Manouri Senanayake

• Senior Researcher at University of Colombo

Eponyms are used almost daily in the clinical practice of dermatology. And yet, information about the person behind the eponyms is difficult to find. Indeed, who is? What is this person’s nationality? Is this person alive or dead? How can one find the paper in which this person first described the disease? Eponyms are used to describe not only dise...

Introduction: This is the first cost-of-illness study on dengue in Sri Lanka and compares economic costs incurred by hospital and households in Colombo during hospital stay of paediatric patients. Method: A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out on cost of treating dengue at Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital Colombo over six months (2012...

Objectives: Despite a significant rise in asthma globally as well as in Sri Lanka, data regarding allergen sensitization patterns and other risk factors for asthma are not available. Therefore, we set out to determine the allergen sensitization patterns in children with asthma in Sri Lanka. Methods: Skin prick testing for common indoor aeroaller...

Introduction Despite a global reduction in tuberculosis, extrapulmonary tuberculosis is increasing. Spinal tuberculosis remains the commonest form of skeletal tuberculosis. Cervical spine involvement is rare but is the most dangerous form because of diagnostic difficulties and serious residual disability. We report a child who had single vertebral...

Introduction Riga-Fede disease is a rare pediatric condition in which chronic lingual ulceration results from repetitive trauma. Neonatal teeth or underlying neuro-developmental disorders which include Down syndrome are described as causative factors, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of both Down syndrome and natal te...

Although neonatal vaccination with bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is considered to be safe, complications with disseminated disease are associated with underlying immuno-deficiency disorders. A BCG-vaccinated 4-month-old girl of Sri Lankan parentage developed progressive left axillary lymphadenopathy and severe bronchopneumonia. Lymph node biopsy de...

Acute abdomen and acute appendicitis are unusual clinical presentations that occur in dengue infection-caused illness. Lymphoid hyperplasia and mesenteric adenitis are possible explanations, although vasculitis in the pathology of dengue infection has not been reported. Authors of previous case reports have described mimicking of acute appendicitis...

Introduction: The importance of the educational environment /climate is well recognised and believed to affect not only academic progress but also professional behaviour and career commitment. This paper describes the perceptions of postgraduates preparing to sit their exit examination in general paediatrics at Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH). This is...

Introduction: Children are particularly vulnerable to climate change. This case study describes effects of shortages in irrigation and drinking water on children of a rural village in Sri Lanka. Objective: To assess children's health and describe the coping strategies at family and community level in a village seriously challenged by water shortage...

To assess adherence to preventive care and age-appropriate screening in different age categories of Down syndrome (DS) persons. This community-based retrospective observational study on ambulatory persons with DS from different regions of Sri Lanka was carried out on 100 randomly selected individuals from a sample framework of approximately 300. Th...

Dengue is an increasing public health problem in many regions of the world but Asia is the hardest hit. The economic burden at macro and micro level has been studied to varying extents. This paper reviews published literature on cost of dengue illness in Asia. The search was restricted to three databases, publications in English and from 2002 onwar...

We performed a laboratory analysis of spices sold in Sri Lanka for lead content. Samples of curry powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder from seven provinces, collected using the market basket survey method, underwent atomic absorption spectrometry. Blanks and standards were utilised for instrument calibration and measurement accuracy. The resul...

To describe the outcome after administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to seven children with nonparacetamol induced acute liver failure (ALF) complicating dengue infection. Clinical records of children with non paracetamol induced acute liver failure complicating severe dengue viral infection, were retrospectively analysed for clinical and biochem...

An 11-month-old infant presented with a subcutaneous nodule in the right cheek which was found by ultrasonography to be a worm. Following treatment with di-ethylcarbamazine, a worm emerged from the left upper eyelid which was confirmed to be Dirofilaria repens. Dirofilariasis usually manifests as a single lesion and is rare in infants.

The genetic cause of GAPO syndrome, a condition characterized by growth retardation, alopecia, pseudoanodontia, and progressive visual impairment, has not previously been identified. We studied four ethnically unrelated affected individuals and identified homozygous nonsense mutations (c.262C>T [p.Arg88(∗)] and c.505C>T [p.Arg169(∗)]) or splicing m...

Objective: To evaluate parental satisfaction with communication provided by health care personnel at Lady Ridgeway Hospital and to determine if differences existed in selected groups. Study design: A prospective descriptive crosssectional study. Study setting: All six medical wards of Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo Study population: P...

A 4-month-old infant presented with continued fever, unresolving bronchopneumonia and household contact with sputum-smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) and showed marginal improvement on anti-TB chemotherapy. Recurrent pneumothorax prompted the clinical diagnosis of TB to be revised. High-resolution CT scan of the chest and open lung biopsy confirmed...

Pyrimethamine is an effective anti-parasitic medication with a narrow therapeutic index. We report a child with toxoplasmosis who developed hyperpigmentation and profound thrombocytopenia during a course of treatment with pyrimethamine. These two unusual complications occurred in addition to folate deficiency and megaloblastic anaemia which are rec...

Place of music in the practice of paediatrics has received scant attention although physicians and neurologists, in particular, are showing an increasing interest in this topic 1 . This article attempts to highlight the link between music and child development, music as a feature in specific paediatric conditions and the place of music therapy in n...

The main forum at which paediatricians in Sri Lanka disseminate their research findings is provided by the annual scientific sessions of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (SLCP). Peer reviewed research papers, published in abstract form provided us with a ready resource for identifying priorities and trends in research, carried out locally. W...

The status of women has a direct bearing on the condition of children. Countries where child mortality and morbidity are high rate low on how they treat women 1 . Disaster affected populations are also said to reflect a gender bias and such inequalities were reported following the tsunami of 2004, from Indonesia and India 2,3 . We assessed the gend...

Blister Beetle Dermatitis is a cutaneous eruption caused by contact with body fluids of beetles1. We report this patient because the causative insect is often unnoticed and therefore a high degree of suspicion is necessary for diagnosis.

GM1 gangliosidosis is a rare storage disorder in which accumulation of sphingolipids occurs in brain and viscera due to a deficiency of a lysosomal enzyme. Multiple and unusually large Mongolian blue spots have been postulated to be an associated feature of lysosomal storage disorders 1,2 . Our patient, whose clinical course and physical signs were...

The aim of this study was to investigate the side effects to intravenous desferrioxamine in a cohort of thalassaemic patients receiving 100 mg/kg/day of desferrioxamine on 3 consecutive days coinciding with blood transfusions on a long term basis. The patients studied were aged 7-22 yrs and the duration of desferrioxamine therapy exceeded one year....

Objectives To assess the clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic findings of infants born to diabetic mothers given human insulin and to compare the impact of pre-gestational and gestational diabetes. Design Prospective descriptive study. Method Fifty one infants born to diabetic mothers treated with human insulin were studied. 23 had pregestat...

We report the pregnancy outcome and clinical and laboratory findings in infants born to women with chikungunya infection during pregnancy. There was evidence of vertical transmission and poor pregnancy outcome in some cases.

Objectives To assess time of intake of breakfast and choice of food consumed by school children, identify underlying reasons for prevailing breakfast practices and describe the knowledge and attitude of mothers about the nutritional needs of their children in relation to breakfast . Study design A descriptive cross sectional study using an intervie...