About 20% of children admitted during the study period had febrile convulsions, of which 5% were aged below 5 months or above 5 years. The study confirms the view that there is a strong familial predisposition in febrile seizures. Major causes of the rise in temperature in those studied included malaria, which accounted for 32.7%, followed by bronchopneumonia (16.8%), measles (15.4%), otitis media (13.4%) and tonsillitis (10.5%). The morbidity and mortality could be attributable to the socio-cultural background of the community which practices modes of therapy that are often detrimental to the health of patients.
There is a paucity of literature about the pattern of neurological diseases in children attending out-patient departments in Africa. In this study more boys than girls presented at our clinic. Almost all the principal diseases seen are eminently preventable. There appears to be no effective immunization programme. There is need for epidemiological studies to ascertain the true incidence of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in view of the high incidence of measles in the community.
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