Diseases In Rural Areas Research Articles

Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in rural area of Hmawbi and urban Yangon city.

With improvements in life expectancy and as more and more people have access to modern medicine, non-communicable diseases are emerging as a health problem in both urban and rural communities in Myanmar. Of all non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are known to be the major health problem. Since many studies that have been conducted in both developed and developing countries have shown a difference between rural and urban communities with regard to cardiovascular diseases, our study had the objective of finding out the prevalence of ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease and rheumatic heart disease in a rural and urban community. The risk of obesity and smoking in the occurrence of CVD was also studied. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three urban townships of Yangon City (Sanchaung, Latha and Pabedan) and one rural township of Hmawbi. The results showed that CVD were a health problem in both the urban and rural communities. Coronary heart disease was seen to be more prevalent in the urban townships than in the rural Hmawbi Township, but hypertension (HT) and rheumatic heart diseases (RHD) were more prevalent in the rural township of Hmawbi. Obesity which has been blamed as the major risk factor for CHD and HT in the developed countries was not found to be a risk factor in the study townships, but smoking was.

Incidence of four sexually transmitted diseases in a rural community: a prospective study.

Despite the fact that incidence studies of sexually transmitted diseases have rarely been performed in rural areas, it is generally assumed that the frequency of such diseases in rural areas is lower than in cities. We studied the incidence of four sexually transmitted diseases in a rural community (population 150,000) located in southern Quebec. Between March and September 1986, a random sample of 41 of 123 general practitioners reported all cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydial genital infection, and genital herpes at the time of diagnosis. In addition, all the specialists of the area who regularly diagnose sexually transmitted diseases reported their cases. For each case contact tracing was attempted. The estimated incidence rate was 584 per 100,000 person-years for at least one of the studied diseases. For chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes, the rates per 100,000 person-years were 470, 149, and 36, respectively. Over 11% of the cases had more than one of these diseases. Of the 114 index cases diagnosed by physicians, 102 were symptomatic, whereas of the 62 contact cases, only 25 were symptomatic (p less than 0.001). In addition, for genital chlamydial infection 84% of female cases were primarily diagnosed by physicians, whereas 64% of male cases were found by contact tracing (p less than 0.001). This study shows that sexually transmitted diseases are a major public health problem in rural communities.

Usefulness of serology for the evaluation of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in endemic areas of Chagas' disease

Thirteen communities from 7 Argentinian provinces were selected for the evaluation of serology as an indicator of transmission of Chagas disease. Of the communities appraised, 6 did not have a history of previous treatment with insecticides and 7 had received sporadic or continuous insecticide treatment. The inhabitants of 20% of the houses of each locality were studied by serology. The samples were obtained by finger pricking and 50 microliters of blood were mixed with 15 microliter of 50% glycerine solution in tissue culture media to be assayed by Indirect Hemagglutination and Indirect Immunofluorescence tests. In untreated areas, the prevalence of infection in infants 0-4 years old was 17.5%, reaching to over 22% for the 5-9 year old group, and to 33.3% in 10-14 year old individuals. The prevalence in treated and surveyed areas was 2.6% in 0-4 year old children, 5.4% in 5-9 year old and 6.2% in 10-14 year old youngsters. The differences between both areas were statistically significant (p less than 0.005). This study favors serology as a valid indicator for the evaluation of transmission of Chagas disease in rural areas.

Epidemiology of gastro-intestinal and respiratory tract diseases in rural areas of Varanasi (India)

The pattern of gastro-intestinal (GIT) and Respiratory tract (RTI) diseases in rural areas of the Varanasi district, U.P. (India) was studied from the outpatient (OPD) attendance between July 1985 to June 1986. Out of a total of new patients, 19.71% had respiratory diseases in contrast to 27.9% with GIT disease. A decreasing trend was observed in attendance rates as age advanced. The difference in age distribution of males and females was statistically significant. The attendance rates for GIT diseases were higher in female (29.16%) than in males (25.16%) whereas in RTI, the rates were higher in males (19.39%) than in females (18.77%). The attendance rate was found to be higher in rainy season (23.59%) followed by summer (14.50%). Diarrhoea (15.44%) and upper (URTI) respiratory tract infection (19.93%) occupied the major recorded episodes.

Fifth African regional conference on sexually transmitted diseases: Report on the sixth conference of the African Union against Venereal Diseases and Treponematoses (AUVDT) held at Harare, Zimbabwe, on 1 to 5 June 1987

The themes of the 1987 African conference on venereal diseases were AIDS penicillinase producing Neisseria gonorrhoea (PPNG) and yaws. The main topic was AIDS as there are an estimated 50000 cases in Africa and millions of people who are asymptomatic carriers. An overview of the problem was discussed including the WHO program and its goals on transmission prevention and reduction of death and sickness. There have been 35 countries reporting AIDS cases to WHO but 13 have not reported any. Over 40 papers were presented on the epidemiology diagnosis transmission and infections of AIDS in Africa. A workshop was conducted on the detection of HIV antibody. The discussion on PPNG strains and its increasing number of cases throughout Africa caused re- evaluation of treatment programs. Over 30 papers were presented on PPNG strains and ranged from epidemiological studies to control and management in developing countries. Clinical features of yaws cases were described and the need expressed for strong action to deal with this resurgence. The remaining time was spent on primary care approaches in diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted diseases in rural areas. The decentralization of these services and their integration in primary care units in developing countries was also discussed.

Hepatic, cholecystic and pancreatic diseases in rural areas.

Hepatic, cholecystic and pancreatic diseases in rural areas.

Epidemiology of heart diseases in rural areas of Japan.

The recent trend of death rates from heart diseases, respectively at farm villages, fishing hamlets, and large towns in Japan, was examined in the variety of existing vital statistics.The chief conclusions are as follows.The trend of crude death rate from heart diseases, for the past ten years, has been year by year rather increasing. Now, examining the death rate by age groups, we find that, at the advanced age over eighty, it has by bits increased, but, at the age below that, it has rather decreased. As for the type of diseases, ischemic heart disease has increased a little at the advanced age, but below the middle age, it has rather decreased, and chronic rheumatic and hypertensive heart diseases have also decreased. On the other hand, heart failure and other heart diseases have rather increased.Examining the trend of death rates from heart diseases for the past 25 years, classified, by using the proportion of industrial inhabitants, into the prefecture of farming, that of fishing, and large cities, we find that the death rate from ischemic heart diseases has been high as to the advanced age in large cities, and the death rate from heart failure and other heart diseases has been high as to the advanced and middle ages in the prefecture of farming.From the above, it has become clear that the chief cause of the increases of heart diseases of recent years is the increase of heart failure and other heart diseases, and that it is chiefly discernible at farming villages.Next, we investigated the death rate. from heart diseases separately of villeges which may intimately be related to our lives, in respect of the three villages and towns in the West Izu. The result is that the death rate is high in the towns, and then in the district of farming, and is the lowest in that of fishing. This kind of examination is expected to be done widely in Japan, and the universal conclusion to be got.In addition to the above, we investigated the trend of death rate from heart diseases, from the “ Special Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspect”, and we clarified and reported that the death rate of agriculture, forestry and fishing workers, as well as urban occupation, was high in degree, and that, from the investigation separately of the cities, towns and villages of Chiba Prefecture, there was a statistically significant relation between the ratio of agricultural population and the death rate from heart diseases.

Host Feeding Profiles of Rhodnius Pallescens (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Rural Villages of Central Panama *

Rhodnius pallescens, reported to be the principal vector of Chagas' disease in central Panama, has been shown to feed on opossums, anteaters, sloths, rodents, birds and, rarely, lizards in sylvatic habitats in this country; however, the extent of its anthropophagic affinities in rural areas has never been determined. The host selections of 1,340 R. pallescens from domestic and peridomestic habitats of three Panamanian villages were determined by microcapillary precipitin tests. Slightly more than half of the triatomines collected in houses and nearby palm trees and bird nests had fed on humans. Opossums, which are important reservoirs of Trypanosoma cruzi in Panama, were the second most frequently selected host. The importance for the transmission of Chagas' disease to humans of the close relationship between the principal vector and reservoir in sylvatic and peridomestic environments and the anthropophagy of the former is discussed. Pigeons and chickens were the dominant bloodmeal sources of triatomines collected in their respective shelters. The roof rat, Rattus rattus, was the third most common mammalian host, and may represent an ancillary reservoir in the transmission of Chagas' diseases in rural areas of Panama.

Conduct Correspondence Education well by Combining Medical Treatment with Teaching: Revolutionary Committee of the Shanghai No. 2 Medical College

Spurred by the movement to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius, our college has committed itself to implementing Chairman Mao's instruction that "new China must care for her youth and show concern for the growth of the younger generation" and that "the focus of medical and public health work should be shifted to the countryside." Under the unified leadership of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, we have conducted, since 1974, a correspondence course on "Prevention and Cure of Common Diseases in Rural Areas" in Fu-yang District of Anhwei Province. Led directly by the Party committee of our college, we strove to combine correspondence education in medical science with public health reform in rural areas and associate the revolution in education with the revolution in health work. With the participation of clinical personnel and teachers of basic medical science, we formed a "Medical Treatment and Teaching Team" [i chiao tui], a traveling medical unit which also runs correspondence medical courses. Experience over the last year has proved that combining correspondence education and medical treatment is a rather effective approach.

A study of the mass examination for cardiovascular diseases in rural areas

The auther investigated a few points in the controle for cardiovascular diseases in rural areas.The results can be summarized as follows;1) Many of the examined had been taken their blood pressure for the first time, and many suffering from the hypertension had not known that they were hypertensive.2) It seemed that the response rates to the examination were influenced not by the staff of the examining team or the content of the examination, but by the duration of the examination or the number of the places offering it.So the method and the content of the examination should be settled according to the circumstance of the areas.3) The health consultation should be started with the mass examination, and be offered continuously after it.It is indispensable to give the health education to their family.

Keratophilic fungi and the prevalence of dermatomycoses in Orissa, India

A survey of rural and urban student populations was undertaken to determine the prevalence of dermatomycoses in the district of Puri (Orissa). Tinea corporis was found to be the predominant disease in rural area whereas t. cruris was dominant in the urban area. T. capitis was absent in both areas.Except for M. gypseum no other dermatophyte was isolated from soil. T. rubrum (87·5%) was the most commonly isolated fungus. Among the geophilic fungi isolated from soil, species of Chrysosporium were found to be the most common.Arachniotus flavoluteus, Petalosporus anodosus, Pseudoarachniotus citrinus, P. hyalinosporus and one unidentified Gymnoascacean were often associated with superficial mycosis. Asexual spores were observed in the isolates of P. nodulosus, P. citrinus and in the unidentified Gymnoascaous isolate.

Statistics of Diseases in Rural Areas during 1952

Statistics of Diseases in Rural Areas during 1952

Tuberculosis in the Far East

THE problem of tuberculosis was one of the subjects dealt with at the Conference of Far Eastern Countries on Rural Hygiene last August (League of Nations. Health Organisation. Report of the Intergovernmental Conference of Far-Eastern Countries on Rural Hygiene. Held at Bandoeng (Java), August, 1937. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 2s. 6d.). Tuberculosis is recognized as being one of the scourges in Eastern countries. Unfortunately, there is an almost complete absence of accurate data concerning the extent and severity of the disease in rural areas. The importance of carrying out preliminary surveys and sample tuberculin tests in the country is advocated. Financial limitations make it important that an anti-tuberculosis campaign should be simple and adapted to local conditions, and the gradual establishment of a network of rural dispensaries would appear advisable. The establishment of sanatoria, in the Western sense, would not seem to be applicable, but simpler institutions are suggested. A scheme for mass research on tuberculin sensitiveness was drafted.

The Control of Infectious Disease in Rural Areas, by D. E. PARRY PRITCHARD, M.D., D.P.H., Medical Officer of Health, Caernarvonshire County Council

The Control of Infectious Disease in Rural Areas, by D. E. PARRY PRITCHARD, M.D., D.P.H., Medical Officer of Health, Caernarvonshire County Council

Typhoid Carriers in Aberdeenshire

In the course of investigations into outbreaks of typhoid in the county for which I act as Medical Officer, I have discovered a number of typhoid carriers whose histories seem worth placing on record as showing the extent to which the endemicity of the disease in rural areas is maintained by carriers. Of twenty-two found, four were identified in 1908, two in 1910, three in 1911, one in 1916, one in 1917, five in 1918, and six in 1919. Five were men and seventeen were women, giving a proportion of 77·3 per cent. of female carriers. Of the chronic typhoid carriers found by the German stations up to the close of 1907, 82 per cent. were women. All of my carriers were intestinal, one being a urinary carrier as well. As in every case attention was directed to the carriers owing to a case or cases of actual typhoid fever occurring; this experience indicates that, as is generally believed, faecal carriers are altogether in excess of urinary carriers, or that urinary carriers may not have the special malignancy commonly attributed to them.