Global Update

Indian Pediatrics 2002; 39:1083

News in Brief

The return of the wild virus: The conquest of polio eludes us still. And if India is the last remaining reservoir in the world, Uttar Pradesh is India’s festering sore. From 265 cases of polio in 2000 and 237 in 2001, it is a national shame that already in 2002 we have 407 cases of which 347(85%) are from UP. The other states reporting cases are Bihar (19), West Bengal (14), Gujarat (6), Uttaranchal (7), Jharkhand (5), Maharashtra (3), Delhi (4) and Haryana (2). Each case of wild polio, means there have been 200-400 infections. It is said that the continued circulation of the wild virus owes it’s existence in UP to even wilder rumours that OPV is an antifertility vaccine devised by americans and may even transmit HIV/AIDS. In certain muslim predominant areas of rural Bengal, women who got their children immunized were beaten up and cases of polio have shot up from 1 last year to 22 (eBMJ 21 September 2002, The Times of India 3 October 2002).

Doctor Grouchy: Recent research by social scientists suggests that doctors have misplaced their funny bones. To study this ticklish issue, scientists videotaped 250 conversations between patients and doctors. Funnily, patients laughed 4 times more than doctors and in 70% of cases, the doctor failed to laugh back. Laughter is considered an invitation to come closer and failure to reciprocate may strain the atmosphere. Doctors laughed in a bare 10% of cases. This study "Laughter in medical interaction" may sound frivolous, but many good doctors would agree, that in many cases, laughter is still the best medicine (eBMJ 14 September 2002, Journal of Sociolinguistics 2002;6:207-235).

Winter woes: When you link data from the meteorological department and out patient consultations, what do you get? A serendipitous discovery that for every 1degree fall in temperature below 5 degrees, a 10.5% increase in OPD consultations occur, not the same day, but 15 days later. This study done using a database of more than 40,000 patients attending varous doctors in London, suggests that the delayed increase in upper respiratory tract infections, could be because of increased viral transmission due to indoor habits and overcrowding in cold weather. If falling temperatures affect the respiratory tract, the link between rising temperature and the GI tract will surely be evident in an Indian context (eBMJ 21 September 2002, International Journal of Epidemiology 2002;31:825-830)

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