Biomedical Science

Neisseria meningitidis carriage rate, antibiotic susceptibility profile, and associated factors among prisoners at Jimma zonal correction facility in Jimma Town, Southwestern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

2025-01-24T12:36:41Z

Neisseria meningitidis carriage rate, antibiotic susceptibility profile, and associated factors among prisoners at Jimma zonal correction facility in Jimma Town, Southwestern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study Background: Neisseria meningitidis causes severe life-threatening meningococcal disease with a case fatality rate of 10-15% even with proper treatment. In Ethiopia, particularly in our study area, inadequate information is found on meningococcal disease. So, this study aimed to assess N. meningitidis carriage rate, antibiotic susceptibility profile, and associated factors among prisoners in Jimma Town, Southwestern Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia, from May to October 2019. A stratified sampling technique was used and proportional allocation was done. A total of 550 oropharyngeal swabs were collected, processed, isolated, and identified N. meningitidis using standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotics susceptibility test was done for isolates using the disk diffusion method. Data on demographic and associated factors for carriage were collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were summarized using frequency, percentage, graph, and table. A logistic regression model was used to see the association between the dependent and independent variables. Variables with a p-value < 0.25 during bivariate analysis were included in multivariate analysis to identify factors significantly associated with the meningococcal carriage and, a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: Out of the 550 study participants, 76(13.8%) with (CI: 7.20-18.20) were found carriers of N meningitidis. The predominant isolates were non-serogroupable 26(34.2%) and serogroup W/Y 22(28.9%), respectively. N. meningitidis isolates showed highest sensitivity to chloramphenicol 74(97.4%). Meningococcal carriage rate was significantly associated with being age group of 16-20 years; having respiratory symptoms within 3 months and active cigarette smoking within 3 months. Conclusions: The majority of participants harbor most of the serogroups responsible for invasive cases of meningococcal disease. Respiratory symptoms, active cigarette smoking, and age group of 16-20 years increased the risk of N. meningitidis pharyngeal carriage rate. This study suggests providing better health education to control respiratory symptoms, smoking, and providing antibiotic prophylaxis for prisoners.

Prevalence of pneumonia and its determinant factors among under-five children in Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia, 2021

2025-01-24T07:39:18Z

Prevalence of pneumonia and its determinant factors among under-five children in Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia, 2021 Yerukneh, Solomon Kinfu; Zelalem, Kofole; Solomon, Ejigu; Tewodros, Fantaye Background: Pneumonia, which is a form of acute lower respiratory tractinfection, affects the lung parenchyma and destructs alveolar air space.Pneumonia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in under-fivechildren. It was estimated that pneumonia kills 900,000 under-five childreneach year worldwide. Approximately 172 deaths per 1,000 live births occur insub-Saharan African countries, with pneumonia being the major cause. Thisstudy aimed to assess the prevalence and determinant factors of pneumoniainunder-five children in southern Ethiopia.Methodology: An institutional cross-sectional study was employed. A total of239 child–caregiver pairs were included. Data were collected by trainednurses using a semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data werechecked for completeness, coded and entered into EPI data version 4.6, andexported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Results were reported as the mean,frequency, and percentile. Logistic regression was employed to assessstatistically significant predictors of pneumonia. Variables with a p-value<0.05 were considered statistically significant factors of pneumonia.Result: The prevalence of pneumonia in the study area was 30%. Among thefactors assessed, place of food cooking—inside the living room [adjustedodd ratio (AOR) = 5.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.47–13.58],nonexclusive breastfeeding (AOR = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.42–7.52), vitamin Asupplementation status (AOR = 5.62, 95% CI: 2.65–11.94), and vaccinationstatus (AOR = 3.59, 95% CI: 1.49–8.66) were significantly associated with theoccurrence of pneumonia in under-five children.Conclusion: This study showed that the prevalence of pneumonia wasrelatively higher in Arba Minch town than other parts of the country. Place offood cooking, nonexclusive breastfeeding, vitamin A supplementation status,and vaccination status of children were significant factors of pneumoniaamong under-five children. Enhancing caregivers’/mothers’ awareness ofpredicted factors was needed to reduce the incidence of childhoodpneumonia and to enhance children’s quality of health.

Effect of malaria and HIV/AIDS co-infection on red blood cell indices and its relation with the CD4 level of patients on HAART in Bench Sheko Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

2025-01-24T07:28:06Z

Effect of malaria and HIV/AIDS co-infection on red blood cell indices and its relation with the CD4 level of patients on HAART in Bench Sheko Zone, Southwest Ethiopia Solomon, Ejigu; Diresbachew, Haile; Yerukneh, Solomon Background Malaria and HIV/AIDS are the two most common infections in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and worldwide. HIV infected individuals in malaria endemic areas experience severe malaria episodes. The immunological basis of this clinical observation is unclear and the hematologic abnormalities such as anemia in malaria and HIV co infected patients were inconsistent from studies in the past. Ethiopia’s three-fourth of the landmass is malarious and HIV prevalence is high that significantly affect RBC indices and other hematologic profiles. Objective This study aimed to compare RBC indices and anemia in HIV patients’ co-infected with malaria and those HIV patients without malaria and correlates these with CD4 level. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was employed on 103 malaria-HIV/AIDS co infected (MHC) and 103 HIV patients without malaria on HAART of the same ART centers in Bench Sheko Zone. Data was collected by structured questionnaire and blood samples were collected from both groups for malaria test and RBC indices measurement. Data was entered and checked in Epi-data and exported to IBM SPSS version 21 software packages for analysis. Results There were significant differences in Mean±SD of RBC indices between the two groups (P<0.001). RBC, Hgb, HCT and MCV were lower in MHC patients. In total study participants, significant positive correlation was observed between CD4 count with MCV, CD4 count with MCH and CD4 count with anemia. In the group of malaria-HIV co-infected, CD4 count with RBC and CD4 count with Hgb and in HIV without malaria CD4 count with MCV, CD4 count with MCH and CD4 count with MCHC were positively correlated. Overall anemia prevalence was 45.1%. Anemia prevalence in MHC (Malaria-HIV co-infected) was 63.4%. Anemia prevalence distribution among sex showed that 61.3% in female sex and anemia prevalence distribution among CD4 group showed 55.9% in patients with CD4 count of �500 cells/μl. Anemia in MHC patients was higher in those with CD4 count of �500 cells/μl (59.3%) while in OH (Only HIV infected) anemia prevalence was similar in those with CD4 count of �500 and �500 cells/μl (50%). There is significant difference in anemia in MHC and OH infected with different CD4 group (P<0.01). Conclusion There was a difference in RBC indices in both groups; RBC, Hgb, HCT and MCV were lower in MHC patients. There was positive correlation between CD4 counts with some RBC indices in combined both groups. However, there was positive correlation between CD4 counts with RBC and Hgb in malaria-HIV co-infected. The combined prevalence of anemia was higher and anemia in MHC was greater than OH infected patients.