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 Cataract is the commonest cause of childhood blindness in sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The significance of congenital rubella and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in the etiology is not known.

 We aimed to investigate prevalence of both viruses in cases of congenital cataract and controls.

 Lens tissue was collected (from cases), blood and saliva from cases and controls. Using ELISA, we tested blood samples for rubella and cytomegalovirus IgM. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was also used for detection of the viruses.

 Cytomegalovirus was detected using qPCR in 72.9% saliva specimens of cases compared to 38.5% of controls (P = 0.0001). Cytomegalovirus IgM was also detected in 10.8% blood specimens of cases and only 1.5% control (P = 0.01). Rubella IgM was detected in 13.8% blood specimens of cases and only 3.1% controls (P = 0.01). In lens aspirates of cases, 12.7% were HCMV positive and 11.1% were rubella positive by qPCR. Cases had lower birth weights (mean = 2.8 kg) than controls (mean = 3.2 kg), independent of viral status (P = 0.004).

 Although most of the children in the study presented too late to be sure that infection was congenital, our study strongly suggests that HCMV and rubella infection appear important causes of congenital cataract in Tanzania hence virology testing of infantile cataract cases may be useful in assessing effectiveness of immunization programs as they are established throughout SSA.

Whole spine scanography (WSS) is a radiologic examination that requires whole body X-ray exposure. Consequently, the amount of patient radiation exposure is higher than the radiation dose following routine X-ray examination.

Several studies have evaluated the patient effective dose (ED) following single exposure film-screen WSS. The objective of this study was to evaluate patient ED during WSS, based on the automatic image pasting method for multiple exposure digital radiography (APMDR). Further, the calculated EDs were compared with the results of previous studies involving single exposure film-screen WSS.

We evaluated the ED of 50 consecutive patients (M:F = 28:22) who underwent WSS using APMDR. The anterior-posterior (AP) and lateral (LAT) projection EDs were evaluated based on the Monte Carlo simulation.

Using APMDR, the mean number of exposures was 6.1 for AP and 6.5 for LAT projections. LAT projections required more exposures (6.55%) than AP projections. The mean ED was 0.6276 mSv (AP) and 0.6716 mSv (LAT). The mean ED for LAT projections was 0.6061 mSv in automatic exposure control (AEC) and 0.7694 mSv in manual mode. The relationship between dose-area-product (DAP) and ED revealed a proportional correlation (AP, R2 = 0.943; LAT, R2 = 0.773). Compared to prior research involving single exposure screen-film WSS, the patient ED following WSS using APMDR was lower on AP than on LAT projections.

Despite multiple exposures, ED control is more effective if WSS is performed using APMDR in the AEC mode.