PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Waight

Publications and source records attributed to P Waight.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

A collaborative case control study of sporadic hepatitis A in England.

A case control study of sporadic hepatitis A was carried out in 201 districts in England from July 1990 to June 1991. The aims were to determine the risk factors associated with the infection and to identify individuals or groups who might benefit from prophylactic measures, such as human normal immunoglobulin or hepatitis A vaccine. Factors associated with risk of hepatitis A included travel abroad (odds ratio (OR) 19.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.87-80.6), a household contact with hepatitis A (OR 13.5; 95% CI 6.49-28.0) and sharing a household with a child aged 3 to 10 years (OR 1.57; 95% CI 1.1-2.22). This study provided no clear evidence of increased risk in health care workers, teachers, or other occupational groups. A non-significant trend towards an increased risk in nursery nurses and child minders aged 20 to 29 years was observed. Pre-exposure prophylaxis with hepatitis A vaccine may be considered for people who travel frequently to areas where hepatitis A is highly or moderately endemic. Post-exposure prophylaxis with human normal immunoglobulin should be given to contacts of known cases in accordance with national guidelines. Immunoglobulin alone has been recommended in outbreaks, but the use of vaccine alone or combined with immunoglobulin should be evaluated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Rubella surveillance to June 1994: third joint report from the PHLS and the National Congenital Rubella Surveillance Programme.

A downward trend in the incidence of acquired rubella in England and Wales was reversed in 1993 when there were local outbreaks. These affected young adult males in particular, especially those living in college residences. Some spread to local antenatal populations occurred. Twenty-five confirmed infections were reported in pregnant women, most of whom were young and in their first pregnancy; this compares with totals of 12 and two in 1991 and 1992, respectively. Reports of congenital rubella have not risen since the 1993 outbreaks. Diagnosis lags behind birth, however, and further evaluation may be needed. Notifications of 14 infants, including one set of triplets, born with congenital infection since the beginning of 1991 have been received. Nine of the 12 mothers were immigrants, and three of these acquired their infection abroad. Data on antibody prevalence have revealed a large pool of susceptible males aged 10 to 25 years, which indicates that outbreaks in males would continue for some years if no action were taken. The national measles and rubella vaccination campaign in schools this month should abolish the difference in susceptibility between boys and girls up to 16 years of age and hasten progress towards the interruption of rubella transmission in the United Kingdom. Susceptibility in girls aged 13 to 14 years rose to 5.8% in 1993 from an average of 3.6% between 1986 and 1992. This suggests that the vaccination of schoolgirls has recently declined, but this component of the selective rubella vaccination programme will be discontinued after the measles and rubella campaign.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV-1 infection among homosexual men in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVE: To examine surveillance data for evidence of changing sexual behaviour and continuing transmission of HIV-1 among men who have sex with men. DESIGN: Analytic study of surveillance data on sexually transmitted diseases. SETTING: England and Wales. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of cases of rectal gonorrhoea and newly diagnosed HIV infection in homosexual men. RESULTS: New cases of gonorrhoea among men attending genitourinary medicine clinics increased by 7.7% in 1989 and by 4.2% in 1990. Reports of rectal isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae also rose and the male to female ratio for patients with rectal gonorrhoea changed from 0.3:1 during 1988-9 to 2.6:1 in 1990-1. Although the overall number of cases of acute hepatitis B fell during 1988-91, 81 and 82 homosexual men were infected in 1990 and 1991 respectively compared with 50 and 42 in 1988 and 1989. 1526 men had HIV-1 infection diagnosed in 1991, the largest number since 1987. Twenty eight of the 97 (29%) men who seroconverted between January 1989 and December 1991 were aged less than 25. The proportion of men aged 15-19 who were found to be infected with HIV-1 at their first test increased from an average of 2.4% up to 1990 to 4.7% in the first nine months of 1991. The prevalence of HIV infection in men under 25 attending genitourinary medicine clinics in London was 17% compared with 7.8% outside London. CONCLUSION: Unsafe sexual behaviour and HIV transmissions have increased among homosexual men after a period of decline. Recent HIV transmissions may disproportionately affect younger men.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Chronic liver disease. A case control study of the effect of previous blood transfusion.

A means of assessing hepatitis NANB virus infection, via blood transfusion, as a cause of chronic liver disease was investigated in a hospital in each of two cities in England. Patients with chronic liver disease were matched for age and sex with other patients in the same hospital and histories taken included details of previous operations and blood transfusions; if these were within ten years of the study enquiries were made of hospital records officers. All positive histories were found correct, but about one third of previous transfusions had been omitted by both case and control patients. Sixty-seven male and 35 female patients with chronic liver disease and their controls were included in analyses. The only clear difference which emerged related to residence for more than a year in the Middle or Far East by male case- (40%) or control- (21%) patients (P less than 0.05). The exclusion of patients with this history left only 34 pairs in which five (15%) of the case patients and one (3%) of the control patients had a transfusion history: this difference was not statistically significant. Although the study results have shown no clear evidence of blood transfusion as a major cause of chronic liver disease in Britain, the study method, with sufficient numbers to allow analyses of newly diagnosed patients with confirmed transfusion histories, could be used to provide an ongoing assessment of the risk.

Adolescent↗