We investigate the familial and environmental risk factors associated with asthma among United Arab Emirates schoolchildren aged 6-14 years. A cross-sectional study of 850 schoolchildren living in both urban and rural areas (average age 9.36 +/- 2.11 years; 46.8% boys, 53.2% girls) was conducted using self-administered questionnaires between October 1992 and May 1993. The population sample had a high prevalence rate of diagnosed asthma (13.6%) and allergic rhinitis (22.9%). The frequency of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema among parents and siblings reflected the same pattern as that seen in the children. Environmental risk factors associated with asthma were pets, medicine, plants, dust storm, physical exercise, humidity, and perfume. All other factors, such as foods, climate, and parental smoking, showed no apparent relation to the development of asthma. The logistic regression analysis showed that parental asthma, plants, perfume, dust storm, humidity, and pets were the only significant predictors after adjusting for sex and other confounding covariates in the model. In conclusion, risk factors for asthma identified by our study are similar to those found in other community-based studies. Consistencies and discrepancies between our findings and those from other studies with respect to asthma risk factors support the hypothesis that asthma is a multifactorial disease related to both familial and environmental influences.

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of pets and other domestic animals on bronchial asthma among United Arab Emirates (UAE) schoolchildren aged 6-14 years. A cross-sectional study of 850 schoolchildren living in both urban and rural areas (average age 9.36 +/- 2.11 years, 46.8% boys and 53.2% girls) was conducted using self-administered questionnaires between October 1992 and May 1993. Prevalence rate for asthma, rhinitis, wheeze, cough, and eczema in children from families with and without animals were investigated. A total of 40.7% of families studied were found to keep animals in their homes. Children from families with animals were found to have a significantly higher prevalence rate of respiratory symptoms than those without. The prevalence rate for asthma in children with animals was found to be twice that of children without (RR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.40-2.95). The risk of having chronic cough (RR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.21-3.10), breathlessness/chest tightness (RR: 2.53; 95% CI: 1.59-4.02), chronic wheeze (RR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.20-3.67), allergic rhinitis (RR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.17-2.00) was significantly higher in children with animals than in children without. Similarly, the risk of having eczema (RR: 2.55; 95%, CI: 1.74-3.75) was significantly higher among children with animals than among those without. Overall, there was a highly statistically significant difference in the prevalence of asthma, wheeze, nocturnal cough, eczema, and rhinitis between children in families with animals and those without (p < 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

This study investigated the association of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema in United Arab Emirates (UAE) schoolchildren with allergic conditions in their parents. A cross‐sectional, population‐based study among schoolchildren aged 6–14 years was conducted in Al‐Ain City, UAE. The field survey was conducted from October 1992 to May 1993. A questionnaire was distributed to 850 UAE government school students from representative, randomly selected schools with a majority of UAE nationals. The student and both or either of the parents were present during the interview. A detailed clinical history of asthma and wheezing in the target children and a history of asthma and allergic rhinitis in their parents and siblings were obtained. It was found that 13.1% of asthmatic children had mothers with asthma (relative risk (RR) = 2.67; 95% confidence intervals (CI)= 1.65–4.35), and 15.2% had fathers who were asthmatic (RR = 2.85; 95% CI = 1.81–4.49). This contrasted with 4.4% of nonasthmatic children who had fathers with asthma, and 4.1% who had mothers with asthma. A similar pattern was seen with symptoms of allergic rhinitis when it was found that 34.3% of children who had asthma had mothers with allergic rhinitis (RR: 2.74; 95% CI: 1.90–3.94). The corresponding figure for fathers was 12.7% (RR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.5–1.7). The frequency of either parent of the asthmatic children having allergic rhinitis was 28.6%; for both parents, it was 14.5%. It was also found that asthmatic children had 12.5% of their fathers, 32.8% of their mothers, 26.4% of either of their parents, and 33.3% of both their parents suffering from allergic rhinitis. Siblings of the asthmatic children were also studied to establish the relationship between allergic conditions in the siblings and asthma in the study sample. It was found that in the asthmatic study population the frequency of siblings having asthma was 31.9%; of those having allergic rhinitis, 21.3%; and of those having eczema, 16.1%. Twenty‐nine percent of either of the parents of the children with eczema had the same condition, and the corresponding figure for allergic rhinitis was 36.5%. The prevalence rate of asthma in the schoolchildren studied increased dramatically to 22% when wheeze, asthma, or nocturnal cough were grouped together. When eczema and allergic rhinitis were also considered together along with the above, the rate increased to 31%. The size of the family did not seem to affect the parent/child association of allergic symptoms. Our findings indicate that there is a strong association between respiratory allergies and eczema in parents and in their asthmatic children, thereby indicating a strong genetic basis for the occurrence of asthma in particular and atopy in general.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of asthma among United Arab Emirates school children aged 6-14 years. A cross-sectional study of 850 school children living in both urban and rural areas (average age 9.36 +/- 2.11 years, 46.8% boys and 53.2% girls) was conducted using self-administered questionnaires between October 1992 and May 1993. The population sample had a high prevalence rate of diagnosed asthma (13.6%), breathlessness or tightness in chest (9.7%), allergic rhinitis (22.9%), and nocturnal cough (8.9%). Allergic rhinitis was the most frequently seen respiratory illness when compared to other respiratory symptoms. The frequency of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema among parents reflected the same pattern as that seen in the children. Prevalence rate of asthma was not significantly higher in fathers (5.9%) than in mothers (5.3%). The differences between the sexes were not significant in any of the age group studied for any of the allergic conditions, except for diagnosed asthma in which the prevalence rate in males was significantly higher than that in females. On the whole, the prevalence rate of all the conditions increased with age. But the frequency of allergic rhinitis symptoms was significantly higher in mothers (16%) than in fathers (10.8%). These results are consistent with those obtained in neighbouring gulf countries and are higher than those of some developed countries, but the differences are not statistically significant.

A survey was conducted on children attending 30 primary schools (15 each for boys ad girls) in Al-Ain City of United Arab Emirates (UAE) to assess the impact of asthma on school absenteeism. There are 28,447 primary school children (50% boys and 50% girls) aged 6-14 years in the Al-Ain Educational District, all of whose school health records were investigated with respect to school absence caused by asthma during the academic year 1991-1992. Results showed that overall 1910 (6.7%) pupils were diagnosed as having asthma and wheezing during the preceding year by school doctors and nurses. Out of 14,217 boys, 1146 (8.1%) had asthma and wheezing, and 764 of 14,230 girls (5.4%) had the same condition. Overall 1,255 (4.9%) pupils were absent from school for at least 1 day during the year. Of 1146 boys with wheezing or asthma, 707 (62%) missed at least 1 day of school due to asthma, and of 764 girls who were asthmatic or wheezing, 548 (72%) missed school for at least 1 day in the year. There was a very highly statistically significant difference between sexes of children who were asthmatic or wheezing and missed school at least 1 day (p < 0.0001). Absenteeism most commonly occurred during spring for both boys (42%) and girls (45%). Absence from school due to asthma occurred least during autumn for both boys (26%) and girls (22%). This study confirms that asthma is a common chronic disease among primary school children in Al-Ain, UAE, and is a common cause of absenteeism from school.

Details of the clinical and laboratory findings of the first case of rabies to be described in Australia are presented. The veterinary, public- health, travel and diagnostic problems and implications are discussed.

A case of snake-bite envenomation, probably by the rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus), in a 9-year-old boy is reported which we believe to represent the most severe and prolonged case yet of non-fatal snake-bite envenomation in a human. The initial clinical features included loss of consciousness within minutes of the bite, followed by a period of partial recovery. The child subsequently developed total body paralysis, acute renal failure, and gross rhabdomyolysis. Artificial ventilation was maintained for 10 weeks; muscle paralysis and paresis persisted for 18 weeks before neuromuscular function returned to normal. Recovery occurred in centripetal fashion, the respiratory muscles and the palatal muscles being the last to recover. Acute renal failure persisted for 18 days and was treated by peritoneal dialysis. Some beneficial effects were seen even when antivenom was given 90 hours after the bite, but gross rhabdomyolysis caused by this species is not prevented by the administration of antivenom after 60 hours. It is concluded that if life can be sustained for 10 weeks by artificial ventilation, normal intellectual and neuromuscular recovery is possible in such cases.

Sequential neurological and intellectual recovery after childhood near-drowning is discussed. Decisions concerning the persistence and intensity of resuscitation require a knowledge of the natural history of intellectual improvement after rescue from near-drowning. A severe case of fresh-water immersion, leading to recovery, is described. Evidence is presented to suggest that the time interval of one hour before the first spontaneous respiratory gasp forms the upper limit of the apnoeic time bracket after which survival can still be expected, and to indicate that intellectual improvement (to a measured IQ of 97) can occur even after initial decerebrate signs if vigorous therapy is prosecuted. The proportion of cases capable of sequential neurological improvement is unknown. A time base for sequential clinical and intellectual improvement after near-drowning is presented to form a yardstick with which future cases may be compared.