1 Risk correlates of acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age in slums of Bankura, West Bengal, Avisek Gupta1, Gautam Sarker2, Ranabir Pal3
Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally in children under five years of age. Objective: To find out prevalence and risk factors of ARI among under five children. Methods: A population based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the urban slums of Bankura, West Bengal on the prevalence of ARI and feeding practices, nutrition and immunization among 152 children under five years of age. Results: Overall prevalence of ARI was 44.73 percent; 43.47 percent male and 45.78 percent female were affected with ARI; half of the infants suffered from ARI (51.21), it was 45.71 percent in 13- 24 months age groups; with increasing age, prevalence of ARI gradually decreased. ARI was seen in 45.76 percent of exclusively breast fed children and 57.89 percent in children with breast feeding less than six months; in bottle fed children ARI prevalence was 47.82 compared to 44.18 percent in breast-fed. Risk of ARI is almost equal in normal participants and undernourished children. ARI cases were seen among 38.73 percent of completely immunization in comparison to 80.00 percent of partially-immunized children (X2=4.97, p=0.026). Conclusion: The present study had identified a high prevalence of ARI in children less than five years of age. In our study population, ARI was significantly associated with immunization status, but not with feeding practices and nutritional status of the child.
2 Analysis of phlebotomy blood losses in neonates in a tertiary care hospital, Amit Agrawal, Shweta Goyal
Introduction: Blood loss due to laboratory testing is greatest for the most premature neonates with very low birth weight who require many weeks of intensive support and monitoring. Objective: The purpose of this study was to find out the volume of blood withdrawn for analytical purposes in neonates. Design: Retrospective chart analysis Setting: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a tertiary care teaching hospital of central India Participants: Neonates admitted to NICU over a period of three months. All medical records of recruited patients were reviewed and amount of blood withdrawn for analytical purposes was recorded. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measures: The amount of blood overdrawn per test and blood overdrawn per newborn. Results: A total of 153 neonates were admitted to the NICU during the study period. A total of 684 samples were performed, corresponding to 4.47±3.36 (range 1-17) per neonate. The mean volume of blood removed was 9.38 ml ± 8.8 ml per newborn (range 1 -51 ml). The amount of blood withdrawn was inversely proportional to the gestational age and birth weight i.e., neonates less than 32 weeks gestation and those with birth weight
3 Gluteal rhabdomyosarcoma in a newborn – case report, Prakash Agarwal, RK Bagdi, V Raghupathi
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue malignancy of childhood; however, can be seen very rarely in the neonatal period also. It may arise anywhere in the body; head and neck, and genitourinary regions being the most frequent sites. Truncal and gluteal rhabdomyosarcoma is relatively rare occurrence. We report a neonate with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma arising from the gluteal muscles at birth. Ultrasonography and Magnetic resonance imaging raised the possibility of hemangioma lymhangioma. Total excision was done and chemotherapy given. The child had a recurrence after 6 months where the nodule along with the scar was excised. A chemoport was introduced and the child underwent further 4 cycles of chemotherapy after recurrence. He is well on 2 years follow up without any disability.
4 Tuberculous Aortic Root Abscess in a child: A case report, Jagdish Prasad Meena, Josmy Jose, Monica Juneja, Devendra Mishra, Rashmi Dixit, Aniruddha Vyas
Although tuberculous aortitis is fairly common in adults, tuberculous mycotic aneurysm of aorta is rare with involvement of aortic root being very uncommon. The diagnosis depends on a combination of clinical criteria, including persistent fever and bacteraemia and echocardiographic confirmation. Because of the rarity of aortic root abscess in children, there is no consensus on a treatment strategy. We describe a 10-year-old male who presented with fever, abdominal pain and headache, and was found to have disseminated tuberculosis and aortic root abscess with mycotic aneurysm. Due to the presence of evidence of tuberculosis elsewhere in the body (multiple tuberculomas in brain, granulomas in liver, lichen scrofulosorum over abdomen), therapy with anti-tuberculous drugs was started to which the patient responded partially, but later died suddenly at home.