A survey on occurrence of internal and external fish parasites and causes of fish population reduction in Lake Hashenge, Tigray, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2015 to June 2016 to determine the occurrence of internal and external parasites in wild fish population of Lake Hashenge and identify the causes of the trends in reduction of fish population. A total of 125 randomly selected fish samples comprising 122 (97.6%) Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and 3(2.4%) T. zilli were examined for internal helminthes and external parasites. Overall, 37.6% (47/125) of fish were infested by internal parasites (adults or eggs/larva) while none of them were infested with external parasites. The internal parasites recovered were Clinostomum, Acanthocephalues and Capillaria accounting for 15.2%, 11.2%, and 7.2% of the total infection respectively, while 4% had mixed infection. Moreover, the distribution of parasitic genera were found to be significantly different (p<0.05) with respect to sex, weight, and lengths of the sampled fish, in that females (n=48, 24.8%), fish with body weight 500-1000g (n=89, 30.4%), and length 20-40cm (n=68, 22.4%) were found to be more infected. Most of the respondents (92%) indicated a great reduction in the water and the fish population of the lack from its previous state. All of the respondents have stated that residents of the area wash their clothes in the Lake using synthetic and/or natural detergents and 86% of the respondents believed that Lake Hashenge receives flooding water from nearby uphills and the people use the water from the Lake for small scale irrigation purposes. These findings demand a future focus and stretch of intervention programs for alleviation of the problems facing the Lake before its exhaustion.Keywords: Fish; Lake Hashenge; Parasites; Prevalence; Population reductio

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4 (62.3 (55.1�70.8) million) to 6.4 (58.3 (47.6�70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization�s Global Nutrition Target of <5 in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2 (30 (22.8�38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0 (55.5 (44.8�67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic. © 2020, The Author(s)

Author Correction: Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 5, (750-759), 10.1038/s41591-020-0807-6)

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. © 2020, The Author(s)

Author Correction: Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 5, (750-759), 10.1038/s41591-020-0807-6)

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. © 2020, The Author(s)

Risk factors associated with malaria outbreak in Laelay Adyabo district northern Ethiopia, 2017: case-control study design

Abstract Background Globally in 2015 about 214 million malaria cases and 438,000 deaths were reported with 75% were from Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria transmission in Ethiopia is unstable, and outbreaks are considered public health emergencies. Understanding the trigger for outbreaks in low-transmission areas can help facilitate malaria elimination. On July 8th malaria outbreak was reported from Laelay Adyabo district. The objective was to investigate the magnitude and associated factors with malaria outbreak. Methods We defined a case as confirmed malaria using microscopy or a rapid diagnostic test for Plasmodium parasites in a resident of Laelay-Adyabo District from July 9–28, 2017. We identified cases by reviewing health facility records and conducted a case-control study using randomly-selected cases from a line list, and two neighborhood controls per case. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire adapted from WHO malaria guidelines was used to collect data from case-patients and controls. We calculated crude (COR) and adjusted (AOR) odds ratios to identify factors associated with malaria. Result A total of 145 confirmed malaria cases (57.9% males) were identified with village attack rate (AR) of 12.1/1000. The AR was higher among males than females (14.1 verses 10.1/1000), children aged 5–14 years (12.9/1000), and in Zelazle Kebelle (13.6/1000 population). Wearing protective clothing (AOR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.11–0.66), having good knowledge of malaria transmission (AOR = 0.25, 95% CI 0.08–0.75), having waste collection material at home (AOR = 0.25 95% CI 0.11–0.61), availability of mosquito breeding sites around home (AOR = 9.08, 95% CI 3.6–22.93), and staying outdoor overnight (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI 1.44–9.56) were independently associated with malaria. Conclusion The overall attack rate for malaria during this outbreak was high affecting > 1% of the population. Wearing protective clothing at night, knowing about malaria transmission, having mosquito breeding sites around the home, staying outdoors overnight, and having waste collection material in their house were predictors of the infection. Laelay Adyabo district health office should provide health education on malaria transmission and prevention measures and how to clear mosquito breeding sites

Factors associated with treatment initiation delay among new adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.

BackgroundDelayed treatment initiation of Tuberculosis patients results in increased infectivity, poor treatment outcome, and increased mortality. However, there is a paucity of evidence on the delay in new adult pulmonary Tuberculosis patients to initiate treatment in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.ObjectiveTo assess the factors associated with treatment initiation delay among new adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.MethodsThe study design was cross-sectional. A total of 875 new adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients were recruited from 21 health facilities from October 2018 to October 2019. Health facilities were selected by simple random sampling technique and tuberculosis cases from the health facilities were consecutively enrolled. Data were collected using structured questionnaire within the first 2 weeks of treatment initiation. Delay was categorized as patient, health system and total delays. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the odds of delays to initiate treatment. A p-value of less than 0.05 was reported as statistically significant.ResultsThe median patient, health system and total delays were 30, 18 and 62 days, respectively. Rural residence, being poor, visiting non-formal medication sources, being primary health care and the private clinic had higher odds of patient delay whereas being HIV positive had lower odds of patient delay. Illiteracy, first visit to primary health care and private clinic had higher odds of health system delay whereas a visit to health facility one time and have no patient delay had lower odds of health system delay.ConclusionThe median patient delay was higher than the median health system delay before initiating treatment. Hence, improved awareness of the community and involving the informal medication sources in the tuberculosis pathways would reduce patient delay. Similarly, improved cough screening and diagnostic efficiency of the lower health facilities would shorten health system delay

Review on environmental selenium: Occurrence, public health implications and biological treatment strategies

Selenium is an essential toxin that functions as essential micronutrient for maintaining good health with a small safety margin, but is toxic at slightly higher concentrations or doses. It is being distributed throughout the environment, including mines, water, plants, soils, wastewater and the atmosphere. A multi-sectorial studies should be required to eliminate the toxic effects of Se and retain its public health benefits through the application of various treatment strategies from the contaminated environment. Amongst them, the biological techniques by inoculating several Se-respiring microorganisms in removing Se-laden wastewater have received worldwide attention. The treatment performance of the reviewed biological technologies (bioreactors systems) have been performed higher removal efficiency, but their sustainability in continuous processes depends on the effects of operational parameters. Both in small- and large-scale operations, the phytoremediation techniques utilizing microalgae and artificial wetlands performed a considerable Se elimination efficiency. This paper provides a critical review on the occurrence of selenium, public health significance of selenium to be used as an essential micronutrient and supplement for patients with various diseases (including those with HIV-AIDS and COVID-19), its toxicity, and the biological selenium treatment technologies investigated at laboratory and currently in use at pilot, and full-scale processes