title: Bacterial infections among patients with diabetes in Papua New Guinea.
abstract: This study reports the morbidity that resulted from bacterial infections in Melanesian patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes who attended the Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea, between January 1, 1982 and June 30, 1984. Fifty-three of 160 patients with diabetes experienced 66 episodes of infection, 48 of which required inpatient hospital treatment. The average length of stay in hospital was 37.6 days per episode of infection. Of 88 patients who were newly-diagnosed as diabetic during this period, 30 patients initially had presented with a bacterial infection. The lower limb was the site that was infected most frequently, and Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the usual causative organisms. Eleven patients had bacterial gangrene of the foot; two of these patients were less than 23 years of age, and five patients were not known to have had diabetes previously. Five patients were suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis; the annual incidence of tuberculosis in this study group (12.5 cases/1000 patients) was about 11-times higher than that which has been reported for the general population. Thirteen patients with diabetes died in hospital during the study period. Infection was the cause of death in nine patients and three of these patients were less than 25 years of age. The morbidity of infection can be controlled if diabetes is sought more frequently in patients with infections, and if glycaemia can be controlled. This will have to be achieved through existing primary health-care structures, as resources for diabetes-specific preventive programmes in developing countries will be limited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Papua New Guinea, Boroko.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Patel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005533:Foot Dermatoses / Q000150:complications; D005734:Gangrene / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007710:Klebsiella Infections / Q000150:complications; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008875:Middle Aged; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000150:complications; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications