Background: The febrile child is a common pediatric presentation in both primary care and the emergency department. An assessment of parents’ perception to recognize fever in their child, as well as management practices was the focus of this study. Methods: The study was done prospectively in which interviews were taken by researchers. One hundred and sixty four parents, whose children were less than 14 years old, had fever as one of the presenting complaints and admitted in pediatric department of Rama medical college & research center, Kanpur, were included in this study. Results: Majority of the parents 114 (69.51%) managed the fever initially at home. Only a few parents (17.07%) correctly managed the fever by taking their children to hospital or to a qualified practitioner, rest of the parents primarily rely on local medical store or unqualified practitioner. Conclusion: Parents need to be educated, when they consult health facilities especially during vaccination visits. Decreased appetite was the most common presenting complaint along with fever in children and it should be taken as a significant factor during health education of fever for early and appropriate consultation. [Int J Res Med Sci 2013; 1(4.000): 397-400

Objectives:This designed was designed to estimate the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in infants of up to 6 months of age and to assess clinical and laboratory indicators as predictors of Chlamydia etiology.Materials and Methods:A hospital-based study was conducted in Department of Pediatrics, Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India, where infants up to 6 months of age (n=50) with features of lower respiratory tract infection of at least 1 week duration and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were assessed clinically and underwent laboratory investigations using hemogram, Chest X-ray, and IgM ELISA.Results:Out of 50 infants, 12 (24%) were tested positive by IgM ELISA test for C. trachomatis infection. In age group of up to 2 months 25% positivity was seen whereas it was found to be 31.81% in age group of 2–4 months and 15% in age group 4–6 months. With the ‘P’ value less than 0.05, it was found that there may be an association of seropositivity of C. trachomatis with duration of cough and absolute eosinophil count.Conclusion:Chlamydia trachomatis is an important cause of lower respiratory tract infection in infants below six months of age. The prolonged duration of cough and increased absolute eosinophil count may be good indicator of its etiology.

No abstract

The main objective of this study was to describe the psychiatric disorders seen in patients presenting for treatment in rural New South Wales. The patients were seen primarily in the community, in both public and private practice, but also in the local base hospital and prison. Seven hundred and seven patients were consecutively examined during the study period. The results of this study were compared with a previous Australia-wide study to identify specific disorders that were more prevalent in rural areas. Alcohol abuse and dependence stood out as being much more prevalent. Life problems such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and incest occurred commonly in women referred for psychiatric assessment. More than ten percent of the study patients were children aged under 17, who had similar prevalence rates of the various psychiatric disorders to a national comparison. It is concluded that alcohol abuse is very common in rural New South Wales, particularly in men, although there are also high rates in women, and this is probably related, in part at least, to the high rates of domestic violence, sexual assault and incest. It appears probable that there is a cycle of alcohol abuse in men leading to domestic violence and sexual abuse in women and children. This may contribute to the latter becoming anxious and depressed. The rates of the major functional psychiatric disorders were similar to those seen nationally. There is a great need for the maldistribution of psychiatrists between metropolitan and rural areas to be addressed.

No abstract