Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among DR-TB patients notified from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Chikamagalur districts of the state of Karnataka. Clinico-demographic details were extracted from treatment cards. The registered addresses of the patients were geocoded (latitude and longitude) using Google Earth. Using the QGIS software, spot map, heat maps and grid maps 25 km2 with more than the expected count of DR-TB patients were constructed.
Results: Of the total 507 patients studied, 376 (74%) were males and the mean (standard deviation) age of the study participants was 41.4 (13.9) years. From 2015 to 2018, the number of patients increased from 85 to 209 per year, the area of aggregation in square kilometers increased from 113.6 to 205.7, and the number of rectangular grids with more than the expected DR-TB patients (> 1) increased from 12 to 47.
Conclusions: The increase in the number of DR-TB patients, area of aggregation, and grids with more than the expected count is a cause for concern. The NTP can use routine programmatic data to develop maps to identify areas of aggregation of disease for targeted TB control activities.
METHODS: Using a snowball sampling approach, we conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 5260 participants in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam between February and May 2021. Binary logistic regression analysis with a backward conditional approach was applied to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
RESULTS: Of the total, 50.6% were female, and the median age was 30 years (range: 15-83 years). The majority of the participants believed that vaccination effectively prevents and controls COVID-19 (81.2%), and 84.0% would accept COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. They agreed that health providers' advice (83.0%), vaccination convenience (75.6%), and vaccine costs (62.8%) are essential for people to decide whether to accept COVID-19 vaccines. About half (49.3%) expressed their hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccines. After adjustment for other covariates, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with age, residential area, education levels, employment status, and family economic status. Participants from Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam were significantly more likely to express hesitancy in receiving COVID-19 vaccines than those from Philippines.
CONCLUSIONS: In general, participants in this multi-country study showed their optimistic perception of COVID-19 vaccines' effectiveness and willingness to receive them. However, about half of them still expressed their hesitancy in getting vaccinated. The hesitation was associated with several socioeconomic factors and varied by country. Therefore, COVID-19 vaccination programs should consider these factors essential for increasing vaccine uptake in the populations.
Case presentation: We recently encountered four cases of A. ceylanicum infection in Japanese individuals who returned from Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea. Case 1 was a 25-year-old male who stayed in a rainforest in Malaysia for 4 weeks, where he developed abdominal pain and diarrhea in the third week. Eleven adult worms (five males, six females) were expelled after treatment with pyrantel pamoate and identified as A. ceylanicum based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene. Case 2 was a 26-year-old male who spent 2 years as an overseas cooperation volunteer for agriculture in Papua New Guinea. He did not note any symptoms at that time, though eggs were detected in feces samples at a medical check-up examination after returning. Although collection of adult worms was unsuccessful, DNA analysis of the eggs for cox1 and the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-1 and ITS-2 genes demonstrated that they were A. ceylanicum. Case 3 was a 47-year-old male who spent 1 month in a rural village in Lao People's Democratic Republic and began suffering from watery diarrhea from the third week. A total of nine adult worms (three males, six females) were collected by endoscopic procedures and following treatment with pyrantel pamoate. Morphological examination and molecular analyses of the cox1 gene showed that they were A. ceylanicum. Case 4 was a 27-year-old male who participated in group travel to India for 5 days. Three weeks after returning, he developed abdominal pain and diarrhea. Hookworm eggs were found in feces samples and developed into larvae in culture, which were identified as A. ceylanicum based on molecular analysis of the cox1 gene. Eosinophilia was observed in all of the cases prior to treatment.
Conclusions: A. ceylanicum should be recognized as an important etiologic pathogen of hookworm diseases in travelers to countries in the Southeast Asia and West Pacific Ocean regions.
METHODS: Here, we applied reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification directly onto human clinical swabs samples to amplify the RNA from SARS-CoV-2 swab samples after processing with chelating resin.
RESULTS: By testing our method on 64 samples, we managed to develop an RT-LAMP assay with 95.9% sensitivity (95% CI 86 to 99.5%) and 100% specificity (95% CI 78.2-100%).
CONCLUSION: The entire process including sample processing can be completed in approximately 50 min. This method has promising potential to be applied as a fast, simple and inexpensive diagnostic tool for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select farming households. The sample size for each district was determined by a proportionate allocation to the number of households. From wastewater-irrigated farms, 70 wastewater samples, 28 soil samples, and 86 farmers' stool samples were collected and analyzed for helminths. A questionnaire was used to gather ethnographic data, about farming households, whereas wastewater and soil sample analysis was used to generate quantitative data on helminth loads. The data were systematically analysed by developing themes, and bias evaluated using triangulation validation methodologies. Potential pathways to helminth infection were evaluated by measuring. Total number of helminth eggs in wastewater, soil samples and farmer's stools was investigated using Poisson regression.
RESULTS: In this study, 82.9% of wastewater samples, 57.1% of soil samples, and 18.6% of farmers' stool samples contained helminth eggs. The most prevalent helminth was Ascaris lumbricoides in all samples (wastewater 67%, soil 25%, and stool 10.5%), followed by hookworm (wastewater 10%, soil 21.4%, and stool 6.9%) and Trichuris trichiura eggs (wastewater 5.7%, soil 10.7%, and stool 1.2%). There was a positive association between the total number of helminth eggs in wastewater and soil samples with counts in farmers' stool. The Poisson regression coefficients for wastewater and soil were, 1.63 (95% CI = 1.34-1.92) and 1.70 (95% CI = 1.39-2.01), (p
METHODS: In our systematic review and meta-analysis, six databases (Pubmed, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, CAB Abstracts and Global Health, CINAHL Complete, and BIOSIS) were searched for studies of home management of malaria from inception until November 15, 2023. We included before-after studies, observational studies, and randomised controlled trials of home management intervention delivered in community settings. The primary outcomes were malaria mortality and all-cause mortality. The risk of bias in individual observational studies was assessed using the ROBINS-I tool, whilst randomised controlled trials were judged using a revised Cochrane risk of bias tool and cluster-randomised controlled trials were evaluated using an adapted Cochrane risk of bias tool for cluster-randomised trials. We computed risk ratios with accompanying 95% confidence intervals for health-related outcomes reported in the studies and subsequently pooled the results by using a random-effects model (DerSimonian-Laird method).
RESULTS: We identified 1203 citations through database and hand searches, from which 56 articles from 47 studies encompassing 234,002 participants were included in the systematic review. All studies were conducted in people living in sub-Saharan Africa and were rated to have a low or moderate risk of bias. Pooled analyses showed that mortality rates due to malaria (RR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.29-0.54, P = 0.00001, I2 = 0%) and all-cause mortality rates (RR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.53-0.72, P = 0.00001, I2 = 0%) were significantly lower among participants receiving home management intervention compared to the control group. However, in children under 5 years of age, there was no significant difference in mortality rates before and after implementation of home management of malaria. In terms of secondary outcomes, home management of malaria was associated with a reduction in the risk of febrile episodes (RR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.09-1.47, P = 0.002, I2 = 97%) and higher effective rates of antimalarial treatments (RR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.90-3.88, P
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2018 to December 2018 to estimate malaria prevalence amongst the displaced population in Ardamata IDP camp in Al-Geneina City, Sudan. A total of 380 patients with suspected malaria were recruited. Nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) assays were performed to detect the Plasmodium genus and species.
Results: Of 380 patients, 232 (61.1%) were positive for malaria. Plasmodium falciparum was the only prevalent species detected amongst the study population. nPCR analysis revealed that none of the samples had Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale or Plasmodium malariae. The malaria prevalence rate was higher amongst males (67.1%) than in females (56.8%), and gender was the only risk factor that was significantly associated with malaria infection (p = .042).
Conclusions: Despite control programmes, malaria remains a significant cause of illness amongst a displaced population. The high prevalence of malaria infection in this study indicates that additional health facilities and control strategies should be implemented in displaced camps and the surrounding areas.