Introduction: : Lymphatic filariasis is a public health problem in Malaysia. In sub-district Tangkarason, Beluran the nine rounds of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) do not seem to work in reducing the microfilaria (Mf) prevalence below the 2% threshold that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends for stopping MDA. The study aims to identify possible factors contributing to the transmission of lymphatic filariasis in the area. Methods: A total of 244 individuals from seven high risk localities, whom between the age of 19 and 99-year-old, were interviewed and tested for lymphatic filariasis antibody. The associated factors were analyzed using Chi-square test (Fisher exact test where applicable) and odds ratio (OR), and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was estimated using logistic regression. Re-sults: The median age was 40-year-old (interquartile range: 30-53). The prevalence of brugian filariasis in the studied population was 31.1% (95% CI 0.25, 0.37). Prevalence of brugian filarial infection is higher in males than in females (34.6% vs. 27.4%, P = 0.219); and in older adults (≥ 56-year-old) than in young-and-middle-aged adults (46.3% vs 26.8%, P = 0.006). The older group is 2.4 times at higher odd of contracting the disease than the younger adults (95% CI 1.26, 4.38; P = 0.007). The prevalence of brugian filarial infection is higher among those who never receive pro-phylaxis treatment compared to those who had received medications (48.5% vs 28.4%, p = 0.021). Those who had received prophylaxis treatment have about 60% reduction in odd of lymphatic filariasis infection (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.20, 0.89; P = 0.023). The proportion of the studied population who has outdoor jobs is 52.9%. The prevalence of brugian filarial is higher in this group compared to those with indoor jobs (38.0% vs 23.5%, p = 0.015). The older age group was significantly associated with brugian filarial infection after adjusting for other factors (AOR 3.20; 95% CI 1.63, 6.32). Conclusion: The older adults (≥ 56-year-old), those who never involved in MDA and those with outdoor jobs are associated with lymphatic filariasis infection in Beluran.
Introduction: Despite considerable effort invested for tuberculosis (TB) control, the outcome has not been optimal due to several barriers. Stigma has been an important factor that hinders the completion of full course of TB treat-ment, i.e. it results in poor treatment adherence. This systematic review is aimed to review the interventions target-ing tuberculosis related stigma in order to improve treatment adherence among tuberculosis patients in developing countries. Methods: A systematic electronic database search (PubMed, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Science Direct, Ovid, Spring and Cochrane) covering articles published between 2008 and 2019 had been conducted using truncat-ed search words of “stigma related to tuberculosis”, “TB Stigma”, “Intervention”, “treatment adherence”, “treatment compliance”, and “developing countries”. Only English articles exploring stigma among TB patients and its anti-stig-ma intervention in developing countries were included. Results: A total of 846 articles were retrieved and 346 were excluded due to duplication while another 361 non-relevant articles at the stage of title screening were excluded. Subsequently, 119 articles were excluded for not fulfilling inclusion criteria and only 3 studies remained. Conclu-sion: From the three articles, TB treatment outcomes were improved with the use of stigma intervention, including health education and counselling, self-support, and psychological support interventions. Optimal implementation of stigma interventions may vary by setting, resources, and the local TB epidemiology. More controlled interventional research is needed in stigma reduction that leads to improve TB adherence in developing countries.
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) still remains a public health problem worldwide and the emergence of drug resistant TB (DR-TB) has worsened the situation as it is difficult and expensive to treat. The characterization of the genetic mutations underlying streptomycin resistance may be helpful in developing rapid detection methods which may guide clinicians in making therapeutic decisions. The aim of this study is to detect mutations causing streptomycin (STR) resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Sabah. Methods: Susceptibility testing was carried out in MGIT system for 42 Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates. The drug resistant isolates were subject to whole genome sequencing and in-silico analysis was performed to detect the mutations in the sequence of the rpsL gene known to confer resistance to anti-tuberculous drugs. Results: Of the 42 positive isolates, 27 (64.3%) are shown to be susceptible towards first line drugs (FLDs) while 15 (35.7%) isolates were mono- and multiple resistant to the FLDs. Our findings reveal that the isolate 145 possess mutations at codon 43 within rpsL gene with amino acid change A to G (K43R). Conclusion: Findings from this study enable us to expand our knowledge of mutations causing drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the point mutations, which can be used as the potential marker for detection of drug resistant isolates.
Marilyn Charlene Montini Maluda, Michelle May D. Goroh, Tan, Eric Chee How, Syed Sharizman Syed Abdul Rahim, Richard Avoi, Mohammad Saffree Jeffree, et al.
Introduction: Melioidosis, also known as Whitmore disease, is caused by the gram-negative bacillus, Burkholderia pseudomallei and remains a public health concern in Southeast Asia and northern parts of Australia. This study attempts to identify all possible complications of melioidosis and its outcomes.
Methods: Literature search was conducted from databases such as PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus from 1st January 2000 to 31st August 2019. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) search strategy was used with the terms ‘Melioidosis’ or ‘Burkholderia pseudomallei’ and ‘Complications’.
Results: A total of 162 titles were identified and 22 articles were included in the review. Findings showed that among the 22 articles, the ratio of male to female melioidosis incidence was 2.3 to 1, with most cases (86.4%) aged older than 14 years old and showed a mean age of 46 years old. A third (7/22) of the papers reported the involvement of the nervous system as a complication of melioidosis followed by cardiovascular complications. Among the 23 cases reported, 13 had underlying medical conditions with most of them (84.6%) having diabetes mellitus or newly diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Overall, only one case (4.3%) had resulted in mortality, while 17.4% developed complications and 78.3% managed a full recovery after undergoing treatment for melioidosis.
Conclusion: The most commonly found complication of melioidosis involved the nervous system but patient outcomes were favourable. Rare complications included mycotic aneurysm that can be fatal. Melioidosis can affect almost any organ leading to various complications.
The low back is usually associated with the lumbar spine which supports the entire weight of the upper body and significantly, is vital to the body mobility. Injury to the surrounding soft tissues can cause mild to debilitating symptoms due to muscle strain and ligament sprain. The causes of injury to the lower back are probably due to sudden twisting movement, poor posture position at work and manual handling of heavy objects or with twisting or bending movements while lifting. An Ergonomic Risk Assessment was carried out on a dental laboratory worker who complained of unresolved low back ache after a year on treatment and follow up at the outpatient department of a health clinic. From the various investigative methods used, it was found that the worker in question was placed in a situation that will over time encourage her to develop musculoskeletal disease. Our recommendations for change include immediate awareness and training in ergonomic principles of work and to report all cases so that appropriate action can be taken, reassess the workstation and environment of work, job enrichment, and creating a conducive environment for work. Once the changes have been implemented, a review will be necessary in three months time.
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is the ninth leading cause of mortality in the world while it is the most prevalent infection which is ranked abolve HIV/AIDS. In Malaysia, tuberculosis is still a public health problem. Sabah State on Malaysian Borneo had 20-30% of total TB cases of the country. In Sabah, case notification rate of almost 200 per 100,000 population was still present in the last 10 years. Hotspots are defined as TB notification rate more than 100/100.000 in a district or TB notification rate more than 100/100,000 in the squatters’ area. In this study, cycle threshold (ct) values in GeneXpertMTB/RIF (Xpert) were tried to be correlated with growth in Mycobacterim growth indicator tubes (MGIT) by measurement of time to detection (TTD). Methods: Sputum samples from six hotspots of Kota Kinabalu were studied by Xpert as well as MGIT culture after processing of sputum samples. The correlation between Mean ct value of Xpert and TTD in MGIT was analysed by using IBM SPSS Statistic 25 and the statistical test used was Pearson Correlation test. Results: The results of Xpert indicated 35 of 204 sputum samples were pos-itive whereas only one sample was rifampicin resistant. The mean ct values were very low, low and medium in all the hotspots with sputum from one hotspot showed medium ct values predominantly. The sputum from remaining hotspots showed mainly very low and low ct values. MGIT results showed no growth in five samples with two very low, two low and one medium mean ct values. Conclusion: The finding indicated that there were correlations be-tween mean ct values of Xpert and TTD in MGIT with a few exceptions.