News from ECWA Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:07:43 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo News from ECWA Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/609/29/ We now have four patients in the hospital who have a condition called enterocutaneous fistula. They all had surgery at other hospitals for various problems but developed a leak in their intestines so now they have stool leaking out their abdominal wounds or their vaginas. Most come to us very sick, dehydrated, severely malnourished and anemic and some near death. Our approach in helping them is pretty simple; they need food – protein – so we put them on a regimented schedule of taking a soy bean and peanut formula called “kwash pap” because it is used to help malnourished... Stories - Staff stories Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:27:02 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/603/62/ This Lancet article reports an important observational study from South Africa. The authors investigated 358 children aged 1–59 months, regardless of HIV status, who presented with WHO-defined severe or very severe pneumonia. Sixty-eight percent of the children were HIV infected. The empiric treatment used was benzylpenicillin, gentamicin and, for those less than a year old, high-dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. FIndings included the fact that in the infants, 42% failed therapy by 48 hours and 6% subsequently. Many of those failing had polymicrobial infections (more than one organism). M. tuberculosis, S. aureus and, in infants, PCP were common among those failing treatment. The... Journal Club - Pediatrics Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:58:39 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/588/62/ Results Primary outcome data were available for 311 (98.4%) people, 77% of whom were thought to have a psychotic illness. Patients allocated haloperidol plus promethazine were more likely to be tranquil or asleep by 20 minutes than those who received intramuscular haloperidol alone (relative risk 1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.10 to 1.55; number needed to treat 6, 95% confidence interval 4 to 16; P=0.002). No differences were found after 20 minutes. However, 10 cases of acute dystonia occurred, all in the haloperidol alone group. Rapid tranquillisation in psychiatric emergency settings in Brazil: pragmatic randomised controlled trial of... Journal Club - Family practice Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:11:36 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/600/29/ The two day old baby looked so tiny in the middle of the full-size ICU bed. The whole left side of her head and her left eye were swollen and bruised, with scratches here and there. Now and then she would stiffen and shake—convulsions probably due to her head injury. Little Hannah was born on a Saturday night in Blind Town, the area in Jos where many of the blind people, mostly beggars, live. It's a regular community of its own, with customs, rules, and its own chief. Though Hannah's seventeen-year-old single mother was not blind, she did live... Stories - Patients Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:42:48 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/599/62/ The reported incidence of indigenous cholera in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005 ... was 95 times higher than the reported incidence in Asia ... and 16,600 times higher than the reported incidence in Latin America .... In that same year, the cholera case fatality rate in sub-Saharan Africa (1.8%) was 3 times higher than that in Asia (0.6%); no cholera deaths were reported in Latin America. The persistence or control of cholera in Africa will be a key indicator of global efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals and of recent commitments by leaders of the G-8 countries to... Journal Club - Infectious Diseases Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:41:23 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/597/2/ Evangel hospital last week unveiled its brand new digital x-ray machine. For some time we have been struggling with our old machines, and the last one was starting to give images of rather poor quality. The new machine represents our commitment to quality of care and is a big improvement in our ability to diagnose patients. Not only are the images of high quality, but they can be stored and transmitted digitally anywhere in the world. Click on photos for larger view. News - News at Evangel Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:00:27 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/586/62/ This is a short, sobering article that all of us in Africa should read. Perhaps the pandemic will never develop, but the signs are still worrisome. Maybe there is still time to correct some of the deficiencies in policy and practice that are highlighted in this article. Avian influenza H5N1 in Africa: an epidemiological twist. (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS147330990770244X/fulltext?pubType=related)The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007; 7:696-697 DOI:10.1016/S1473-3099(07)70244-X. Journal Club - Avian Influenza Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:12:18 +0100 http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/585/62/ An entire issue (supplement) of Journal of Infectious Diseases is devoted to a look at the rollout or scaling up of antiretroviral treatment in developing countries, mainly South Africa. See the full table of contents (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/journal/contents/v196nS3.html) for articles including How Far Should They Walk? Increasing Antiretroviral Therapy Access in a Rural Community in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?JID38122ABS) Multidrug-Resistant and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Implications for the HIV Epidemic and Antiretroviral Therapy Rollout in South Africa (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?JID38828ABS) and ten other articles. The realities of antiretroviral therapy rollout. (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/journal/contents/v196nS3.html)... Journal Club - HIV Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:56:12 +0100