East African medical journal
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One hundred and three children (1% of seriously ill children referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra) were admitted with bacterial meningitis over a 17 month period. 43 of these children had been ill for more than 4 days before arrival at our centre. The main causative organisms were S. pneumoniae (47.9%), Neisseria meningitides (38.4%) and Haemophilus influenzae (9.6%). All bacterial isolates were highly sensitive to ceftriaxone. ⋯ No significant difference was noted among the three treatment regimens of ceftriaxone alone, penicillin plus chloramphenicol, and ceftriaxone alone for 48 hours followed by penicillin/chloramphenicol combination. Our overall outcome would have been better if patients had been started on appropriate antibiotic treatment within the earlier hours of the infection. Furthermore, the latter generation cephalosporins, including ceftriaxone, must be given consideration as antibiotics of first choice world wide.
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A total of 675 male and female adolescents, aged 10 to 19 years, who were attending the adolescent antenatal clinic at the Kenyatta National Hospital and the Special STD and Skin Disease Clinic in Nairobi, between April 1, 1991 and July 31, 1991, were interviewed by means of partially structured questionnaire, to determine their level of awareness on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection, AIDS and contraception with its relationship to their sexual behaviour and contraceptive practice. Adolescents formed 27.6% of people attending the STD and Skin diseases clinic, of whom 52.9% were females and 41.2% were males. Majority of them were not in any formal employment. ⋯ They were involved with many and different partners, some of whom belonged to the high risk groups for HIV infection as well as STD's. As a reflection of their low awareness on AIDS, most of these sexually active adolescents had not changed their sexual behaviour, nor were they using any protective measure against STD's or HIV infection. The implications of these findings are discussed and possible remedial measures suggested.