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Forensic Science & Addiction Research

Forensic Pathology of Neonatology in a Developing Country

Wilson I B Onuigbo*

Department of Pathology, Medical Foundation & Clinic, Nigeria

*Corresponding author: Wilson I B Onuigbo, Department of Pathology, Medical Foundation & Clinic, 8 Nsukka Lane, Enugu-410000, Nigeria

Submission: December 06, 2017; Published: January 25, 2018

DOI: 10.31031/FSAR.2018.02.000535

ISSN: 2578-0042
Volume2 Issue2

Abstract

The neonate is defined as a child less than a month old. Interest in the subject is so wide that glimpses of it are available from countries as variable as England, Iran, Italy, Kenya, The Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Turkey. Therefore, this paper is from Nigeria. It is deemed to be worthy of documentation, especially in terms of the preponderance of males

Keywords: Neonatology; Death; Pathology; Epidemiology; Males; Nigeria

Introduction

According to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, [1] the neonate is defined as a child less than a month old. It is such an interesting subject that it has been studied as widely as in England, Iran, Italy, Kenya, The Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Turkey and USA [2-10]. Accordingly, the present paper proposes to study it from the vantage point of a developing community.

Investigation

It has been stated that the establishment of a histopathology data pool facilitates epidemiological analysis. [11] Therefore, since such a pool was established in South Eastern Nigeria among the Ibo or Igbo ethnic group, [12] it became possible, as the pioneer pathologist, to investigate personally its neonatal deaths. The tabular form is useful.

Results

Sex and lesions detected is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Sex and lesions detected.

Discussion

The male factor has stood out clearly here. Incidentally, there is preference of male children in the Igbo community. Thus, it suffices here to cite the anthropological work itself [12]. For instance, "there is a rite which corresponds to a form of dedication" and "is restricted solely to boys."

An oddity was the neonatal death of rupture of the normal splee [13]. Also, interesting was the report of "2 cases of newborn infants perinatal arterial stroke that may have been associated with in utero exposure to codeine" [14]. Therefore, let me close with their advice thus: "Physicians should ask about maternal medication use, including codeine-containing cough preparations, when evaluating newborn infants with evidence of cerebral infarction."

References

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© 2018 Wilson I B Onuigbo. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.