Coeliac disease in Sudanese children

Coeliac disease has not hitherto been documented in Sudanese children. This report describes seven Sudanese children with coeliac disease of whom two are siblings. They all had evidence of impaired intestinal absorption, severe histological changes of their jejunal mucosa with clinical and histological improvement on gluten free/sorgham free diet. Subsequently one patient had a clinical relapse when gluten was reintroduced; four had positive gluten challenge using serial one hour blood xylose estimation. They all belonged to the upper socioeconomic group of the society in the north of the Sudan.