Blood lead levels of 107 children in Mona Commons were in the range 2.2−202 µg/dL with a mean of 25.1 µg/dL. Five received chelation therapy but because of lead storage in other organs, the values were still higher than desirable several months later.

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is the second most common disease of infants and young children. Each year, rotavirus causes approximately 111 million episodes of gastroenteritis requiring only home care, 25 million clinic visits, 2 million hospitalizations, and 352 000 – 592 000 deaths (median, 440 000 deaths) in children < 5 years of age, worldwide (1). By age five years, nearly every child will have an episode of rotavirus gastroenteritis, 1 in 5 will visit a clinic, 1 in 65 will be hospitalized, and approximately 1 in 293 will die (1). Children in the poorest countries account for 82% of rotavirus deaths. The most prevalent rotavirus serotypes which are responsible for over 80% of worldwide gastroenteritis infections are G1[P8], G2[P4], G3[P8] and G4[P8] (2). A previously licensed rotavirus vaccine in the United States of America was withdrawn from the market when it was associated with increased risk of infant intussusception (3).

The majority of strains of HIV-1 isolated from HIV-1 infected individuals in Jamaica were found to be HIV- 1 subtype B. The less frequently found HIV-1 subtypes were C, D and E and some strains were untypable by the methods used.

Student self-assessment is a useful method of promoting learning through recognition of strengths and weaknesses, understanding the relevance of core learning objective and encouraging responsible learning behaviour. The study examines the accuracy of medical students self-assessment of their performance in a paediatric clerkship objective structured clinical examination. Students overestimated their performance at some stations and underestimated at others.