PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

L R Bagg

Publications and source records attributed to L R Bagg.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Rheumatoid arthritis in Kenya. I. Clinical observations.

76 Kenyan Africans with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis are described. Their age, sex ratio, and pattern of joint involvement closely resembled that seen in Europe and the USA and differed from that described in West Africa and rural South Africa. However, they showed a marked lack of systemic nonarticular complications, with relatively little functional incapacity. Radiological grading was carried out on 58 cases, and the changes were found to resemble more closely those seen in an English series than in a Nigerian series.

Adult

Rheumatoid arthritis in Kenya. II. Serological observations.

Sera from 48 Kenyan Africans with rheumatoid arthritis, 43 patients with other diseases, and 98 blood donors were tested for the presence of rheumatoid factor by latex fixation tests using human European, human African, and rabbit immunoglobulin, and a sheep cell haemagglutination test. In the patients with rheumatoid arthritis the frequency of rheumatoid factor was comparable to that reported in series from Europe and the USA, thus differing from the findings in West Africa. In the control patients and blood donors a high frequency of positive tests for rheumatoid factor was found; a similar result has been obtained from population studies in other African countries. Broadly similar results were obtained with each of the latex tests, and these were found to be less specific for rheumatoid arthritis than the sheep cell haemagglutination test.

Adolescent

Serial pulmonary function tests in progressive systemic sclerosis.

Serial pulmonary function tests were performed on nine patients with progressive systemic sclerosis over a mean period of ten years. Abnormality was seen to develop both early and late in the course of the disease, and the earliest abnormality observed was impairment of the transfer factor. Deterioration of some aspect of pulmonary function was noted in each case, evidence of restriction or air trapping being seen with equal frequency. Two patients died, both of causes unrelated to their pulmonary involvement, and even pronounced early involvement of the lungs did not necessarily imply a bad prognosis.

Adult

Medical care in a tropical national reference and teaching hospital: outline study of cost-effectivenees.

During a 28-day prospective audit the cost-effectiveness of treatment in three types of medical wards in a large tropical teaching hospital was assessed. Patients with chronic diseases such as rheumatic heart disease were more expensive to treat than those with acute, curable illnesses such as malaria. It was concluded that the cost of providing treatment could not be reduced without affecting standards of medical care. The expense of running such a hospital might also be justified by its importnat function as a teaching hospital.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

New and old agents in diarrhea: a prospective study of an indigenous adult African population.

We conducted a prospective study 77 indigenous African adults with acute diarrhea seeking care at the major hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, to determine the major pathogens responsible for this syndrome in adults. Fecal and blood specimens were collected and examined for enteric bacterial pathogens, viruses, and parasites. In 13 (26%) inpatients and 11 (49%) outpatients Shigella was found, and heat-labile and heat-stable forms of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli were found in 9 (18%) inpatients and 1 (4%) outpatient. Human revirus-like agent titers rose significantly in another 3 (6%). Amebic dysentery was not seen although hemagglutination-inhibition tests for invasive Entamoeba histolytica were positive in 4 inpatients. An etiologic agent was found in 65% of patients.

Adolescent