The relationship between perception and prevalence of faecal-orally transmitted parasitic infections among school children’s in a rural community in Cameroon

Background: Faecal-orally transmitted parasites are those which are spread through faecal contamination of food and drinks. Infections with these parasites are responsible for high morbidity and mortality, especially in children in developing countries.Objective: This study was carried out to determine school children’s perception of faecal-orally transmitted parasitic infections and the relationship between that perception and the prevalence of the infections.Methods: Data were collected through questionnaires and laboratory analysis of stool samples. The study was conducted in two phases. In phase 1 questionnaires were administered to determine children’s knowledge on the cause, risk behaviours and prevention of the faecal-orally parasite infections. Stool specimens were analyzed using the formol-ether concentration technique. Health education was utilized in the experimental village, but not the control. Phase 2 was conducted six months later during which questionnaires were distributed and stool samples analyzed from both villages.Results: A total of 370 children were enrolled in this intervention study, out of which 208 were from Kake II (experimental arm) and 162 from Barombi-kang (control arm). At Kake II there was a significant increase in awareness in relation to the source of infection (9.5% vs. 62.5%, P< 0.001), risk behaviour (12.4% vs. 83.7, P<0.001) and prevention (17.9% vs. 84.8%, P<0.001) between the first and second phase of the study, followed by a significant change in the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides (24.9% vs. 3.4%, P<0.001), Entamoeba coli (12.9% vs. 6.5%, P<0.001), Trichuris trichiura (22.4% vs. 12.5%, P=0.004) and Entamoeba histolytica (6.0% vs. 1.9%, P=0.035). In Barombi-kang the change in the awareness was not significant (P>0.1) and there was no significant change in the prevalence of any of the faecal-orally transmitted parasites detected. The relationship between the perception and the prevalence of feacal orally transmitted parasitic infections showed a strong negative correlation (r dispersed between -0.97 and -99)Conclusion: Health education applied in the experimental village was responsible for the changed perception of infection by children and consequently for the reduction of infestation rate. Good perception of the infection was inversely proportional to its prevalence. Therefore, health education through the framework of school proved to be an effective control method for faecalorally parasite infections. We recommend this inexpensive method to be adopted as a national policy in developing countries, especially in rural communities.Key Words: Perception and prevalence, Faecal-orally transmitted parasitic infections, School children, Cameroo

Current antibiotic susceptibility profile of the bacteria associated with Surgical wound infections in the Buea health district in Cameroon

Background: Most surgical wounds seen in clinical practice in the Buea Health District, Cameroon are infected prior to arrival or while they are in the hospital. Sometimes the infection necessitates a combination of local wound site measures and systemic antibiotherapy to properly manage the patient.Objective: To identify the current antibiotic susceptibility profile of the common germs that cause surgical wound infections in the Buea Health District of Cameroon.Methods: A total of 2120 specimens comprising swabs from burns, ulcers, open or post-operative wounds were collected from hospitalized patients attending health institutions in Buea. The samples were collected from different anatomic sites of the patients. Cultures were effected from the specimens and bacteria isolated from infected wounds using standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility of the different isolates was determined.Results: Majority (79.8%) of the wounds were infected with pathogenic bacteria. The germs globally showed multi resistant patterns to commonly used antibiotics in the study area, especially to co-trimoxazol, doxycycline, chloramphemicol, ampicilline and aztreonam. However appreciable sensitivity was noted to ofloxacillin, perflacin, and ceftriazone.Conclusion: This study has revealed ofloxacin as the only antibiotic to which all the isolated bacteria from infected wounds were sensitive in the study area.Keywords: Wound infection, Antibiotic susceptibility profile, Buea Health District, Cameroo

Antimicrobial and toxicological activities of five medicinal plant species from Cameroon Traditional Medicine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infectious diseases caused by multiresistant microbial strains are on the increase. Fighting these diseases with natural products may be more efficacious. The aim of this study was to investigate the <it>in vitro </it>antimicrobial activity of methanolic, ethylacetate (EtOAc) and hexanic fractions of five Cameroonian medicinal plants (<it>Piptadeniastum africana</it>, <it>Cissus aralioides, Hileria latifolia, Phyllanthus muellerianus </it>and <it>Gladiolus gregasius) </it>against 10 pathogenic microorganisms of the urogenital and gastrointestinal tracts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The fractions were screened for their chemical composition and <it>in vivo </it>acute toxicity was carried out on the most active extracts in order to assess their inhibitory selectivity.</p> <p>The agar well-diffusion and the micro dilution methods were used for the determination of the inhibition diameters (ID) and Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) respectively on 8 bacterial species including two Gram positive species (<it>Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis)</it>, and six Gram negative <it>(Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella typhi) </it>and two fungal isolates (<it>Candida albicans, Candida krusei)</it>. The chemical composition was done according to Harbone (1976), the acute toxicity evaluation according to WHO protocol and the hepatic as well as serum parameters measured to assess liver and kidney functions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The chemical components of each plant's extract varied according to the solvent used, and they were found to contain alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, triterpens, sterols, tannins, coumarins, glycosides, cardiac glycosides and reducing sugars. The methanolic and ethylacetate extracts of <it>Phyllanthus muellerianus </it>and <it>Piptadeniastum africana </it>presented the highest antimicrobial activities against all tested microorganisms with ID varying from 8 to 26 mm and MIC from 2.5 to 0.31 mg/ml. The <it>in vivo </it>acute toxicity study carried out on the methanolic extracts of <it>Phyllanthus muellerianus </it>and <it>Piptadeniastrum africana </it>indicated that these two plants were not toxic. At the dose of 4 g/kg body weight, kidney and liver function tests indicated that these two medicinal plants induced no adverse effect on these organs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results showed that, all these plant's extracts can be used as antimicrobial phytomedicines which can be therapeutically used against infections caused by multiresistant agents.</p> <p>Phyllanthus muellerianus, Piptadeniastum africana, antimicrobial, acute toxicity, kidney and liver function tests, Cameroon Traditional Medicine</p

Schistosomiasis in Cameroon: an assessment of community knowledge pattern

Objective: Schistosomiasis is one of the most widespread of all human parasitic diseases and is a serious health problem in Cameroon despitetremendous efforts by health authorities. The purpose of this study was to determine community knowledge of the infection in order to evaluatecontrol programmes put in place.Methods: A random sampling method was used to administer questionnaires to 3200 individuals in 80 communities throughout the ten regions of the country.Results: Globally the percentage of persons with good knowledge of schistosomiasis was low (28.8%). Of the 2586 who responded 1311 (50.7%) were females and 1275 (49.3%) were males. There was a statistically significant difference in the community knowledge pattern by gender (X2= 157.28, P&lt;0.05), and persons with good knowledge were more frequent among males than females (61.8% vs. 38.2% P&lt;0.05). The percentage of people who had good knowledge about the disease was highest in the Far North region (35.4), followed by the North (33.8) and the South- west (31.1) regions, There was a statistically significant difference in community knowledge pattern of Schistosomiasis by region and gender(X2=1265.648 P&lt;0.001). Also, there was a statistically significant difference in community knowledge pattern of by setting (X2=38.538 P=0.001)and the percentage of people who had a good knowledge of the disease was higher in rural areas than in urban areas (72.5% vs. 3.1% P&lt;0.05).Conclusion: was a low community knowledge pattern of schistosomiasis, mostly among the female population and among people living in urbanareas. We advocated that health education should be adopted as one of the control strategies by theKeywords: Community knowledge, schistosomiasis, Cameroo