Haematology in Tropical Areas: Clinics in Haematology

CLINICS in Haematology were introduced some 10 years ago to provide in depth reviews of different aspects of the discipline and have become an accepted and highly respected part of haematology literature. To mark the 10th anniversary there has been a break from tradition and rather than dealing with a specialised topic, the present issue is devoted to Haematology in Tropical Areas. That the specialty is different is illustrated by the complexity of interpretation of results. Well people chronically exposed to malarial infection may develop polyclonal gammopathy and ESR's of up to 85 mm in the first hour and the mean haemoglobin value in adult, non-pregnant females varies from 74 g/l in India to 174 g/l in Mexico; this being determined not only by the degree of malnutrition in the community but by the altitude of the area. As would be expected, diseases caused by malnutrition and infectious agents dominate the specialty in these areas and the theme that remedies lie with political action rather than medicine is a recurring one.