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Background: Liquid pericarditis is a frequent cause of hospitalization in developing countries. Objective: of this study was to describe the etiological and evolutionary aspects of fluid pericarditis in pediatric cardiology at ICA. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 42 cases of fluid pericarditis diagnosed among 202 children hospitalized over a five-year period (1 st January 2009 to 31 st December 2014). All patients with pericardial effusion were included in the study. Results: Prevalence was estimated at 20.8% of hospitalizations, sex ratio was 1.1 with a female predominance (52%) and the mean age at 9.2 years (11 days to 15 years). The etiologic varieties identified were: tuberculosis 22 cases, 52%, rheumatic pericarditis 6 cases or 14.3%, chronic parietal endocarditis 5 cases (11.9%), bacterial pericarditis with trivial germ 3 cases (7.1% 3 cases (7.1%), post-surgery syndrome 2 cases (4.8%), umbilical post-catheterization 1 case (2.4%). HIV serology was positive in 11.9% of cases. The progression was favorable in 55% of the cases with 10% of deaths. Conclusion: Fluid pericarditis in children is a severe condition that is clearly on the rise today, especially in immunocompromised patients. Optimal management of fluid pericarditis in children is the best guarantee to avoid short-term tamponade and in the medium term constriction.

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Aim: Seizures are common neurological disorders in the pediatric age group and occur most often in children at home. The study was aimed at identifying the different practices initiated at home by parents to their children during a first episode of seizure. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done at the Pediatrics unit of the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital over a six months period. A total of 100 mothers were interviewed from 1 st March to 31 st August 2014. Enrolled in the study were mothers whose children were hospitalized after the first episode of seizure. The children also had to be the first among siblings. Data collected included socio demographic variables and attitudes towards the convulsing child, and were entered into a pre-tested questionnaire. Results: We noted that 44% of the mothers were within the 20-30years age group, 42% unemployed, 69% single mothers and 57% had attended secondary school. Most parents (74%) had tried to stop the seizure using inhalation of a strong odor or smoke from burnt clothes (13.4%), putting an object into the child's mouth (8.7%), auto-medication (6.3%) and forcing the child's head inside the latrine (5.5%). Despite these harmful methods to stop the seizures, 98% of the mothers still brought their children to the hospital afterwards. Conclusion: Overall, the practices of the parents towards seizures were inappropriate and harmful. It is thus important that health professionals inform and educate parents on seizures, and on home management before taking them to a health facility.

Objective: To describe the growth profile of breastfeeding babies following early introduction of infant formulas to improve the feeding pattern of the young infant. Methodology: This is a longitudinal descriptive study conducted in 2 medical clinics in Abidjan from 11-Jun-2013 to 15-Dec-2016 on 100 healthy newborn babies with the introduction of infant formulas before 6 months of life. The anthropometrics parameters were compared to those of WHO. Results: The exclusive breastfeeding rate was 5%. Ablactation occurred within 12 months in 95% of cases. All Infants have doubled and tripled their birth weight at 3 and 9 months respectively. The height and the head circumference at birth increased by 50% and 37% respectively at 12 months. Compared to WHO growth charts, the weight gain for the girls at 3 months was 12.4% higher and for the boys was 7.3% higher at 6 months. On the other hands, the statural gain at 12 months was 50% lower than the WHO standards while the head circumference was 37.8% and 45.5% higher than the WHO standards in boys and girls respectively. At 3 months, the prevalence of stunting was 26.1% for boys and 13.3% for girls. Lastly, at 12 months, the BMI showed 10% overweight and 19% obesity. Conclusion: Breastfeeding associated with an early introduction of infant formulas increases the risk of malnutrition of the young infant. We advise to avoid it and recommend an exclusive breastfeeding.

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The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence, the characteristics of hypoglycaemia in the newborn admitted to emergency departments of teaching Hospital of Treichville, Abidjan and to evaluate the relevance of capillary blood glucose in this diagnosis. Patients and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was held from 01 February to 25 June 2017 in the Pediatric Emergency Department. It involved 201 newborns under 24 hours of age who consulted in pediatric emergency for any reason. Data were collected from parent direct interviews, analysis of the follow-up record, physical examination of the newborn, results of glucose level in the capillary blood at heel and in venous blood. On dry tube and gray tube (containing sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate), the blood glucose on the latter tube constituting the reference blood glucose, with neonatal hypoglycaemia defined by a venous blood glucose less than or equal to 2.5 mmol/l (0.45 g/l). The statistical tests used were the frequency comparison, the Chi Square, the Fisher Test with a significance threshold p < 0.05 or the Odds-ratio with a confidence interval of 95% and a significance threshold of 5%, but also with the correlation coefficient. Results: Newborns of less than 3 hours of life (70.6%) were the most represented with a male predominance (sex ratio = 2.9). The reasons for consultation were dominated by neurological disorders (36.5%), prematurity (31.8%), and fever (22.2%). The average time to complete the blood glucose test was less than one hour after the sampling in 6.5% of the cases. The mean blood glucose was 0.59 g/l (3.28 mmol/l) with extremes ranging from 0.15 to 1.8 g/l (0.83 mmol/l to 10 mmol/l). The prevalence of hypoglycemia by the instantaneous glycemic method was 15.9%. On tube containing sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate, it was 20.4%, while the prevalence of red blood cell hypoglycemia was 38.1%. A good correlation was found between capillary glycemia and gray tube with r = 0.97. Signs associated with hypoglycemia were predominantly male (p < 0.05), prematurity (p < 0.05). As for cerebral suffering, it had proved to be a protective factor (Fisher: 0.002). The mortality rate was 2.5%. Hypoglycemia was not found. Conclusion: Hypoglycaemia is relatively common in our working setting, particularly in premature infants. However, it should be carefully sought in any newborn admitted to emergency regardless of the reason for admission. The use of capillary blood glucose proves to be a good alternative because it allows a fast management.