Lancet
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A retrospective survey of burn cases admitted to Alotau Hospital, Papua New Guinea, over a four-year period showed that 48% were due to grass-skirt burns. Most of these occurred in young girls and usually caused full-thickness burns of the buttocks and thigh. ⋯ None of the patients were on anticonvulsants. The population needs to be informed of the dangers of leaving children near open fires, of the value of bundling up children whose grass-skirts catch fire to smother the flames, of the importance of anticonvulsants to chronic epileptics, and of the advantages of seeking medical treatment when burns occur.
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A case of monkeypox infection in a six-month-old baby girl who had been bitten by a wild chimpanzee in Kivu, Zaire, was investigated. The child had not been exposed to any monkeypox-like disease and no cases of such disease had occurred in the surrounding area during previous months. The time of onset of rash was consistent with the virus having been transmitted from the chimpanzee. However, it is still not known whether chimpanzees and other primates or lower mammals are the primary reservoir of monkeypox infection.
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A cytotoxin active on Vero cells, less active on hela cells, and inactive on WI38 cells (Vero toxin [VT]) was detected in stool isolates of Escherichia coli from 8 of 15 sporadic cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). Stools from 5 of these 8 patients were examined for faecal VT activity, and all were positive. ⋯ Thus 11 of 15 (73%) of the HUS cases had evidence of infection by VT+ E. coli, suggesting that there was an association between these organisms and these cases of HUS. The clustering of 2 HUS patients and their siblings with VT+ E. coli accords with this suggestion, as do the rising titres of VT-neutralising antibody in 2 HUS patients.
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Histology or necropsy records of 13 children with accidental or therapeutically induced salicylate intoxication were examined for the presence of hepatic and cerebral pathology findings characteristic of Reye's syndrome. Liver sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin showed intrahepatocytic microvesiculation (10 of 12 children) and absence of significant inflammation or necrosis (10 of 12 children). ⋯ Liver tissue stained with the periodic-acid/Schiff method showed complete absence of stainable glycogen in 5 of 6 children. 9 of 12 children for whom information was available had cerebral oedema. It is concluded that the light-microscopy hepatic findings and the gross cerebral findings for the majority of these children with salicylate intoxication are the same as those for children with Reye's syndrome.