Decision support for management of febrile children ages 2 months to 5 years in tropical developing countries.
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Developing countries rarely have enough physicians to follow the traditional diagnostic process found in wealthier nations. Initial diagnoses often must be made by non-physician personnel. In order to enhance the quality of these diagnoses, we have built an expert decision-support system for triaging childhood fever cases for malaria, measles, and acute respiratory infections. The user is guided through a series of questions that produces clinical care guidelines tailored to the patient's condition. (+info)
Experiences and challenges in data monitoring for clinical trials within an international tropical disease research network.
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BACKGROUND: Models for the structure and procedures of data and safety monitoring boards (DSMBs) continue to evolve in response to issues of new and of old concern. Some authors have called for an open dialogue on these questions through publication of the experiences of DSMBs in addressing them. PURPOSE: The goal of this paper is to add to the current discussion about acceptable models for establishing, serving on, and reporting to monitoring committees, particularly those that oversee multiple studies in less developed countries. The paper seeks to do so by describing the establishment and subsequent operation of one such multi-trial DSMB over a five-year period. This DSMB was formed to monitor trials conducted by members of the International Centers for Tropical Disease Research (ICTDR) network of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). METHODS: The operational model and experiences are summarized by the authors, who had immediate responsibilities for directing the DSMB's activities. RESULTS: The board played an active, traditional role in assuring that patient safety was maintained and that current standards for clinical research were met. In addition, both NIAID and the board members viewed education of investigators to be an important role for the board to play in this particular setting. This affected the threshold for identifying which trials would be monitored, and it impacted several procedures adopted by the board. LIMITATIONS: This report reflects the observations of those involved in managing the DSMB, including comments offered by the DSMB and by investigators, but not data gathered in a systematic way. CONCLUSIONS: The operational model described here has allowed the DSMB to fulfill its role in the oversight of the trials. We hope that the ideas we present may help others facing similar situations and may stimulate further critical thinking about DSMB structure and function. (+info)
Space-time clustering of childhood malaria at the household level: a dynamic cohort in a Mali village.
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BACKGROUND: Spatial and temporal heterogeneities in the risk of malaria have led the WHO to recommend fine-scale stratification of the epidemiological situation, making it possible to set up actions and clinical or basic researches targeting high-risk zones. Before initiating such studies it is necessary to define local patterns of malaria transmission and infection (in time and in space) in order to facilitate selection of the appropriate study population and the intervention allocation. The aim of this study was to identify, spatially and temporally, high-risk zones of malaria, at the household level (resolution of 1 to 3 m). METHODS: This study took place in a Malian village with hyperendemic seasonal transmission as part of Mali-Tulane Tropical Medicine Research Center (NIAID/NIH). The study design was a dynamic cohort (22 surveys, from June 1996 to June 2001) on about 1300 children (<12 years) distributed between 173 households localized by GPS. We used the computed parasitological data to analyzed levels of Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae and P. ovale infection and P. falciparum gametocyte carriage by means of time series and Kulldorff's scan statistic for space-time cluster detection. RESULTS: The time series analysis determined that malaria parasitemia (primarily P. falciparum) was persistently present throughout the population with the expected seasonal variability pattern and a downward temporal trend. We identified six high-risk clusters of P. falciparum infection, some of which persisted despite an overall tendency towards a decrease in risk. The first high-risk cluster of P. falciparum infection (rate ratio = 14.161) was detected from September 1996 to October 1996, in the north of the village. CONCLUSION: This study showed that, although infection proportions tended to decrease, high-risk zones persisted in the village particularly near temporal backwaters. Analysis of this heterogeneity at the household scale by GIS methods lead to target preventive actions more accurately on the high-risk zones identified. This mapping of malaria risk makes it possible to orient control programs, treating the high-risk zones identified as a matter of priority, and to improve the planning of intervention trials or research studies on malaria. (+info)
Leonard Rogers KCSI FRCP FRS (1868-1962) and the founding of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine.
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Sir Leonard Rogers made enormous research contributions to 'medicine in the tropics', especially in Bengal where the spectrum of disease was already well delineated. He also did much to enhance the formal discipline of tropical medicine. But perhaps his most lasting memorial lies in the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine--that occupied a decade of politicking and stress--which survives to this day and is a timely reminder of a past era in India. It is not widely appreciated, however, that the original impetus for this institution came not from Rogers but from a young medical practitioner, Alfred McCabe-Dallas, attached to an Assam tea plantation. (+info)
Fever in returned travelers: results from the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network.
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BACKGROUND: Fever is a marker of potentially serious illness in returned travelers. Information about causes of fever, organized by geographic area and traveler characteristics, can facilitate timely, appropriate treatment and preventive measures. METHODS: Using a large, multicenter database, we assessed how frequently fever is cited as a chief reason for seeking medical care among ill returned travelers. We defined the causes of fever by place of exposure and traveler characteristics. RESULTS: Of 24,920 returned travelers seen at a GeoSentinel clinic from March 1997 through March 2006, 6957 (28%) cited fever as a chief reason for seeking care. Of patients with fever, 26% were hospitalized (compared with 3% who did not have fever); 35% had a febrile systemic illness, 15% had a febrile diarrheal disease, and 14% had fever and a respiratory illness. Malaria was the most common specific etiologic diagnosis, found in 21% of ill returned travelers with fever. Causes of fever varied by region visited and by time of presentation after travel. Ill travelers who returned from sub-Saharan Africa, south-central Asia, and Latin America whose reason for travel was visiting friends and relatives were more likely to experience fever than any other group. More than 17% of travelers with fever had a vaccine-preventable infection or falciparum malaria, which is preventable with chemoprophylaxis. Malaria accounted for 33% of the 12 deaths among febrile travelers. CONCLUSIONS: Fever is common in ill returned travelers and often results in hospitalization. The time of presentation after travel provides important clues toward establishing a diagnosis. Preventing and promptly treating malaria, providing appropriate vaccines, and identifying ways to reach travelers whose purpose for travel is visiting friends and relatives in advance of travel can reduce the burden of travel-related illness. (+info)
Spectrum of congenital heart disease in a tropical environment: an echocardiography study.
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Echocardiography is a major mode of cardiovascular imaging with versatile applications. Modern two-dimensional echocordiographic techniques provide a comprehensive means for evaluating virtually all forms of congenital heart disease (CHD) found in both adults and children. CHD is an abnormality in cardiocirculatory structure or function that is present at birth, even if it is discovered much later. We set out to describe the spectrum of CHD using echocardiography in two centers in Kano, northern Nigeria. In this retrospective study, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) data collected from two echocardiography laboratories in Kano over a period of 48 months (June 2002 to May 2006) were reviewed. Patients with diagnosis of congenital heart disease were selected. Information obtained from the records included the age, gender, clinical diagnosis and echocardiographic findings. One-hundred-twenty-two patients had CHD, making 9.3% of the 1312 patients with abnormal echocardiograms. There were 73 males and 49 females (ratio 1.5:1); and their ages ranged from nine days to 35 years. Forty-one (33.6%) children presented for echocardiography before the age of one year, and 69% presented before the age of five years. Thirteen (10.6%) were > or =18 years. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most common echocardiographic diagnosis present in 56 patients (45.9%). Thirty-two (26.2%) had tetralogy of Fallot, and 15 (12.3%) had atrial septal defect (ASD). Ten (8.2%) had endocardial cushion defect, and nine (7.4%) had other congenital heart abnormalities. Coarctation of the aorta and aortic stenosis were rare. CHD is a common cardiovascular problem in our setting, and a number of patients were diagnosed in adulthood. With increasing availability of echocardiographic facilities, more cases of CHD are likely to be identified early. (+info)
Gender differences in determinants and consequences of health and illness.
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This paper uses a framework developed for gender and tropical diseases for the analysis of non-communicable diseases and conditions in developing and industrialized countries. The framework illustrates that gender interacts with the social, economic and biological determinants and consequences of tropical diseases to create different health outcomes for males and females. Whereas the framework was previously limited to developing countries where tropical infectious diseases are more prevalent, the present paper demonstrates that gender has an important effect on the determinants and consequences of health and illness in industrialized countries as well. This paper reviews a large number of studies on the interaction between gender and the determinants and consequences of chronic diseases and shows how these interactions result in different approaches to prevention, treatment, and coping with illness. Specific examples of chronic diseases are discussed in each section with respect to both developing and industrialized countries. (+info)
"The English disease" or "Asian rickets"? Medical responses to postcolonial immigration.
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Do the former colonizing powers, like their former colonies, have "postcolonial medicine," and if so, where does it take place, who practices it, and upon whom? How has British medicine in particular responded to the huge cultural shifts represented by the rise of the New Commonwealth and associated postcolonial immigration? I address these questions through a case study of the medical and political responses to vitamin D deficiency among Britain's South Asian communities since the 1960s. My research suggests that in these contexts, diet frequently became a proxy or shorthand for culture (and religion, and race), while disease justified pressure to assimilate. (+info)