Introduction: Group A hemolytic streptococcal infections have a worldwide distribution among children and it poses an important health problem globally. Group A streptococcal (GAS) serology is used for the diagnosis of post-streptococcal diseases, such as acute rheumatic fever, post-streptococcal Glomerulonephritis and occasionally for the diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis. Upper normal limits for streptococcal serology should be determined for individual populations because of differences in the epidemiology of GAS between populations. Material & Methods: Study materials were divided in 3 groups. Group-A (normal children population), group-B (children clinically diagnosed as acute bacterial sore throat) and group-C (children clinically diagnosed rheumatic fever). ASO titer & throat culture were assessed in all three groups. Result: When cut off range of ASO titer is >200 IU/ml, it is positive in 20%, 38% and 54.4% in Group A, B and C respectively. But When titer range increased to >400 IU/ml, it was positive in 40 %, 36.84% and 44.44% cases from Group A, B & C respectively. Conclusion: Cut off point of 200 IU/ml has limitations in our setup. Use of western cut off 200 IU/ml needs to be revised in relation to local epidemiology to get less false positive results.
Background: Paediatric asthma is one of the most common chronic illnesses in childhood and affects the quality of life in children. Anti-asthmatic drugs used in children may result in a beneficial and adverse drug reaction (ADR) and could contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. Several studies report about the safety and efficacy of asthma medications in adults but the information in children is limited. Hence, the current study was aimed to investigate about safety and efficacy of anti-asthmatic drugs in children. Material and Methods: A prospective, observational, non-interventional study of children who presented between January 2018 and December 2019 to the Department of Paediatric of Noor Hospital. Pediatric patients of bronchial asthma (both acute and chronic cases) of either gender within the age limit of 1-13 years who attended the outpatient department (OPD) as well as the inpatient department (IPD) were included in the study. Patients who are <1 and >13 years, patients with other co-morbid conditions like TB, Diabetes/renal failure or any other systemic disorders, or who were immunocompromised were excluded. Results: Out of 120 patients, most of the pediatric patients suffering from asthma 42% were found in the age group of 5-8 years followed by (39%) 1-4 years and the last one is 9-13 years (19%). Demographic analysis of data revealed that there were 61.6% male and 38.4% female in the study. Out of 120 Paediatric asthma patients, 34.1% were suffering from mild persistent and the remaining 59.1% were patients of moderate persistent and 6.6% are least one of severe asthma. The percentages of the patients who were 58.4% treated with a single anti-asthmatic drug (monotherapy) excluding other concomitant medications used together. 41.6% of children were treated with anti-asthmatic drug combinations. The overall utilization of Anti-asthmatic drugs among pediatric asthma patients was found to be shortacting β2 Agonists (32.5%) long-acting β2 agonist (LABA) (9.1%), steroids (14.1%) and leukotriene modifiers (2.5%). The most commonly reported ADRs were 2.5% of headache, 1.6% of palpitation, dryness of mouth, sore throat, anorexia, and 0.8% of oral candidiasis nausea/vomiting. Conclusion: It has been concluded that a study may be more meaningful to further improve the prescribing as well as dispensing practices of the pharmacist through the successful implementation of interventional programs in health centers.
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