Impact of intermittent preventive anti-malarial treatment on the growth and nutritional status of preschool children in rural Senegal (west Africa).

Negative consequences of malaria might account for seasonality in nutritional status in children in the Sahel. We report the impact of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of seasonal intermittent preventive anti-malarial treatment on growth and nutritional status in 1,063 Senegalese preschool children. A combination of artesunate and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine was given monthly from September to November. In the intervention arm, mean weight gain was significantly greater (122.9 +/- 340 versus 42.9 +/- 344 [SD] g/mo, P < 0.0001) and losses in triceps and subscapular skinfold measurements were less (-0.39 +/- 1.01 versus -0.66 +/- 1.01 mm/mo, and -0.15 +/- 0.64 versus -0.36 +/- 0.62 mm/mo, respectively, P < 0.0001 for both). There was no difference in height increments. The prevalence of wasting increased significantly in the control arm (4.6% before versus 9.5% after, P < 0.0001), but remained constant in intervention children: 5.6% versus 7.0% (P = 0.62). The prevention of malaria would improve child nutritional status in areas with seasonal transmission

No long-term excess mortality after measles infection : a community study from Senegal

Because measles immunization has been found in all studies to reduce mortality with more than the share of deaths attributed to acute measles, the authors examined mortality after measles infection in a study in a rural area of Senegal that included 6924 unimmunized children, of whom 1118 developped measles. Age-adjusted post-measles mortality was similar to the mortality of unvaccinated, uninfected children (mortality ratio (MR) = 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80-1.35). When controlling for source of infection, mortality rate was significantly different for children who contracted measles from a person outside the home (index cases vs. unvaccinated, uninfected MR = 0.27 95% CI 0.009-0.85) and for children infected at home (secondary cases vs. unvaccinated, uninfected MR = 1.10 95% CI 0.80-1.51). Hence, secondary cases had markedly higher long-term mortality than did index cases (MR = 4.13 95% CI 1.26-13.58). These estimates were essentially unchanged when the effects of season, period, separation from mother, size of community, and size of compound were investigated using a multivariate Cox regression model. The authors conclude that measles infection was not associated with increased mortality after the acute phase of infection and that index cases had lower mortality than uninfected, unvaccinated children. The reduction in mortality after measles immunization can therefore not be explained by the prevention of post-measles mortality