Articles: disease.
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With an increase in travel to tropical countries, the need to improve the disease-risk perceptions of travelers who are either naive or given inappropriate or ineffective advice is becoming increasingly important. More widely available, specialized centers that can provide advice on tropical or travel-related diseases have been established, but their efficacy on travelers' knowledge and health has not been verified. Therefore, this study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the service provided by a routine travel consultation at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases Travel Clinic, London, England. ⋯ Our results show that a face-to-face interview for an average of 18 minutes by trained staff is an effective way of improving travelers' knowledge on certain topics. The slight improvements overall are explained by the levels of experience of travel and previously acquired knowledge of the clients in our study. Effective advice on malaria prevention and some health risks is given during an average consultation; however, there is still a need for improvement in giving information on the management of diarrhea, fever, and other travel diseases.
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Trop. Med. Parasitol. · Mar 1994
Treatment of malaria fever episodes among children in Malawi: results of a KAP survey.
Caretakers of children (< 10 years of age) were questioned about management of pediatric malarial fever episodes in a nation-wide knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey conducted in Malawi. A total of 1,531 households in 30 randomly selected clusters of 51 households each were sampled and interviewed. Overall 557 caretakers reported a fever in their child in the previous 2 weeks; 43%-judged the illness as severe. ⋯ Optimal therapy (administration of an antimalarial promptly and at the proper dosage) was received by only 7% of febrile children. Children taken to clinic were twice as likely to receive optimal therapy as were non-attenders. Identification of critical points in the optimal therapy algorithm and characteristics of caretakers linked with sub-optimal therapy may help malaria control programs target specific groups and health education messages to improve treatment of malaria fever episodes.
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Although malnourished children are stunted, their bone maturity is usually retarded to a comparable degree. This is seen in impoverished societies as well as in diseases such as coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and hormonal deficiency. When these children are followed to adulthood they normally have some degree of spontaneous catch-up. ⋯ The most obvious reason why catch-up is not seen regularly is that an appropriate diet is not available over a sufficient period of time. We do not know the optimum ingredients for such a diet. Sulphur has been neglected as an essential nutrient; its economy should be examined in relation to skeletal growth in stunted populations.