Articles: mortality.
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Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol. · Apr 1996
Perinatal morbidity and mortality in offspring of diabetic mothers in Qatif, Saudi Arabia.
Diabetic mothers and their offspring were prospectively studied. Perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality data were analysed. Out of 11,677 deliveries in the hospital, 133 (1.14%) were delivered by diabetic mothers. ⋯ Poor maternal diabetic control resulted in high perinatal morbidity and mortality in the offspring. In order to improve the outcome in offspring of diabetic mothers in Qatif and probably Saudi Arabia as a whole, health education and improved care of the diabetic mothers during pregnancy urgently needed. This may be true of other developing countries where data on diabetes in pregnancy are scarce.
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Current laboratory techniques cannot distinguish the mode of vertical transmission (intrauterine, intrapartum, or postnatal) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from mother to infant. The ability to transmit HIV-1 via breast feeding has been established in 24 case reports, primarily involving mothers who seroconvert after delivery. Whether breast-feeding adds a notable additional risk of HIV-1 infection to the risk from pregnancy is controversial. ⋯ Pasteurization and storage enhance the intrinsic, antiviral properties of human milk. Banked human milk is pasteurized to destroy the HIV-1 virus but retains properties that may be helpful to infants of HIV-1-positive mothers in developed countries where breast-feeding is not recommended. For infants in populations where the infant mortality rate is high, the risk of death associated with HIV infection acquired via breast milk is lower than the risk associated with not being breast-fed.
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During a 5-month study period, 323 of 863 (37.5%) children below 5 years of age admitted to Shongwe Mission Hospital in rural South Africa were malnourished, two-thirds severely so. The incidence of bacteraemia in malnourished children was 9.6%, 11.8% in those severely malnourished and 5.8% in nutritional dwarfs. The predominant organisms retrieved were Gram-negative enteric bacilli (48.5%). ⋯ The case fatality rate of severely malnourished bacteraemic children was 20.8%. In malnutrition categories overall, the case fatality rate for bacteraemic children (22.6%) was significantly greater than in those without bacteraemia (9.3%). In hospitals with limited resources, full identification of bacteria may not be necessary, provided that regular surveillance for emerging resistance is conducted.