Correlation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Healthy Behavior among Children with Autism in Yogyakarta

Background: Over the past two decades, autism has emerged as a major public health concern in Indonesia. Although known for more than fifty years as one of the most severe childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, it was thought to be quite rare. Individuals with autism have impairments in social interaction and communication and exhibit some rote or repetitive, often self stimulatory, behavior. In each of these dimensions, the impairment can range from mild to profound. This study aimed to determine the correlation between knowledge, attitude, and healthy behavior among children with autism in Yogyakarta. Subjects and Method: This was a mixed study conducted at SLB Autis Bina Anggita, Yogyakarta. A total of 13 key informants including children with autism, teachers, and parents. The dependent variable was healthy behavior. The independent variables were knowledge and attitude. The data were collected by indepth interview and questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed by Spearman correlation. Results: 11 of 13 children with autism had good knowledge about autism. All children had good attitude and health behavior. The correlations of knowledge, attitude, and health behavior were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The correlations of knowledge, attitude, and health behavior are statistically non-significant. Keywords: knowledge, attitude, health behavior, children, autism

Global occorrence of Plasmodium vivax-like human malaria parasite

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Division of Parasitic Diseases. Malaria Branch. Atlanta GA, USA.Centers for Disease Control.Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases. Malaria Branch. Atlanta, Georgia, USA.Ministério da Saúde .Fundação Serviços de Saúde Pública. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research. Goroka, Papua New Guinea.Hôpital Claude Bernard. Paris. France.Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research. Goroka, Papua New Guinea.Ministry of Health. Republic of Indonesia. Jayapura.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Division of Parasitic Diseases. Malaria Branch. Atlanta GA, USA.A Plasmodium vivax-like human malaria parasite was recently identified from Madang, a holoendemic malarious region in Papua New Guinea. The complete nucleotide sequence of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein gene of this parasite is presented here. The CS protein of this parasite has an 11-mer repeat sequence and is different from the other known CS protein genes of human malaria parasites. However, it is identical to the CS protein gene of a monkey malaria parasite, Plasmodium simiovale. This P. vivax-like malaria parasite was found in Sepik, another malarious region of Papua New Guinea, and in Brazil, Indonesia, and Madagascar. No pure isolate of this parasite was identified. Specific oligonucleotide probes were used to determine relative proportion of the P. vivax-like parasite in P. vivax (type 1 and type 2) mixed field isolates. Compared with P. vivax or Plasmodium falciparum, the circumsporozoite protein of P. vivax-like parasites showed markedly less polymorphism

REVIEW OF STUDIES OF NATURALLY ACQUIRED IMMUNITY TO MALARIA IN IRIAN JAYA

Penelitian mengenai kekebalan alamiah terhadap parasit malaria telah dilaksanakan sejak tahun 1987 pada penduduk di daerah Arso, Irian Jaya bagian Utara, sebelah Selatan kota Jayapura. Penelitian tersebut telah menghasilkan informasi yang bermanfaat, baik untuk ilmuwan maupun untuk petugas kesehatan masyarakat. Kekebalan yang diperoleh terhadap parasitemia aseksual berkembang dengan cepat pada transmigran dari Jawa yang dewasa, tapi jauh lebih lambat pada anak-anak. Namun gametositemia falsiparum yang lebih tinggi ditemukan pada transmigran semua umur bila dibandingkan dengan penduduk asli dan hal ini meningkatkan kemungkinan penularan malaria. Selain itu kekebalan yang diperoleh juga akan meningkatkan efektivitas dari obat-obat standar untuk pengobatan dan pencegahan malaria vivax dan falsiparum. Setelah beberapa tahun kekebalan transmigran mendekati kekebalan yang dimiliki penduduk asli. Umur merupakan faktor yang penting untuk menentukan efektivitas vaksin malaria dan hal ini menjadi suatu aspek penting yang perlu diperhatikan dalam strategi pengembangan vaksin. Tingginya gametositemia pada transmigran perlu mendapat perhatian dan pengobatan gametositosidal (mis. dengan primaquine) perlu dipertimbangkan. Dari sudut kesehatan masyarakat, penelitian ini menunjukkan perlunya pemberantasan malaria untuk transmigran dimulai sejak awal kedatangan mereka