Five years trend analysis of malaria prevalence in Jardga Jarte district, western Ethiopia

Retrospective study on malaria prevalence was conducted to determine a five-year malaria trend in three health facilities in Jardga Jarete district, western Ethiopia. All malaria cases reported from 2015 to 2019 in three health centers were carefully reviewed from the laboratory record books to determine the trends of malaria morbidity. The data were analyzed and presented in tables and figures. A total of 25,868 patients with malaria complaints were screened for malaria using microscopy within five years, of which 4,336 (16.8%) were confirmed positive cases. Higher percentage of malaria slide positivity rate was detected in Dandy (42%) followed by Haro Lago (38%) and Akeyu (20%) health centers. Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, and mixed infections accounted for 59.2%, 33%, and 7.8% of slide positive malaria rates, respectively. Males were more affected (n=2,465; 56.85%) than female ones (n=1,871; 43.15%). Malaria was higher in the age group >16 years (73.7%), followed by 6–15 years (13.4%), and 1-5 years (12.4%). The highest prevalence of malaria was observed through the months of September to November (27.1%), while the lowest infection rate was during the dry season months of December, January, and February, with a prevalence of 22.5%. This study revealed that malaria is a public health burden, with P. falciparum being the predominant malaria parasite followed by P. vivax. As a result, it is imperative to strengthen evidence-based malaria interventions that can contain the burden of the disease in the area

Trends in the occurrence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Arada Sub-City: A 5-year retrospective study.

Helicobacter pylori infection remains a major public health problem in Ethiopia. This retrospective study aims at determining the prevalence of H. pylori infection over a period of 5 years, from 2016 to 2020 among dyspeptic patients at nine Health Centers of Arada sub-city, Addis Ababa. Data were collected from the patients record books of the nine Health Centers. At the health centers a stool antigen test is most often used than a serology antibody test, because stool antigen test is more specific and detects only an active infection. Chi-square analysis was employed to identify associations between variables. A P-value of <0.05 was considered significant. In the present study, the overall prevalence of H. pylori was 49.2%. The prevalence was higher among patients of age  60 years and above (59%); whereas it was lower in the age category of 15 to 29 years (43%). No association was observed between H. pylori infection and the sex (gender) of the studied cases.  However, statistically significant increments in H. pylori cases were observed over the five year study periods.  It can be concluded that the overall prevalence of H. pylori was 49.2% and there were no associations between sex (gender) and H. pylori infection. The authors would like to recommend the health centers to use stool antigen test and to provide an awareness for the study population

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia from 2016 – 2019

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Retrospective study on hiv prevalence was conducted in ten health institutions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of hiv/aids from 2016 - 2019. All the data were collected from the hiv voluntary counseling and testing registration log book and the quarterly reporting format of the health institutions. A total number of 113,242 individuals were tested for HIV in 10 Health institutions. According to the present study, 1,005 of the study participants were HIV positive among this, 43.58% of the HIV positive individuals were males and 56.42% were females. The assessment of the current retrospective clinical data record showed 0.89% average annual prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the trend shows that HIV prevalence had slight increase within the study period. The data showed that the disease was more prevalent in the age groups of 15-49 years. Thus, health professionals in each health institution should design programs on comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health to protect people from situations that would place them at risk of HIV infection

In Vitro Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Roasted and Green Coffee Beans Originating from Different Regions of Ethiopia

Coffee is among the most traded commodities and consumed beverages worldwide primarily for its stimulating effects. Moreover, coffee is known to contain various bioactive compounds with significant health benefits including antibacterial and antioxidant activities. However, Ethiopia as the origin of coffee and producer and exporter of varieties of Coffea arabica has made little study on the health aspects of this beverage. The aim of this study was to examine the antibacterial and antioxidant activities and content of coffee samples from different localities of Yorgacheffe and Jimma; and roasted, ground, and packed samples purchased from a coffee shop in Addis Ababa. Medium-roasted-boiled and lyophilized coffee extracts were tested on eight gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial strains. The agar-well diffusion method was used to test the extracts determining the minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations. For coffee antioxidant activity and content, light-roasted (both field and shop samples) and green coffee bean extracts were tested using the free radical 2.2-diphenyl-l-pict1hydrazyl (DPPH) IC50 percent inhibition protocol. The samples showed strong antibacterial and antioxidant activity and substantial antioxidant content. Significant variation was noted in the antibacterial activities of the different coffee samples. Moreover, the growth-inhibitory strength of each coffee sample was variable for different test bacteria. A coffee sample with the best antibacterial activity had also the highest antioxidant activity/content. The shop coffee had the lowest bioactivity. The observed variations in the antibacterial and antioxidant activities among the samples probably indicate the diversity of the Ethiopian coffee related, among other factors, to the coffee plant genetics and agroecology