Mass administration of DEC-medicated salt for filariasis control in the endemic population of Karaikal, south India: implementation and impact assessment.

DEC (diethylcarbamazine)-medicated salt, at a concentration of 0.1 to 0.2 mg per 100 mg, was given to the entire population of Karaikal (119 978) in South India for a 4-year period from 1982. The per capita consumption of DEC in medicated salt was 13.3 grams for the entire period. The prevalence of microfilaraemia declined significantly from 4.5% in 1982 to 0.14% in 1985 and 0.4% in 1993. Vector infection declined from 0.6% in 1982 to zero after two years. The mechanism of preparation and regulated distribution of DEC-medicated salt in the locality is presented. Long-term follow-up suggests that DEC-medicated salt distribution is cheap, safe and efficient for the elimination of filariasis.     

Uncommon neurological manifestations of hemolytic anemia: a report of two cases

Neurological complications of hemolytic anemias are rather uncommon. We are reporting two cases of hemolytic anemia presenting as chorea and recurrent ischemic stroke. The first one is a case of chorea in a patient with sickle cell trait. Reviewing the literature we could find only one case report of chorea in sickle cell disease disease. The second is a case of recurrent ischemic stroke in hereditary spherocytosis. We could trace two reports on a Medline search, though their association was less certain.     

Maternal and fetal outcome in women with epilepsy associated with neurocysticercosis.

AIM: We wanted to characterize the clinical profile and outcome of pregnancy in women with epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis (NCC) enrolled in the Indian Registry of Epilepsy and Pregnancy (IREP). METHODS: We identified all women with NCC in the IREP between January 2000 and September 2005. Age- and parity-matched patients without NCC were identified from the respective centers of IREP for comparison. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 11. RESULTS: There were 30 women with NCC (mean age 24.3 +/- 4 years) among 1071 registrations in the IREP. All the patients had NCC prior to the pregnancy. Fourteen (47%) NCC patients had calcified lesions and 16 (53%) had ring lesions in a CT scan of the brain. Compared to women without NCC, the NCC group had later age-at-onset of seizures (20.7 +/- 4.4 years, p = 0.008) and epilepsy (21.1 +/- 5.2 years, p = 0.01). They were more likely to have partial seizures (70% versus 30%, p = 0.002), an EEG without epileptiform abnormalities (50% versus 100%, p = 0.01), and better control of seizures before (47% versus 3%, p = 0.001) and during pregnancy (33% versus 10%, p = 0.02). Maternal and neonatal complications did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: NCC is an uncommon cause of epilepsy in pregnant women enrolled in IREP. To be noted, as a limitation of our study, that the IREP is a hospital-based registry, which may not reflect global epilepsy characteristics of the community. The maternal and fetal outcome for NCC patients was not different from those women without NCC.