Pregnancy outcome in booked and unbooked mothers in Southeastern Nigeria

Background: In order for individual health institutions in Nigeria to contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) with regards to maternal health, there is need for research on the local causes of and factors influencing adverse maternal outcomes. This would enable care providers and policy makers appreciate the burden of the problem and know where to focus as they distribute resources.Objectives: To compare the socio-demographical characteristics, obstetrical complications and foetal outcome in booked verses unbooked mothers who delivered at this hospital.Design: A hospital based retrospective study.Setting: The Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba in South Eastern Nigeria.Subjects: Three thousand, seven hundred and thirty four mothers who delivered in the hospital between 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2007.Results: Unbooked mothers constituted 17.0% of the 3734 deliveries in the studied period. Compared to booked mothers, unbooked mothers were younger in age (28.2 ± 5.80 vs. 29.3 ± 6.04; p < 0.001) and had a lower educational status (

Knowledge of genital herpes infection among antenatal clinic attendees in South-Eastern Nigeria

Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a major cause of genital ulcer disease worldwide and a significant factor for increased risk of acquisition and transmission of the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). The determination of the level of knowledge of genital herpes is necessary for the design and implementation of its specific preventive strategies as well as the reduction of the contribution of genital herpes to HIV transmission.Objective: To determine antenatal women’s knowledge on genital herpes infection. Design: A cross sectional descriptive study.Setting: Antenatal clinic of Abia State University Teaching, Hospital, Aba, Nigeria. Subjects: Three hundred and fifty consecutive and consenting antenatal clinic attendees of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, South Eastern, Nigeria. Results: Seventy nine respondents (22.6%) had ever heard of genital herpes whilst sixty two (17.7%) had ever had recurrent blisters around their genitals. Two hundred and sixteen respondents (61.7%) reported having had cold sores or blisters around thelips or mouth following an episode of fever. Seventy four (21.1 %) of the respondents knew that the virus that causes cold sores or blisters can be sexually transmitted. Higher educational levels attained and occupations other than being a housewife or farmer were associated with a greater awareness of genital herpes (

Risk Factors for Hepatitis B Virus Infection during Pregnancy in South Eastern Nigeria

Objective: To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and possible risk factors in pregnant women.Design: A cross –sectional serological survey of women attending antenatal clinics.Setting: Five antenatal clinics in Aba, South Eastern Nigeria.Subjects: Eight hundred and ten consecutive and consenting antenatal clinic attendees over the period 15 June- 15 November 2010.Main Outcome measures: For each pregnant woman, the medical and sociodemographic data were documented. Hepatitis B surface antigen seropositivity determined.Results: Twenty two (2.7%) of the 810 subjects were found to be HBsAg seropositive and asymptomatic. Maternal age, parity, educational level attained, marital status, history of blood transfusion, intravenous drug use, tattooing, jaundice in the past and Human Immunodeficiency Virus seropositivity did not show any association with HBsAg sseropositivity.Conclusion: HBsAg seropositive women in the study were asymptomatic and showed no association with the medical and sociodemographic characteristics examined. These findings affirm the recommendation for universal HBsAg screening in pregnancy and imply that screening on the basis of the presence of risk factors alone may be insufficient

The Occurrence of Uterine Benign Diseases and their Histomorphologic Characters

Uterine diseases are several and can develop from any part of the organ. Noticeable benign diseases are type called hydatidiform mole considered benign among gestational trophoblastic disease and is said to occur from abnormal fertilization of abnormal ova. Other forms are inflammatory, proliferative of insidious cell/tissue implant, hormonal induced, and infectious in their origin. Samples were obtained from patients consulted and admitted into Department of Morbid Anatomy of Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital. Clinical and histopathological record books were reviewed alongside processed tissues, and slides stained by popular heamatoxylin and eosin technique in the 3 year study period. Of the 642 gynecological samples searched, result showed a progressive increase in number as the years empty from 2011 to 2013 presenting 8 uterine diseases in a population of 116 cases. A total of 518 cases were product of conception of which 250 were as a result of incomplete spontaneous abortions and 200 inappropriate criminal abortions, while 68 could not be associated with any definite cause. Leiomyoma cases were 75%, uterine/vaginal prolapsed were 6%, molar pregnancies and endometriosis 5% and while endometrial hyperplasia and uterine atrophy were 3% each and 2% each were for uterine polyp and adenomyosis in all of the 116 cases. Six age groups were involved showing that 7 diseases and total frequency of 50% occurred with age group (40-49) and is seconded by (30-39) which had 5 conditions with frequency of 21%. Attempted provisional diagnosis was based on clinical presentations, and of 116 cases 80% were confirmed accurate by laboratory diagnosis. Clinical characters of leiomyomas were the same while histomorphologic features were not entirely consistently same in all

Female genital mutilation: Cultural awareness and clinical considerations

No Abstract.ABSUMSAJ Vol. 4 (1) 2007: pp.22-2

Comparative ovulation in clariidae using crude HCG from early pregnancy urine

Members of Clariidae do not spawn in captivity. Culture of these species in captivity must necessitate induced spawning of the eggs. Synthetic hormones have been known to assist this process. This paper used purified crude HCG from early pregnancy urine to assay ovulation in three species of Clariidae. Purification and extraction of crude HCG was carried out by the techniques involving alcohol precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Biological activity of the purified homogenate was tested on three species of clarridae: Heterotranchus longifilis, clarias gariepinus and clarias anguillaris at a dose 2.5i.u/gram body weight. Eggs were stripped from fish after a latency period of 12-20hours. H. longifilis gave the highest number (percentage) of stripped eggs and showed significant difference with clutch size (PLO.05) when compared with C. gariepinus and C. anguillaris. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed in fecundity between the two Clarias species. However all the three species showed high fecundity when treated with the homogenate. The results show positive implications for the culture of the species in captivity

Eclampsia at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba Nigeria, A five-year review

No Abstract.ABSUMSAJ Vol. 4 (1) 2007: pp.19-2

Teenage Pregnancy and Obstetrics Complications in Aba, Nigeria

A study on the incidence and complication pattern of teenage pregnancy was conducted in Aba, Abia State, Nigeria using six randomly selected hospitals and health institutions between March and September 1999. The analysis covered all teenage pregnancies reported to the selected health institutions. A total of 4868 pregnancies were recorded, out of this, teenage pregnancies were reported in 365 (7.5%) cases. Three hundred and twenty five (89.0%) out of 365 cases developed one form of complication or the other ranging from anaemia 31.4%, pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) 15.1% and urinary tract infection 14.2%. Other complications recorded were post partum Haemorrhage (PPH) 8.6%, Ante-partum haemorrhage (APH) 8.0% etc. The socio-economic, an public health implications of teenage pregnancy was discussed. Key Words: Incidence, Complications and Public Health Implications/Impact of Teenage Pregnancy. Jnl of Medical Investigation and Practice Vol.2 2001: 52-5

Torsion of the gravid uterus: Case report and review of the literature

Uterine torsion is defined as a rotation of more than 45 degrees along the long axis of the uterus. It is a very rare condition but could be life threatening. The non-specific clinical course and rarity of this condition makes the preoperative diagnosis difficult and raises critical management issues. Obstetricians should have this complication in mind when performing a caesarean section on a woman with abnormal presentation of the fetus, adhesions, uterine myoma, uterine abnormality or ovarian tumour. We describe a case of uterine levorotation of 180 degrees at term. Delivery was by Caeserean section and deliberate posterior hysterotomy. There was a satisfactory outcome for both mother and baby.Key words: Torsion, Gravid

Aetiological Factors in Female Infertility: The ABSUTH Experience

To determine the prevalence of infertility in a traditional Ibo society using Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba as a case study and to identify the common causes of female infertility in Aba, a retrospective study of patient investigated and treated for infertility from 1st January to 31st December 1996 was done. A total of 1487 patients attended the gynaecological clinic of ABSUTH within the study period. Three hundred and thirty-five (22.5%) presented with infertility. Primary infertility occurred in 28.3% while secondary infertility occurred in (71.7%). The peak incidence of infertility was in the age group of 25 to 29 years. The major factors in female's infertility were: male factors 195 (58.2%), tubal factors 103 (30.6%) and ovarian factors 80 (23.8%). Twelve per cent of the patients had more than one factors operative. Infertility is a major gyanecological problem in Igbo society. Sexually transmitted disease injuries and infections sustained during abortion and labour may have a significant influence on the high level of infertility found in our analysis. Key Words: Female infertility, Igbo society, Aetiology and Prevention. Jnl of Medical Investigation and Practice Vol.2 2001: 46-4