SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AND KNOWLEDGE OF AIDS & OTHER STDs: A SURVEY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT: The major objective of this study has been to examine the sexual behavior and level of knowledge of AIDS and other STDs of students at a senior high school. 116 students from the 9th to 12th grades provided information. Most of them believe that AIDS is the most serious disease the country faces. On the average, the students have modest knowledge on AIDS, but low level of knowledge on other STDs. The results show that over a third of the students have experienced sex, and most of them never use any protective means to avoid STDs

Evaluation of Pro-Inflammatory Biomarkers as Potential Early Indicators of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)

Infections with the 2009 pandemic influenza A(HlNl) virus often leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in high-risk patients. In these patients, ARDS has a mortality rate of 40-50 % [1]. Patients may die before any intervention is possible since there are few if any early biomarkers that are indicative of ARDS and can be used for diagnosis. In a search for biomarkers that signal early disease progression in mice, multiple acute phase proteins involved with inflammatory responses to infectious stimuli were proposed. Three biomarkers were evaluated for this project. These included C-reactive protein (CRP), Serum Amyloid A (SAA) and Transferrin. To validate these biomarkers as predictors of ARDS, mice were infected with the influenza A Califomia/04/2009 (H 1 N 1 )pdm09 virus and serum was collected from infected mice at different time points (0 - 72 hours post infection). Serum samples were tested for amounts of CRP, SAA and Transferrin using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Control mice were mock-infected and tested alongside for comparison. Our results indicate that of the three biomarkers tested, SAA shows strong potential as an early indicator of ARDS with a peak at 72 hours post infection in infected mice serum. Further investigation is in progress to observe the levels of SAA past day 3 (72 hours post infection)

Multidrug-resistant pattern of food borne illness associated bacteria isolated from cockroaches in meal serving facilities, Jimma, Ethiopia

Introduction: An increase in the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR)bacteria in recent years is becoming worrisome. Domestic cockroaches can play a significant role in the dissemination of such bacteria between the environment and human beings. This study aimed at determining anti-microbial resistance pattern of food borne illness associated bacteria identified from cockroaches trapped in restaurants and cafeterias.Methods: Trapped cockroaches were picked with surgical gloves, sealed in sterile plastic bags and transported to the Microbiology laboratory. Standard microbiological techniques were used to isolate and identify bacteria. Anti-microbial susceptibility testing was done using Kirby Bauer diffusion technique.Result: A total of five species of food borne illness associated bacteria were detected. Majority (57.1%) of the bacteria were isolated from the gut of cockroaches. More than 89% of the isolates were multi drug resistance (MDR). MDR was higher on gram positive bacteria. S. aureus showed 53.3% resistance against oxacillin(MRSA) and 33.3% against vancomycin.Conclusion: A very high percentage of MDR bacteria was seen in this study. Most of the bacteria tested were isolated from the gut of cockroaches. Potential factors associated with cockroaches that contributed to this high MDR rate of the isolates should be investigated in future.Keywords: MDR, bacteria, cockroaches, food borne

Seasonal home range of Swayne\'s Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei) in Senkele Swayne\'s Hartebeest Sanctuary

The home range of the endangered Ethiopian endemic hartebeest, Swayne\'s hartebeest, Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei, was studied in Senkele Swayne\'s Hartebeest Sanctuary (SSHS). The size of the sanctuary has been diminishing since 1974, resulting in the shrinking of the area available for the hartebeests. Even in the current available habitat, the animals still preserved their behaviour of ranging in wider area during the wet season and smaller area during the dry season. However, when the human settlers migrate from the sanctuary and the bordering area during the dry season, the hartebeests occupy a range which is larger than their wet season range in the sanctuary. As their dry season home range increased in absence of the settlers, their movement was observed to have increased becoming equivalent to that of the wet season. Key words/phrases: Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei, home range, human interference, movement, Senkele Swayne\'s Hartebeest Sanctuary SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science Vol. 27 (2) 2004: 121–12

Treatment outcomes of childhood tuberculosis in Addis Ababa: a five-year retrospective analysis

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) kills one child every 5 min. Childhood TB is given low priority in most national health programmes particularly in TB-endemic areas. TB among children is an indicator of a recent transmission of the disease in the community. Treatment outcome results serve as a proxy of the quality of treatment provided by a health care system. In Ethiopia, data on treatment outcomes of childhood TB are limited. The aim of the study was to determine the treatment outcomes of childhood TB in a hospital setting in Addis Ababa. Methods The study was conducted during June to August 2014. The data of 491 children treated for TB in Zewditu Memorial Hospital during a 5 year (2009–2013) was analysed. TB was diagnosed using standard methods. Demographic and clinical data including type of TB, TB-HIV co-infection and treatment outcomes were collected from registry of the TB clinic. Treatment outcome definitions are used according to the World Health Organization. Results Of the 491 children, 272(55.4 %) were females, 107(21.8 %) were under 5 year old, 454(92.5 %) of them were new cases. The types of TB were extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) 243(49.5 %) and 248(50.5 %) pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Of the PTB cases, 42(16.9 %) were sputum smear positive. Of the 291 children tested for HIV, 82(28.2 %) were positive. The overall treatment success rate was 420(85.5 %) and the poor treatment outcome was 71(14.5 %). Of the children with poor treatment outcome, 9(1.8 %) died, 3(0.6 %) defaulted from treatment, 2(0.4 %) were treatment failure and 55(11.2 %) were transferred out. Males and females had similar treatment success rates of 85.8 % and 85.3 %, respectively. Infants under one year had significantly lower treatment success rate of 72.7 % compared to those above 1 years of age of 86.5 % (P < 0.001). Treatment success rate ranged from 78.0 to 92.6 % during the study period. Associated factors for treatment outcome were age above 5 years (AOR = 0.59, 95 % CI: 0.62–0.97) and seropositive for HIV infection (AOR = 6.66, 95 % CI: 3.07–14.47). Conclusions The treatment success rate in this study is 85.5 %. The outcome of treatment varied with age, and presence of HIV infection. In order to the further improve of treatment success rate, continuous follow up with frequent support of patients during treatment course and strengthen the recording system are strongly recommend

Patterns and Magnitude of Defaulting from Leprosy Treatment in Jimma Health Centre

No abstract - Available on PD

Assessment of the Bacteriological Quality of Milk at Dairy Farms and Individual Breeders in Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Food-borne diseases are major public health concern worldwide. Many people around the world acquire food poisoning due to consumption of raw, contaminated milk which are spread either from infected cows, by handling or during milk processing. The aim of this study was to assess the sanitary standards of dairy farm as well as individual breeding areas in Jimma town, evaluate the hygienic practices of milk handlers and to determine the bacteriological quality of milk at dairy farms and individual breeders. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to July2001. In the study, survey using interview methods using structured questionnaire and close assessment concerning cleanliness and design of the barn, status of animal health, hygienic practices and health status of the milk handlers was made. In addition, bacteriological investigation on the quality of milk, sterility of the milk utensils and containers was made. Standard laboratory procedures including gram staining, culture and biochemical tests were employed to identify potential bacterial pathogens. RESULTS: Of all the milk samples tested for quality, only 52/60 (86.7%) of the milk samples tested were found to be free of any pathogenic microorganisms and acceptable for consumption while 9/13 (69.2%) of milk containers were bacteriologically unacceptable for utilization. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest bacterial pathogen isolated from freshly drawn milk (in 13.9%) of cases while the 3 klebsiella species (K. pneumoniae, K. ozanae &amp; K. oxytoca) were isolated from collection cans (bulk) and milking utensils (in 7 and 5 cases respectively). Some milk samples contained multiple pathogens. Polymicrobial isolation was observed in 2 cases of each in freshly drawn milk, milking utensils and milk from bulk cans. In addition, on environmental assessment, cows were not regularly checked for animal diseases. CONCLUSION: Consumption of raw milk from market is potentially dangerous for health. Thus, proper boiling of the milk is recommended. The farm managers and individual breeders must take corrective measures so as to produce milk for human consumption that meets the existing milk standard, which is free of harmful bacterial pathogens. The cows should be regularly checked at animal clinics.Ethiop J Health Sci. Vol. 13, No. 1 January 200

Seroprevalence of HBsAg and its risk factors amoung pregnant women in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia

No Abstract Available Ethiop.J.Health Dev. Vol.19(1) 2005: 45-5

Trends of HIV Seropositivity among Blood Donors over Six Years Period (1995-2000) in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Background: Since few years back HIV/AIDS has become a threat to globaldevelopment. Developing countries especially those in the sub-Saharan area are highly victimized by the tolls of its morbidity and mortality. Circumstantial evidences and reports from sentinel studies indicate that the problem is progressing from time to time. However, there is no adequate information in Ethiopia as to what the trend of the infection looks like in healthy population over a period of time. The objective of this study was to determine the trend of HIV positivity among blood donors at the Jimma Hospital Blood Bank. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out among blood donors during the period of January 1995 to December 2000 at Jimma hospital blood bank, Jimma zone, Southwest of Oromiya, to determine the trend of HIV seropositivity and associated factors. All subjects who donated their blood at Jimma hospital blood bank during the specified period were included in the study. Data on socio-demographic variables, and serologic status of the subjects were abstracted from their records using structured questionnaire. The data were cleaned edited and entered in to computer and analysis was done using SPSS version 7.5. Results: A total of 3394 subjects donated blood over the last six years, 3020 were male and 360 were female. The prevalence of seropositivity tended to decrease from 1995 some how until 1999 and started to rise in 2000 this difference in the prevalence of seropositivity was statistically significant (P&lt;0.05). The study revealed that 189 (5.6%) donors were positive for HIV upon screening by ELISA method. The sex specific prevalence of HIV infection was 9.3% for females and 5.8% for males. This difference in the sex specific prevalence of HIV infection was statistically significant (P=0.002, OR = 0.565, 95%CI =0.395-0.810). There is also a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of HIV infection along the years (P =0.003). The age specific prevalence is highest in the age group of 18-30 followed by that of the age group of 31-40 as compared to other age groups, this difference was statistically significant (P =0.028). Single subjects showed the highest (5.8%) prevalence followed by Married ones (5.6%), the difference was not statistically significant (P&gt;0.05). Pertaining the literacy status, the highest prevalence (7.2%) was observed in those subjects who attended Junior secondary and high school followed by those who attended grades 1-6(5.4%), the difference was not statistically significant (P&lt;0.05). Seropositivity was higher(6.9%) among Christians as compared to Muslims (4.1%) and the difference was statistically significant (P &lt;0.001, OR =1.68, 95%CI=1.25-1.27). Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, appropriate recommendations were made.Ethiop J Health Sci Vol. 11, No. 2 July 200

Causes and Outcome of Surgically Treated Non-Traumatic Surgical Acute Abdomen in Suhul General Hospital, Shire, Northwest Tigray, Ethiopia, a Retrospective Study

The term acute abdomen refers to signs and symptoms of abdominal pain and tenderness, a clinical presentation that often requires emergency surgical therapy. This challenging clinical scenario requires a thorough and expeditious workup to determine the need for operative intervention and to initiate appropriate therapy. Many diseases, some of which are not surgical or intra-abdominal, can produce acute abdominal pain and tenderness. An acute abdomen could be medical, surgical or gynecological. Furthermore surgical acute abdomen classified to traumatic and non-traumatic. The causes of acute abdomen are several and their relative incidence varies in different populations. Several factors are described to be responsible for these differences. Socioeconomic factors and diet have mostly been incriminated to be responsible for the observed differences. The Objective of this study is to assess the causes and outcome of surgically treated non-traumatic surgical acute abdomen patient who were managed operatively at Suhul general hospital.This is two year hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study on 166 patients complaining of non-traumatic acute abdomen over the period of two year from March 2012 to March 2014 who managed surgically at Suhul general hospital. Data was collected by data collectors in to the appropriate data collection instrument- the questionnaire.Daily completeness of the questionnaire was cross checked by principal investigator for data quality control. The collected data was processed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics and chi-square calculation has been used to show association with P-value. The results shows that there were 166 patients who underwent emergency abdominal surgery at Suhul general hospital for non-traumatic acute surgical abdomen in the study period. Of this 166 patient 94(56.6%) were male and 72(43.4). The most common cause of acute abdomen was acute appendicitis 54.2% found followed by generalized peritonitis 27.1% and intestinal obstruction 18.7%. There were 07 deaths in the study period giving an overall case fatality rate of 4.2%. A higher morbidity and mortality was observed in patients who presented late.As a conclusion we can say that acute appendicitis where the most common condition encountered in patients presenting with acute abdomen. Most patients having acute abdomen are relatively young in the 2nd and 3rd decades of life. A late presentation is the common factor for increased morbidity. The most common early (in hospital) post-operative complication was surgical site wound infection