Epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in children at Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Zamfara state, Nigeria

Epidemic meningococcal meningitis is a major public health problem still affecting tropical countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, which lieswithin African meningitis belt. Repeated large scale epidemics of CSM have been reported in northern Nigeria for the past four decades. It is one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in these regions. Mortality from the CSM remains high despite advances in treatment modalities. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A have been the major cause of large scale epidemics in tropical countries, while serogroups B, C, Y and W-135 are responsible for most of invasive disease in America and other developed countries.Objective: To determine the pattern of epidemic CSM in children atFederal Medical Centre, Gusau.Method: The study was a retrospective one carried out in children agedsix months to 12 years admitted into Emergency Paediatrics Unit (EPU) with a diagnosis of CSM within the period January to May, 2009.Results: Seventy- seven children with epidemic CSM were admittedand managed in EPU from January-May 2009.Conclusion: Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A CSM is becoming thedisease of young infants, and stresses the need for inclusion ofCSM vaccine in early infancy in routine immunization policy, in areas within the meningitis belt in Sub-Saharan Africa

Premature discharge of children from hospital admission at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria: A 3-year review

Introduction: Leaving hospital care prematurely could threaten the healthy survival of and expose children to a risk of harmful alternatives. It is also a concern and a challenge to healthcare providers and the health system. A better understanding of its characteristic could help mitigate the impact on children.Objective: To determine the prevalence, types of, and reasons for premature hospital discharge amongst children.Methods: We carried out a threeyear retrospective review of case notes of children who were taken away from hospital admission by their parents/caregivers before they were due for discharge.  Socio-demographic, clinical anddischarge information were collected and data was entered into Microsoft® Excel® for Mac 2011 (Version 14.1.0), cleaned and analysed. Results were presented as percentages, statistical means and standard deviations, tables and charts.Results: There were 56 cases of premature discharge out of 2858 admissions, giving a prevalence of 2.0%. Under-five children constituted 65.4%, with a male: female ratio of 2.3:1. Thirty-one (55.3%) children were absconded with while 25 (44.7%) were taken away by caregivers against medical advice. The commonest diagnoses were protein-energy malnutrition and pneumonia and majority were from poor socio-economic family background. The commonest reasons for discharge AMA were unaffordable costs and perception of improvement of child’s medical condition.Conclusion: Socio-economic factors were significant determinants of utilization of in-patient hospital services for the children studied. There is a need for provision of affordable health care as well as efficient discharge policy to protect children from potential risks associated with premature hospital discharge.Keywords: Children; admission; premature discharge; discharge against medical advice; absconding; elopemen

Typhoid fever in children presenting to paediatric medical wards of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria: A 13-month review

Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by the Gram-negative bacilli Salmonellae, transmitted via the feaco-oral route. It commonly affects children, leading to complications and death if untreated. This is a reportof typhoid fever admissions as seen at ABU Teaching Hospital Zaria over a 13-month period. Objectives: To describe the clinical presentation and management outcomes of children admitted with typhoid fever during a13-month period.Materials and methods: A retrospective review of demographic, clinical presentation and treatment response of children managed for typhoid fever was conducted. Results were presented as means with standard deviation, proportions, tables, figures and Chisquares with p values. The prevalence of typhoid fever admissions was obtained over the period from2008-2011.Results: A total of 779 children were admitted from 1st January 2011 to 31st January 2012, out of which 39 (4.9%) had a diagnosis of typhoid fever. There was a significant difference in prevalence of typhoid fever admissions from 2008-2010 compared to 2011 (X2 = 5.6651; p <0.019). The mean age was 7.2 (SD ± 4.3) years and 71.8% resided in the sameneighbourhood. All the children had pre-admission antibiotics, while 93.3% had abdominal pain, 64.1% had diarrhoea, 89.7% had fever and 69% had hepatomegaly. Widal test and blood cultures were positive in 46% and 10.3% respectively. Poor treatment response led to antibiotic switch for 61.1% started on chloramphenicol. Bowel perforation occurred in four(10.3%) who had laparotomy but there was no mortality, and all were discharged after recovery.Conclusion: A surge was observed in typhoid fever admissions associatedwith widespread use of preadmission antibiotics. Low rates of pathogen isolation and unaffordable costs precluded appropriate antibiotic choice for many at admission, and led to poor treatment response. Public health education should emphasize water hygiene and judicious use of antibiotics.Key words: Typhoid fever; Enteric fever; Children; Hospital admission

Geographical information system and predictive risk maps of urinary schistosomiasis in Ogun State, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The control of urinary schistosomiasis in Ogun State, Nigeria remains inert due to lack of reliable data on the geographical distribution of the disease and the population at risk. To help in developing a control programme, delineating areas of risk, geographical information system and remotely sensed environmental images were used to developed predictive risk maps of the probability of occurrence of the disease and quantify the risk for infection in Ogun State, Nigeria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Infection data used were derived from carefully validated morbidity questionnaires among primary school children in 2001–2002, in which school children were asked among other questions if they have experienced "blood in urine" or urinary schistosomiasis. The infection data from 1,092 schools together with remotely sensed environmental data such as rainfall, vegetation, temperature, soil-types, altitude and land cover were analysis using binary logistic regression models to identify environmental features that influence the spatial distribution of the disease. The final regression equations were then used in Arc View 3.2a GIS software to generate predictive risk maps of the distribution of the disease and population at risk in the state.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Logistic regression analysis shows that the only significant environmental variable in predicting the presence and absence of urinary schistosomiasis in any area of the State was Land Surface Temperature (LST) (B = 0.308, p = 0.013). While LST (B = -0.478, p = 0.035), rainfall (B = -0.006, p = 0.0005), ferric luvisols (B = 0.539, p = 0.274), dystric nitosols (B = 0.133, p = 0.769) and pellic vertisols (B = 1.386, p = 0.008) soils types were the final variables in the model for predicting the probability of an area having an infection prevalence equivalent to or more than 50%. The two predictive risk maps suggest that urinary schistosomiasis is widely distributed and occurring in all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) in State. The high-risk areas (≥ 50% prevalence) however, are confined to scatter foci in the north western part of the State. The model also estimated that 98.99% of schools aged children (5–14 years) are living in areas suitable for urinary schistosomiasis transmission and are at risk of infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The risk maps developed will hopefully be useful to the state health officials, by providing them with detailed distribution of urinary schistosomiasis, help to delineate areas for intervention, assesses population at risk thereby helping in optimizing scarce resources.</p

Novel functional insights into ischemic stroke biology provided by the first genome-wide association study of stroke in indigenous Africans

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024. Background: African ancestry populations have the highest burden of stroke worldwide, yet the genetic basis of stroke in these populations is obscure. The Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network (SIREN) is a multicenter study involving 16 sites in West Africa. We conducted the first-ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) of stroke in indigenous Africans. Methods: Cases were consecutively recruited consenting adults (aged &gt; 18 years) with neuroimaging-confirmed ischemic stroke. Stroke-free controls were ascertained using a locally validated Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status. DNA genotyping with the H3Africa array was performed, and following initial quality control, GWAS datasets were imputed into the NIH Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) release2 from BioData Catalyst. Furthermore, we performed fine-mapping, trans-ethnic meta-analysis, and in silico functional characterization to identify likely causal variants with a functional interpretation. Results: We observed genome-wide significant (P-value &lt; 5.0E−8) SNPs associations near AADACL2 and miRNA (MIR5186) genes in chromosome 3 after adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiac status in the base model as covariates. SNPs near the miRNA (MIR4458) gene in chromosome 5 were also associated with stroke (P-value &lt; 1.0E−6). The putative genes near AADACL2, MIR5186, and MIR4458 genes were protective and novel. SNPs associations with stroke in chromosome 2 were more than 77 kb from the closest gene LINC01854 and SNPs in chromosome 7 were more than 116 kb to the closest gene LINC01446 (P-value &lt; 1.0E−6). In addition, we observed SNPs in genes STXBP5-AS1 (chromosome 6), GALTN9 (chromosome 12), FANCA (chromosome 16), and DLGAP1 (chromosome 18) (P-value &lt; 1.0E−6). Both genomic regions near genes AADACL2 and MIR4458 remained significant following fine mapping. Conclusions: Our findings identify potential roles of regulatory miRNA, intergenic non-coding DNA, and intronic non-coding RNA in the biology of ischemic stroke. These findings reveal new molecular targets that promise to help close the current gaps in accurate African ancestry-based genetic stroke’s risk prediction and development of new targeted interventions to prevent or treat stroke

Relationship of Malaria to HBV and HIV status among Blood donors in Lagos State

Three hundred and sixty eight (368) blood donors were examined for blood parasitic infection; 95.9% were males while 4.1% were females. Gametocytes and trophozoites of Plasmodium falciparum were observed in the blood samples examined. 10.1% of the blood donors were infected with malaria; 6.5% had Hepatitis B virus and 1.4% had HIV. Females had higher infection rate of malaria and hepatitis B virus (13.3% for both) than males (10.3% and 6.2%) respectively. The ages of the blood donors were between 18 and 52 years. Prevalence of malaria increased from age 18 to 27 years and then decreased with age; the highest prevalence (15.4%) was recorded in age group 23 to 27. Most of the blood donors belonged to blood group O (55.4%) while blood group AB had the lowest number of donors (2.4%). Co-infection was observed in the donors. Blood group A had the highest co-infection of malaria and hepatitis (66.7%) followed by blood group O (33.3%); blood group O also had 20% co-infection of HIV and hepatitis. Co-infection of malaria and hepatitis by blood groups was statistically significant (p&lt;0.05). Mean intensity of infection was higher in males than in females. The highest prevalence of malaria was recorded among the clergy, followed by students and unemployed people; police and military personnel had the highest hepatitis while the drivers and cleaners had the highest HIV. Most of the donors used both untreated net and insecticides (37.5%) and untreated nets only (32.1%); highest malaria infection was recorded among those who used only untreated nets.Keywords: Malaria, HIV, HBV, blood groups, plasmodium falciparumNigerian Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 32 [1] March 2011, pp. 71-7

Organic matter fractions and microarthropod population in soils under different management and environmental conditions

The different fractions of organic matter

Evaluation of organic P and inorganic P in soils derived from sedimentary materials and basement complex rocks research note.

No Abstract. Nigerian Journal of Soil Science Vol. 16 (1) 2006: pp. 170-17

Prevalence and clinical profile of malaria among the coastal dwellers of Lagos state, Nigeria

No Abstract. The Nigerian Journal of Parasitology Vol. 23(1) 2002: 61-6