Background: Azithromycin sensitivity cannot precisely identify the strains of typhoid and paratyphoid fever for successful treatment. Most of the studies show that azithromycin is highly effective in uncomplicated typhoid fever. Very few studies have been carried out in Bangladesh to see the effectiveness and sensitivity of azithromycin in children with uncomplicated typhoid fever. Objective: To assess the clinical response of azithromycin in uncomplicated typhoid fever. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted in Dhaka Shishu (children) Hospital from January to December 2009. Children between 2–12 years of age with characteristic clinical presentation of uncomplicated typhoid fever with positive blood culture for S. typhi or S. paratyphi were included in this study. Patients were treated with oral azithromycin 20 mg/kg/day for 7 days in one group and intravenous ceftriaxone 100 mg/kg/day in another group. Effectiveness and sensitivity pattern were documented and compared. Results: Fifty patients were allocated randomly with azithromycin and 48 with ceftriaxone. Twenty two percent of the subjects were below 5 years and 78% above 5 years. Average time of defervescence was 4.44 ± 1.25 days in azithromycin group and 4.38 ± 1.21 days in ceftriaxone group. Response to treatment in both groups was excellent: 94% in azithromycin and 97.9% in ceftriaxone groups. The occurrence of complication was very low in both groups. Eighteen percent showed resistance to azithromycin and 2.1% to ceftriaxone. In azithromycin sensitive group 97.6% showed improvement and in resistant group 77.8% showed improvement. A good percentage of patients who were resistant to azithromycin showed clinical improvement following treatment with this drug. Conclusion: Current study recommends that azithromycin is effective in the treatment of enteric fever in children. The study also shows that some patients resistant to azithromycin showed clinical improvement following treatment with azithromycin. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jemc.v5i1.21495 J Enam Med Col 2015; 5(1): 34-38

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Background Wilson disease (WD) is an inherited disorder of copper metabolism commonly involving the liver, cornea, and brain. Its incidence is increasing day by day worldwide. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are the key for best outcome. Material and methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was done from January 2014 to December 2019. Sixty children of both genders between 3 and 18 years were diagnosed by clinical and laboratory profile meeting selected criteria. Results Mean age was 8.42 ± 2.6 years and male female ratio was 1.5:1. Consanguinity of marriage was found in 38.3% cases. Seventy percent of cases were hepatic, 16.7% were neuropsychiatric, 5.0% were hepatic with neuropsychiatric, and 8.3% cases were manifested asymptomatically. Asymptomatic and hepatic WD were reported between 3 and 10 years and most of the neuropsychiatric and hepatic with neuropsychiatric manifested after 10 years of age. More than 50% cases improved, a little more than 20% children died, 18.4% were unchanged and 6.6% were hepatic added neuropsychiatric manifestations. Most of the asymptomatic (100%) and hepatic (61.9%) cases improved. High mortality was found with 76.9% cases of acute liver failure (ALF), 7.7% case of chronic liver disease (CLD) and 25% cases of CLD with portal hypertension (CLD and PH). Most of the neuropsychiatric cases (90.0%), and approximately two-third (66.6%) of hepatic with neuropsychiatric cases remained unchanged. Neuropsychiatric manifestations were added in 15.4% cases of CLD and 25% cases of CLD with PH patient. The treatment was well tolerated in 66% children without any side effects. Low WBC (6.3%) and platelet count (4.3%), vomiting (6.3%), anorexia (4.3%), loss of taste (4.3%), rash (4.3%), and proteinuria (2.1%) were found in few cases. Conclusion Majority of the children were presented with hepatic manifestations. More than half of patients with WD treated by D-penicillamine (DP) were improved. Significant mortality was found in acute liver failure whereas neuropsychiatric presentations had persistent abnormalities. No major side effects of DP was observed in most of the cases. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment were crucial for better outcome.

not available DS (Child) H J 2021; 38(1): 56-60

Background: Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is the third most common childhood malignancy. With histopathology based intensive chemotherapy and CNS-directed therapy, survival can reach more than 80%. Objective: The study was conducted to observe the clinico-pathological findings of NHL in Bangladeshi children. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in the Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Department of BSMMU from June 2012 to December 2012. Newly diagnosed NHL patients were included in the study. Patient’s initial clinical presentations, time interval from onset of symptoms to diagnosis were recorded. Diagnostic and staging workups were done by CBC, biochemistry, radio-imaging, histopathology (FNAC/excision biopsy), serous fluids/CSF cytology (cytospin), and bone marrow aspiration. Result: Among the 34 patients, BL had preponderance (n=23, 68%) then LL. Median age was 7.6 years. Male: female ratio was 2.1:1. Delayed diagnosis was found in 59% patient. Primary sites were abdomen (65%), thorax (32%), and head-neck (3%). At initial presentation, 83% patients of Burkitt NHL and 100% Lymphoblastic NHL patients came with advanced disease. Bone marrow involvement was found in 23.6% patients and 12% had CNS involvement at their presentation. Irrespective to histology, most common stage was stage-III, which was 53% and then stage-IV was 35%. Median LDH was 1719 U/L. Patient with abdominal variety of NHL came with abdominal complaint like pain (66%), distension (65%), ascites (48%), mass like hepatomegaly (39%), splenomegaly (26%), intussusceptions (8%), testicular involvement (4%). B symptoms were commonly found in 74% patient. Pallor (82%), anorexia, nausea & vomiting (48%), oedema (25%), peripheral lymphadenopathy (49%) were also noticed. In case of thoracic variety of NHL, most common presentation was respiratory distress (90%), superior mediastinal syndrome (SMS) (45%), with high incidence of B symptoms (90%), peripheral lymphadenopathy (72%) with other respiratory finding like chest bulging, mediastinal mass, pleural effusion was also found. Conclusions: About 59% childhood NHL patients tend to present with delayed diagnosis and 88% with advanced disease. Burkitt NHL is the commonest childhood lymphoma, mostly presented with abdominal complaint. Thoracic variety is mostly Lymphoblastic lymphoma. Histopathological findings following excisional biopsy is the most significant and confirmatory for diagnosis. Serum LDH were found significantly high level in both varieties. DS (Child) H J 2021; 37(1): 21-27