European journal of epidemiology
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In a prospective study of 560 children treated for burns as in-patients over a period of four-and-a-half years in specialized hospitals responsible for the majority of burn cases in Kuwait, 388 patients (69%) had sustained scalds. The mean age of these 388 children, between 0 to 12 years, was 3.02 +/- 2.08, and male to female ratio 1.5 to 1. They were categorized into three age groups, first, up to 1 year comprised 17.5% cases, who were solely dependent on parents or childminder; second 2 to 5 years of age, who were inquisitive, independent, pre-school children, and constituted the majority of cases (73%), and third 6 to 12 years who were 9.5% school children. ⋯ Three patients (0.8%) with 3rd degree burns were treated with primary excision and grafting, and 137 (35.3%) needed secondary skin grafting for residual burn wounds. Four patients (1%) died, one due to burn shock, two due to septicemia and one due to multiorgan failure. There is need for general awareness through public education, which may lead to the prevention of significant number of such accidents.
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The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of morbidity and mortality due to injuries in the population over the age of 14 years in Barcelona, Spain. Injury distribution according to sex, age, external cause, place of occurrence of the injury and severity was also obtained. A one-year survey was conducted in the emergency departments of the six main hospitals in Barcelona, based on a multistage sampling. ⋯ Ninety-six percent of injury cases had an ISS value of 8 or less, mean ISS being highest for traffic injuries and falls. Injury morbidity and mortality amongst residents of Barcelona follow sex, age and cause of injury patterns which are, overall, comparable to those observed in other industrialized countries, suggesting that similar etiologic factors might be operating in those areas. The results should enable the orientation of injury prevention policies in the urban environment targeted on the young and the elderly population.
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Epidemiological characteristics of 892 adult patients with typical Erythema migrans (Em), registered at Lyme borreliosis Outpatients' Clinic, Department of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1993, are presented. Data were gathered prospectively by means of a questionnaire. All the patients were seen by at least one of the four authors of this report. ⋯ They were bitten by ticks predominantly near their homes but some of them also quite far away. Slovenia is an endemic region for Lyme borreliosis. The number of cases presented in our report is most likely only a fraction of the real number of patients with Em in the region of Ljubljana and is even further underestimated for other parts of Slovenia.
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A report is presented about studies on poliovirus type 3 isolates from vaccine-associated cases or contacts of cases of paralytic poliomyelitis, observed over a period of 30 years in East Germany (former GDR). In the viral isolates, some mutations were found in comparison to the Sabin vaccine type 3 strain, distributed over the whole genome. ⋯ In five isolates, intertypic recombination between Sabin type 3 and Sabin type 1 vaccine strain occurred. Primary and secondary structures were analysed for the recombination sites.
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The prevalence of ticks infected with F. tularensis was followed during a systematic surveillance in endemic area of tularemia in western Slovakia over the years 1984-93. Ticks were collected from vegetation in localities of Podunajské Biskupice, in the vicinity of the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, near the river Danube. In total 6033 ticks, mostly adults of Dermacentor reticulatus and Ixodes ricinus (4994 and 1004, respectively) and 35 nymphs of Haemaphysalis concinna, were examined for the presence of F. tularensis. ⋯ In addition, solely the development of antibodies against the agent was confirmed in 6 rabbit hosts. The presence of F. tularensis in all the above mentioned tick species and namely the relatively high and permanent infestation of D. reticulatus adults, ranging between 0.5-2% during the followed time period, demonstrated the maintenance of active natural focus of tularemia in the area under study. The present paper also emphasizes the epidemiologic consequence of various species of ticks in endemic foci of tularemia and the aspect of possible ways of transmission of the agent to humans.