Study of urinary tract infection in febrile children below 2 years of age

Background: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in age group 0-2 years is of special interest to clinicians and assumes importance as it can lead to pyelonephritis, septicemia or meningitis in newborn and infants which can be fatal. This study is undertaken to calculate the incidence of UTI in febrile children less than 2 years of age and to compare the incidence with afebrile children visiting pediatric OPD and IPD of SRMS IMS.Methods: Two hundred and two febrile infants and children constituted the case group. A control group, constituted of one hundred and ninety seven, age and sex matched afebrile patients from IPD/OPD. Urine collected was subjected to microscopic and microbiological examination.Results: There were ten cases of UTI in the study group and none was found in the control group. The overall incidence of UTI in febrile infants and children less than 2 years was 4.95%. Infants and children admitted with diagnosis other than UTI were screened for UTI and it was found in 4.6% of the cases whereas babies admitted without definite focus had an incidence of 5.56% which signifies that UTI should be screened in all febrile infants irrespective of their other etiologies of fever. Maternal illiteracy was found to be statistically significant as 5 out of 10 cases of UTI were associated with illiterate mothers.Conclusions: In the present study, we found that the screening of the infants for identification of UTI is useful irrespective of the presence of other etiologies thus early initiation of treatment prevents most complications of UTI, so the importance of early diagnosis cannot be overemphasized

Patch testing experience with 1000 patients

Background: Patch testing is a definitive tool for diagnosing allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). It reveals the prevalence and trends of contact sensitization in the community, thereby paving the way for better standard series. There is paucity of large series of patch-tested patients from India. Aim: To report the 9-year patch-test data from a single general dermatology centre in North India. Methods: Consecutive patients presenting with signs/symptoms of suspected ACD were patch tested from May 1997 to April 2006. The Indian Standard Series was used. Parthenium was tested only in selected patients and cetrimide and chloroxylenol were added to the series. Results: In total, records of 1000 patients (566 male, 434 female) were analyzed, yielding 1155 positive reactions in 590 (59%) patients. Footwear dermatitis was the commonest suspected diagnosis, followed by ACD to medicaments, cosmetic dermatitis and plant dermatitis. Out of the allergens that were tested in all the patients, positivity to nickel was the commonest (12.9%), followed by potassium dichromate (11.1%) neomycin (7%), mercaptobenzthiazole (6.6%), nitrofurazone (6%), colophony (5.7%), fragrance mix (5.5%) and cobalt chloride (5.4%). However, parthenium was the commonest allergen based on the proportion of patients tested with it (14.5%). In men, potassium dichromate (30%) was the commonest sensitizer and in women, nickel (43%) was the commonest to show patch-test positivity. Conclusion: Our study revealed higher prevalence of footwear and medicament dermatitis in comparison to existing data. Allergy to antiseptics is significant in our patients. Further collaborative studies involving patients from other parts of India are required to have an overall view of ACD in India