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Biomedical subjects

V Joss

Publications and source records attributed to V Joss.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Pulmonary tuberculosis and extreme prematurity.

A mother, newly found to be positive for HIV, delivered her first baby at 25 weeks gestation. The infant initially did well in spite of a symptomatic patent duct and a severe intraventricular haemorrhage, but became severely unwell needing further respiratory support on day 18. Acid fast bacilli were found in endotracheal secretions. After the baby's death, the bacilli were confirmed to be Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the same organism was grown from the mother's urine. The case raised challenging issues in relatively uncharted territory in terms of treatment of the infant, public health issues, ethical decision making, and media management.

Confidentiality↗

Response of graft versus host disease to high doses of methyl prednisolone.

High dose methyl prednisolone (HDMP) was used to treat 25 episodes of graft versus host disease (GVHD) in 13 patients after bone marrow transplantation for aplastic anaemia or acute leukemia. All patients showed rapid improvement of GVHD following HDMP with resolutions of gut and skin manifestations over several days, but liver GVHD was less responsive to treatment. The major complication of treatment was infection and four patients died from infection following HDMP. The mode of action of HDMP may be a nonspecific anti-inflammatory effect but it appears to be rapidly effective in controlling GVH reactions.

Adolescent↗