MOSP - Macao Scientific Publishers

文章

Uranium concentration in ground water samples belonging to some areas of Western Haryana, India using fission track registration technique

Sandeep Kansal*, Rohit Mehra and N. P. Singh

Abstract: Concentration of uranium was assessed in ground water samples taken from hand pumps at different areas from Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts of Western Haryana, India. Fission track registration technique was used to estimate the uranium content in water samples. Uranium content in the water ranges from 6.37 µg/L (Sirsa) to 43.31 µg/L (Bhiwani) with an average value of 19.14 µg/L for the study area. Uranium concentration in all the studied samples were above the recommended value of 1.9 µg/L (ICRP, 1993) but most of the values were comparable to the safe limit of 15 µg/L (WHO, 2008). In only 15% of the samples, recorded values that were higher than the recommended level of 30 µg/L (USEPA, 2003). The results of the measurements could be of vital in radio-epidemiological assessment, diagnosis and prognosis of uranium induced diseases in the local population of the area under investigation.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Uranium, fission track, water, diagnosis.

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Antenatal care services in rural areas of Aligarh, India: A cross-sectional study

Full Length Research Paper

Abstract: The present study was carried out to find out the current status of antenatal care services. A cross-sectional study was carried out in rural areas of Aligarh taking WHO 30 cluster methodology. The required number of villages from each stratum was selected with probability proportional to size (PPS). There were 154 currently pregnant women (CPW) and 248 recently delivered women (RDW), of these, a majority of CPW (72.1%) and RDW (59.7%) did not have any ANC checkup. 65.1% of CPW and 40.0% of RDW had their first ANC checkup in the first trimester. Majority of CPW (53.9%) did not receive any TT vaccination. On the contrary, most of the RDW (73.0%) had two doses of TT vaccination. Similarly, large number of the CPW (75.3%) and 52.4% of RDW did not receive iron folic acid (IFA) tablets. In CPW, weight was measured only in 16.3% women. However, height was measured in 41.9%, B. P. was recorded in 46.5%, The same pattern was observed in RDW. Preferred place of delivery was home in CPW (64.9%) and RDW (81.4%) and mostly conducted by trained birth attendant (TBA). It is concluded that among the aspects ignored during antenatal period, patient education is of vast importance and even a low level of counseling can improve utilization of health services by mothers.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Currently pregnant women (CPW), recently delivered women (RDW), ANC checkup, trained birth attendant (TBA).

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Monitoring the influenza pandemic of 2009 in Thailand by a community-based survey

Chakrarat Pittayawonganon*, Hathaikan Chootrakool, Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Pilaipan Puthavathana, Sukhum Chaleysub, Prasert Auewarakul, Somkid Kongyu, Kumnuan Ungchusak and Pasakorn Akarasewi

Abstract: As an international traveling hub of South-East Asia, Thailand was one of the countries hardest and earliest hit by the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic. In order to understand the epidemic spread in the country, we conducted community-based surveys in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas using questionnaire interviews. We also determined sero-positive rates from randomly selected samples within the surveyed population. Recalled incidences of fever and acute respiratory symptoms in the survey correlated well with systematic reports of 2009 pandemic influenza cases from hospitals in the same areas, giving a ratio of total cases extrapolated from the surveyed data for persons who sought medical attention reported in the hospital-based surveillance system at 275:1. Conducting a large scale survey of the influenza outbreak is time consuming and also can be difficult to complete in a short time. Therefore, we used the survey for monitoring the outbreak of respiratory disease in the early pandemic phase. The seroprevalence rate was 8 to 10%, with higher rate for younger age groups, and suggests that sufficient herd immunity may have been reached in Thailand, especially in urban areas, while others may still be vulnerable to the second wave of the pandemic.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Pandemic, influenza, survey, Thailand.

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Avian influenza news from China and Hong Kong

William Y. Y. Lai* and Adrian Weisell

Abstract: We compared avian influenza coverage in two English-language newspapers from China and Hong Kong, and a third from the United States as a control. We collected bird flu stories for one year between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007 from China’s government-sanctioned China Daily (CD) and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP). The New York Times (NYT) was the control. We quantified five media characteristics: (1) Number of stories; (2) Use of full articles or briefs; (3) News sources; (4) Story outlook, and (5) geographic focus. Of 236 bird flu stories, 79 were from CD, 111 from SCMP and 46 from NYT. Compared with SCMP, CD produced significantly more briefs, non-local reports and government sources (Pearson’s Chi-square test, P=0.01, P[...] Read More.

Keywords: Avian influenza, bird flu, H5N1, infectious diseases, media, news coverage, news stories.

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Congenital infection with Toxoplasma gondii: A case control study of Tehran, Iran

Nastaran Khosravi, Samileh Noorbakhsh* Mohammad Farhadi and Azardokht Tabatabaei

Abstract: The prevalence of antibodies in Toxoplasma gondii ranges from 24 to 57.7% in Iran. Children who acquire T. gondii in intrauterine period are at increased risk of sequels and need prolonged treatment. The aim of the study is to compare serum specific T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG ELISA) between infants suspected to have intrauterine infections (< 1year) and control infants. This case control study was done in the pediatrics department of Rasul hospital in Tehran (2007 to 2008). We compared specific T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) in serum by ELISA in 50 infants (< 1year) suspected to have intrauterine infections based on diagnostic criteria for intrauterine infections (WHO-TORCH) and 30 healthy controls. Mean age in these cases was 4.7 + 3.7 months; and in the controls was 5.3 + 3.1 months. Acute T. gondii infection (IgM) was detected in 10% (5/51) of the cases, but none (0/30) in the controls; while previous immunity for T. gondii (IgG) was found in 18% (9/50) of the cases and 60% (18/30) of the controls. Although the rate of acute infection was higher in the cases but was not significant (P-value = 0.09), previous immunity (IgG) was significantly higher in the control’s healthy group (P- value = 0.00). However, T. gondii infection (IgM) was confirmed in at least 10% of the cases. As such, we prefer to consider seropositive (T. gondii - IgM) infants (clinically for intrauterine infection) in congenital form, by adding the symptomatic cases with negative IgM and IgG (PCR studies are needed for R/o of intra uterine infection). Probably, T. gondii infection is at least the 2nd common cause of intrauterine infection in studied infants with serology ([...] Read More.

Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, congenital toxoplasmosis, ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), intrauterine infection, TORCH (Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, Herpes).

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Childhood leprosy: A retrospective study

Sandeep Sachdeva*, S. Suhail Amin, Zulfia Khan Seema Alam and Pranav Kumar Sharma

Abstract: Leprosy remains an important public health and social issue in South Asia, particularly in India. Its presence in childhood is an immense social burden on account of the associated disabilities and widely prevalent misconceptions regarding communicability and treatment potential. Besides, the prevalence of leprosy among children suggests possible lacunae in the operation of the national programmes aimed at elimination of leprosy from the society. This paper reports a ten year retrospective study of childhood leprosy in a tertiary care hospital setting (2000 to 2009). Selected socio epidemiologic correlates of pediatric leprosy patients presenting to the hospital over the past ten year period were also studied. The results indicated that childhood leprosy was 5.1% of total leprosy patients registered in the given time frame. Majorities (76.3%) of them were males and had paucibacillary leprosy (74%). Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) scar was absent in 53% of children. More than a third (35%) cases had a household contact with leprosy. Childhood leprosy remains an important public health problem and bears a significant social impact. Early detection and appropriate prophylactic measures in susceptible children is pivotal to the real success of the National leprosy elimination programme.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Leprosy, childhood, society.

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Influenza surveillance results during 2008 - 2009 season in Turkey

Nurhan Albayrak*, Meral A. Ciblak , Ayse Basak Altas, Melis Kanturvardar, Yavuz Odabas, Bahadir Sucakli, Gulay Korukluoglu, Selim Badur and Mustafa Ertek

Abstract: National influenza surveillance was performed by two institutions in Turkey, Refik Saydam National Public Health Agency (RSNPHA) and Istanbul Faculty of Medicine (IFM), which both are National Influenza Reference Laboratories. RSNPHA received samples from 9 sentinel Provinces and IFM received samples from 5 sentinel Provinces. We report the 2008 to 2009 surveillance results from October 2008 - May 2009. As many as 1,980 clinical specimens received from 14 sentinel and non-sentinel Provinces of which 257 nasal-nasopharyngeal samples were positive for influenza viruses. The predominant virus type was influenza B (67.5% of total detections), and the dominant sub- type among Influenza A viruses was H3 (98.8%). Influenza-like illness (ILI) activity started around the 42nd week, decreased around the 23nd week and the laboratory confirmed seasonal Influenza activity started around 48th week and ended around 22nd week. The 2008 - 2009 influenza seasons in Turkey was characterized by moderate clinical activity and a dominance of influenza B. In Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, the majority of influenza A/H3 viruses were closely related to the vaccine virus strain of the 2008 to 2009 season, Influenza A Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2) like virus. However, Influenza B viruses were antigenically different from the vaccine strain and more closely related to Influenza B Malaysia/2560/2004 (Victoria lineage). It is concluded that knowledge about the influenza activity in Turkey, which is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, contributed to monitoring the movement of influenza virus epidemiology.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Influenza, surveillance, Turkey.

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Epidemiological characteristics of liver cancer in Niger (1992 - 2006)

Mamoudou Garba Salamatou*, Arfaoui Amine, Mastere Mohamed, Soulaymani Abdelmajid, Nouhou Hassan and Quyou Ali

Abstract: The present work aims to bring out the epidemiological characteristics of liver cancer in Niger, especially as no previous studies have worked on the national epidemiology of cancer in Niger. This is a retrospective study in the period 1992 to 2006. The data were collected from the Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy and Cytology of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Niamey, which receives all the swabs intended for the histological analysis from all the Nigerien territory. Among the 5238 cases of cancer, the liver cancer represented 12.3% and came in the second position behind the breast cancer. 242 deaths were registered among liver cancer patients, which makes a specific lethality of 37%. The sex-ratio for males to females of liver cancer cases was 2.3 and the difference was highly significant. However, the specific lethality, which was 37.03% in male patients and 37.69% in female ones, did not display any significant sex difference. The mean age of liver cancer patients was 47.67 ± 14.20 years, and the comparison of the means of age did not display any significant difference between males and females in terms of age. The farmers were the socio-professional group the most affected by liver cancer with 61% of all cases. The patients practicing household activities showed the highest specific lethality, followed by farmers. The study of the repartition of patients according to their origin showed that the major part was from Niamey region with 69%. Because of the seriousness of the liver cancer problem in Niger, the health authorities should pay more attention to this pathology through efficient fight strategies.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Cancer, liver, epidemiological profile, lethality, Niger.

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Disease surveillance and reporting in two Southwestern states in Nigeria: Logistic challenges and prospects

M. D. Dairo, J. O. Bamidele and W. O. Adebimpe

Abstract: Disease surveillance has been recognized as an effective strategy in the control and prevention of diseases most especially communicable diseases. An effective surveillance system allows early intervention for the prevention and reduction of the mortality and morbidity that may result from epidemics of communicable diseases. This study assesses the adequacy of training of disease surveillance and notification officers (DSN) officers and identifies the logistic factors that may hinder their effective functioning in the local government areas in the Ekiti and Osun States in Nigeria. A cross sectional descriptive study of the disease surveillance and notification officers in Osun and Ekiti states of Nigeria was carried out. Total sampling was done. Questionnaires sought information on demographic data, regularity of reporting and the availability of logistic facilities in the respective local government areas (LGAs). Out of 42 DSN officers surveyed, 38 (90.5%) were medical records officers. 32 (76.2%) had appropriate training in disease surveillance and notification. Most had received training from the WHO. Over 90% knew the process of reporting. 45.8% reported that there were penalties for defaulting officers. Logistic support was inadequate in more than half of the local governments surveyed. Inadequate funds and lack of surveillance forms were significantly associated with reporting of outbreaks by the officers. Only 13 of the officers had ever recorded episodes of epidemics in their LGAs. Majority of DSN officers had appropriate training on disease surveillance, reporting and notification. However, logistics for effective functioning was poor. Local and state governments need to put more effort into provision of logistic support for their DSN Officers to sustain the apparent improvement in surveillance activities.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Surveillance, logistic support, training, epidemics.

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Beta thalassemia major: The Moroccan experience

M. Agouzal*, A. Arfaoui, A. Quyou and M. Khattab

Abstract: Thalassemia has been described originally around the Mediterranean Sea. The main objective of this study is to find out how Morocco deals with it. It is a retrospective study which has been done in the hemato-oncology service that treats patients with beta thalassemia major who are registered for receiving blood transfusions. With sample size of 78, demographics, clinical and family data were collected and descriptive statistics were done in the Biological Assays Laboratory in Kenitra, which lasted for three months. Age ranges from 5 to 10 years. 20 and 30 kg is the most common weight of patients with thalassemia. 61% are issued from consanguineous marriages. All patients are transfused but only 14% are not chelated as they have a ferritinnemia rate < 1000 ng/ml. Among these patients 74% are low-income earners. These results confirm that thalassemia is a reality in our country. A public health policy towards this disease is highly recommended.[...] Read More.

Keywords: Beta thalassemia major, complications, treatments, consanguinity, Morocco.

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