherichia coli by milk. V. The bacteriostatic properties of milk of West African mothers in the Gambia: in-vitro studies.

Bacteriostatic activity was measured in 244 specimens of milk collected during 1977 throughout lactation of up to one year from 78 mothers; the activity varied from very good to fair and only seven were inactive. There was a wider range of activity than was found previously in milk from English mothers. Activity usually fell slowly during lactation but some of the Gambian mothers produced milk of very high activity, like that of colostrum into the second week of lactation, and two mothers did so at six and nine months; other mothers produced good-activity milk throughout lactation. The bacteriostatic activity varied little with the season but slight decreases from that expected were found after the high incidence of infant diarrhoea towards the end of the rainy season. The bacteriostatic activity of most of the milk tested could be prevented by iron salts but that of colostrum and some of the milks with high activity could not. Only these highly active colostra and milks were inhibitory in vitro when the inoculum was increased from 10(4) to 10(6) organisms per ml. These and less active milks were able to inhibit the smaller, standard inoculum for longer than 3 h with the addition of bicarbonate and extra iron-binding protein at the concentrations likely to be present in vivo. Both commensal and pathogenic E. coli were inhibited to a similar degree by these milks and there was no evidence of serotype specificity.

Colostrum↗
PubMed1980

Bacteriostasis of Escherichia coli by milk. VI. The in-vitro bacteriostatic property of Gambian mothers' breast milk in relation to the in-vivo protection of their infants against diarrhoeal disease.

A one-year field-study has been carried out in a diarrhoea-endemic area in West Africa to determine the relationship between the bacteriostatic activity of fresh human milk for Escherichia coli in vitro and freedom from diarrhoea of the infant recipients of the milk. The specific contribution of E. coli gastroenteritis to gastrointestinal diseases of infants in general is not known, nor is its particular role in the Gambian infants studied. During the study period, however, both enteropathogenic and toxigenic strains of E. coli were isolated. The incidence of diarrhoea in Gambian infants of seven age-groups from 2 days to 12 months was not significantly correlated with the bacteriostatic activity of milk. This was due rather to absence of diarrhoea in babies fed on low-activity milk than illness in those receiving highly bacteriostatic milk. Indeed, very active milk appeared to protect recipients almost completely, including seven babies of over 3 months of age, five of them during the rainy season, when the risk was high. Babies receiving lower-activity milk experienced more diarrhoea. In a situation where diarrhoeal disease is multifactorial, field evaluation of the protective action by one antibacterial property of milk is difficult. A better understanding of in vivo protection is important, and the factors which have to be taken into account are discussed.

Diarrhea↗
PubMed1979

Infant foods as a potential source of diarrhoeal illness in rural West Africa.

It is common practice in rural areas of The Gambia to prepare infant foods in quantities which are sufficient to meet the needs of the day rather than one meal. These are then stored at ambient temperatures for periods up to 12 hours for feeding to the child on demand. The total viable counts and levels of Bacillus cereus, Clostridium welchii, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were determined in 294 infant foods samples from nought to eight hours after preparation. The presence of Salmonella was determined in 10 g samples of food. In the first hour after preparation the proportion of foods dangerously contaminated was high during the rainsy season, significantly more so than during the dry season. Foods not consumed fresh were very often hazardous and almost always so after 8 hours. This problem may be a causal factor in weanling diarrhoea which also shows marked seasonal variation in prevalence.

Diarrhea, Infantile↗
PubMed1979

The relationship between rainfall and well water pollution in a West African (Gambian) village.

Water pollution was monitored in six Gambian village wells over a period of 8 months spanning the 5-month monomodal rains and the pre- and post-rains dry periods. Faecal coliform (FC) and faecal streptococci (FS) counts were high throughout and there was a massive increase associated with the onset of the rains, maximum counts exceeding 5 x 10(5)/100 ml. This pattern was largely sustained throughout the rainy season. Some individual variations in patterns of pollution could be ascribed to well design, in particular lining of the shaft, but no well was protected from the seasonal increase in faecal pollution. The source of the increased pollution appeared to be a flushing in of faecal material of indeterminate or mixed human and animal origin, probably over considerable distances. Peaks of pollution not associated with rainfall episodes could have resulted from the practice of communal laundering in the near vicinity of the wells. Specific pathogens including Salmonella spp. were isolated only intermittently. Attention has been drawn to a problem complicating the standard method for assessing FC counts.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Factors influencing lactation performance in rural Gambian mothers.

Breast-milk consumption has been measured in a rural African community in which breast-feeding on demand is universally practised until the baby is 18 mos old. The mother's long-term capacity for breast-milk production is determined by the end of the second month of lactation, yield being closely correlated with the infant's birth-weight. Other factors significantly influencing output were parity, month of lactation, baby's weight-for-age, season, and maternal diet. Daily milk consumption was limited primarily by the amount delivered per feed, not the frequency of feeding.

Body Weight↗
PubMed1978

Bacterial contamination in traditional Gambian weaning foods.

Although emphasis on infant feeding is rightly being placed on breast-feeding, the need for safe weaning foods for the developing world must also receive its due attention. Traditional weaning foods used for young infants in a typical West African village can be as hazardous, bacteriologically, as commercial milk products, and providing a breast-fed child with supplements under the conditions which prevail in much of the developing world is potentially dangerous, whatever the source of the food.

Bacteria↗