title: Acute respiratory infections: a study on case management in Basrah health centres.
abstract: This paper reports the results of a study carried out in Basrah during 1992 on the pattern of case management as a control measure of acute respiratory infection among children aged under five years. The study involved a detailed observation of cases attending 12 health centres in Basrah city and its suburbs. A total of 392 cases were included. The cases were almost equally distributed according to sex, a fact which may reflect that acute respiratory infections do not discriminate between sexes and that our society pays the same attention for males and females when they fall ill. Regarding severity, most of the cases were mild or moderate, only 5% were severe. The doctors were generally competent to handle cases of acute respiratory infection but they had a tendency to overprescribe antibiotics. They were very good in excluding non-severe cases but they tended to miss some severe cases. The implications of these findings were discussed and it was recommended that further specific studies be carried out.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Community Medicine, University of Basrah, Iraq.
authors.forename: O S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ebrahim
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019090:Case Management / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007493:Iraq; D008297:Male; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D014504:Urban Health
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents