Emergency pulpotomy in relieving acute dental pain among Tanzanian patients

BACKGROUND: In Tanzania, oral health services are mostly in the form of dental extractions aimed at alleviating acute dental pain. Conservative methods of alleviating acute dental pain are virtually non-existent. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to determine treatment success of emergency pulpotomy in relieving acute dental pain. METHODS: Setting: School of Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Study design: Longitudinal study. Participants: 180 patients who presented with dental pain due to acute irreversible pulpitis during the study period between July and August 2001. Treatment and evaluation: Patients were treated by emergency pulpotomy on permanent posterior teeth and were evaluated for pain after one, three and six week's post-treatment. Pain, if present, was categorised as either mild or acute. RESULTS: Of the patients with treated premolars, 25 (13.9%) patients did not experience pain at all while 19 (10.6%) experienced mild pain. None of the patients with treated premolars experienced acute pain. Among 136 patients with treated molars 56 (31%) did not experience any pain, 76 (42.2%) experienced mild pain and the other 4 (2.2%) suffered acute pain. CONCLUSION: The short term treatment success of emergency pulpotomy was high being 100% for premolars and 97.1% for molars, suggesting that it can be recommended as a measure to alleviate acute dental pain while other conservative treatment options are being considered

Seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses and syphilis infections among blood donors at the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

BACKGROUND: According to the latest Tanzanian National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) report a total of 147,271 individuals donated blood during the year 2002. However, blood safety remains an issue of major concern in transfusion medicine in Tanzania where national blood transfusion services and policies, appropriate infrastructure, trained personnel and financial resources are inadequate. Most of the donated blood is screened for HIV alone. METHODS: We determined among blood donors at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), the seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and syphilis by donor type, sex and age and to determine association, if any, in the occurrence of the pathogens. The sample included 1599 consecutive donors, 1424(89.1%) males and 175 (10.9%) females, who donated blood between April 2004 and May, 2005. Most of them 1125 (70.4%) were replacement donors and a few 474 (29.6%) voluntary donors. Their age (in years) ranged from 16 to 69, and most (72.2%) were between 20–39 years. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty four (15.9%) of the donated blood had serological evidence of infection with at least one pathogen and 28 (1.8%) had multiple infections. The current seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg, HCV and syphilis among blood donors at MNH in Dar es Salaam was found to be 3.8%, 8.8%, 1.5% and 4.7%, respectively. Respective seroprevalences among HIV seronegative blood donors were 8.7% for HBV, 1.6% for HCV and 4.6% for syphilis. The differences in the prevalence of HIV and syphilis infections between replacement and voluntary donors were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Syphilis was the only infection that occurred more frequently among HIV infected (12.1%) than non-infected (4.6%) blood donors (P < 0.05), and whose prevalence increased with age (X(2 )= 58.5 df = 5, P < 0.001). There were no significant sex differences in the occurrence of pathogens. Finally, there were significant associations in the occurrence of HBsAg and syphilis (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.1.-4.2) and HIV and syphilis (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–5.3). CONCLUSION: The high (15.9%) seroprevalence of blood-borne infections in blood donated at MNH calls for routine screening of blood donors for HBV, HCV, HIV and syphilis and for strict selection criteria of donors, with emphasis on getting young voluntary donors and for establishment of strict guidelines for blood transfusions

Risk factors associated with multidrug resistant tuberculosis among patients referred to Kibong’oto Infectious Disease Hospital in northern Tanzania

Background: Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains is an important public health problem in developing world. We conducted this study to determine risk factors associated with MDR-TB and drug susceptibility pattern to second line drug among MDR TB patients in Tanzania.Methods: Unmatched case control study was conducted at Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital in Tanzania in 2014. A case was defined as any patient whose sputum yielded Mycobacterium tuberculosis that were resistance to at least rifampin (RFP) and isoniazid (INH) whereas control was defined as those sensitive to rifampin (RFP) + isoniazid (INH).  One morning sputum sample was collected from each study subject and cultured on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) media for M. tuberculosis. Drug susceptibility testing of isolated M. tuberculosis was done for rifampicin, isoniazid, kanamycin and ofloxacin. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and risk factors information for MDR-TB. Results: A total of 102 cases and 102 controls were enrolled. The predominant age group was 31- 40 years, of whom cases and controls accounted for 38 (37.3%) and 35 (34.3%) of the study subjects, respectively. Majority of participants (69% cases and 71% control) were males and self-employed (62.7% cases and 84.4% controls). More than half (52%) and approximately a quarter (24.5%) of cases and control had HIV infection, respectively. About two-thirds of cases (62.7%) were cigarette smokers compared to controls (42.2%). Previous history of TB treatment accounted for approximately three folds in cases (72.5%) and only 24.5% in controls. Risk factors independently associated with MDR-TB were previous history of treatment with first line anti-TB (OR= 3.3, 95% CI 1.7-6.3), smoking (OR=1.9, 95% CI 1.0-3.5), contact with TB case (OR=2.7, 95% CI 1.4-5.1) and history of TB. All MDR TB isolates were sensitive to kanamycin and ofloxacin.Conclusion: MDR-TB among patients referred to Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital is associated with previous history of TB contact, smoking habit, and contact with TB case. All MDR TB isolates were sensitive to the tested second line drugs, Kanamycin and Ofloxacin

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C viral co-infections among children infected with human immunodeficiency virus attending the paediatric HIV care and treatment center at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With increased availability of antibiotics and antifungal agents hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are becoming a cause for significant concern in HIV infected children. We determined the seroprevalence and risk factors for HBV and HCV among HIV infected children aged 18 months to 17 years, attending the Paediatric HIV Care and Treatment Center (CTC) at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Investigations included; interviews, physical examination and serology for HBsAg, IgG antibodies to HCV and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. HIV serostatus and CD4 counts were obtained from patient records.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>167 HIV infected children, 88(52.7%) males and 79(47.3%) females were enrolled. The overall prevalence of hepatitis co-infection was 15%, with the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV being 1.2% and 13.8%, respectively. Hepatitis virus co-infection was not associated with any of the investigated risk factors and there was no association between HBV and HCV. Elevated ALT was associated with hepatitis viral co-infection but not with ART usage or immune status.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The high seroprevalence (15%) of hepatitis co-infection in HIV infected children attending the Paediatrics HIV CTC at the MNH calls for routine screening of hepatitis viral co-infection and modification in the management of HIV infected children.</p

Pediatric HIV care and treatment services in Tanzania: implications for survival.

BACKGROUND: Improving child survival for HIV-infected children remains an important health agenda. We present progress regarding care and treatment services to HIV infected children in Tanzania. METHODS: The National AIDS Control Programme Care and Treatment (CTC 2) database was used to obtain information of all children aged 0-14yearsenrolled in the HIV Care and Treatment Program between January 2011 and December 2014. We assessed eligibility for ART, time from enrolment to ART initiation, nutritional status, and mortality using Kaplan-Meier methods. RESULTS: A total of 29,531 (14,304 boys and 15,227 girls) ART-naive children aged 0-14 years were enrolled during the period, approximately 6700 to 8000 children per year. The male to female ratio was 48:50. At enrolment 72% were eligible for ART, 2-3% of children were positive for TB, and 2-4% were severely malnourished. Between 2011 and 2014, 2368 (8%) died, 9243 (31%) were Lost to Follow-up and 17,920 (61%) were on care or ART. The probability of death was 31% (95% CI 26-35), 43% (40-47), 52% (49-55) and 61% (58-64) by 1,2, 5 and 10 years of age, respectively. The hazard of death was greatest at very young ages (<2 years old), and decreased sharply by 4 years old. Children who were on ART had around 10-15% higher survival over time. CONCLUSIONS: Significant progress has been made regarding provision of paediatric HIV care and treatment in Tanzania. On average 7000 children are enrolled annually, and that approximately two thirds of children diagnosed under the age of 2 years were initiated on ART within a month. Provision of ART as soon as the child is diagnosed is the biggest factor in improving survival. However we noted that i) most children had advanced disease at the time of enrolment ii) approximately two-thirds of children were missing a baseline CD4 measurement and only 35% of children had either a CD4 count or percentage recorded, indicating limited access to CD4 testing services, and iii) 31% were lost to follow-up (LTFU). These challenges need to be addressed to improve early detection, enrolment and retention of HIV-infected children into care and improve documentation of services offered

Test Characteristics of Urinary Lipoarabinomannan and Predictors of Mortality among Hospitalized HIV-Infected Tuberculosis Suspects in Tanzania.

Tuberculosis is the most common cause of death among patients with HIV infection living in tuberculosis endemic countries, but many cases are not diagnosed pre-mortem. We assessed the test characteristics of urinary lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and predictors of mortality among HIV-associated tuberculosis suspects in Tanzania. We prospectively enrolled hospitalized HIV-infected patients in Dar es Salaam, with ≥2 weeks of cough or fever, or weight loss. Subjects gave 2 mLs of urine to test for LAM using a commercially available ELISA, ≥2 sputum specimens for concentrated AFB smear and solid media culture, and 40 mLs of blood for culture. Among 212 evaluable subjects, 143 (68%) were female; mean age was 36 years; and the median CD4 count 86 cells/mm(3). 69 subjects (33%) had culture confirmation of tuberculosis and 65 (31%) were LAM positive. For 69 cases of sputum or blood culture-confirmed tuberculosis, LAM sensitivity was 65% and specificity 86% compared to 36% and 98% for sputum smear. LAM test characteristics were not different in patients with bacteremia but showed higher sensitivity and lower specificity with decreasing CD4 cell count. Two month mortality was 64 (53%) of 121 with outcomes available. In multivariate analysis there was significant association of mortality with absence of anti-retroviral therapy (p = 0.004) and a trend toward association with a positive urine LAM (p = 0.16). Among culture-negative patients mortality was 9 (75%) of 12 in LAM positive patients and 27 (38%) of 71 in LAM negative patients (p = 0.02). Urine LAM is more sensitive than sputum smear and has utility for the rapid diagnosis of culture-confirmed tuberculosis in this high-risk population. Mortality data raise the possibility that urine LAM may also be a marker for culture-negative tuberculosis

Direct microscopy versus sputum cytology analysis and bleach sedimentation for diagnosis of tuberculosis: a prospective diagnostic study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diagnostic options for pulmonary tuberculosis in resource-poor settings are commonly limited to smear microscopy. We investigated whether bleach concentration by sedimentation and sputum cytology analysis (SCA) increased the positivity rate of smear microscopy for smear-positive tuberculosis. METHODS: We did a prospective diagnostic study in a Medecins Sans Frontieres-supported hospital in Mindouli, Republic of Congo. Three sputum samples were obtained from 280 consecutive pulmonary tuberculosis suspects, and were processed according to WHO guidelines for direct smear microscopy. The remainder of each sputum sample was homogenised with 2.6% bleach, sedimented overnight, smeared, and examined blinded to the direct smear result for acid-fast bacilli (AFB). All direct smears were assessed for quality by SCA. If a patient produced fewer than three good-quality sputum samples, further samples were requested. Sediment smear examination was performed independently of SCA result on the corresponding direct smear. Positivity rates were compared using McNemar's test. RESULTS: Excluding SCA, 43.2% of all patients were diagnosed as positive on direct microscopy of up to three samples. 47.9% were diagnosed on sediment microscopy, with 48.2% being diagnosed on direct microscopy, sediment microscopy, or both. The positivity rate increased from 43.2% to 47.9% with a case definition of one positive smear ([greater than or equal to]1 AFB/100 high power fields) of three, and from 42.1% to 43.9% with two positive smears. SCA resulted in 87.9% of patients producing at least two good-quality sputum samples, with 75.7% producing three or more. Using a case definition of one positive smear, the incremental yield of bleach sedimentation was 14/121, or 11.6% (95% CI 6.5-18.6, p=0.001) and in combination with SCA was 15/121, or 12.4% (95% CI 7.1-19.6, p=0.002). Incremental yields with two positive smears were 5/118, or 4.2% (95% CI 1.4-9.6, p=0.062) and 7/118, or 5.9% (95% CI 2.4-11.8, p=0.016), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of bleach sedimentation and SCA resulted in significantly increased microscopy positivity rates with a case definition of either one or two positive smears. Implementation of bleach sedimentation led to a significant increase in the diagnosis of smear-positive patients. Implementation of SCA did not result in significantly increased diagnosis of tuberculosis, but did result in improved sample quality. Requesting extra sputum samples based on SCA results, combined with bleach sedimentation, could significantly increase the detection of smear-positive patients if routinely implemented in resource-limited settings where gold standard techniques are not available. We recommend that a pilot phase is undertaken before routine implementation to determine the impact in a particular context

Predictors of blaCTX-M-15 in varieties of Escherichia coli genotypes from humans in community settings in Mwanza, Tanzania

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae commonly cause infections worldwide. Bla CTX-M-15 has been commonly detected in hospital isolates in Mwanza, Tanzania. Little is known regarding the faecal carriage of ESBL isolates and bla CTX-M-15 allele among humans in the community in developing countries. A cross-sectional study involving 334 humans from the community settings in Mwanza City was conducted between June and September 2014. Stool specimens were collected and processed to detect ESBL producing enterobacteriaceae. ESBL isolates were confirmed using disc approximation method, commercial ESBL plates and VITEK-2 system. A polymerase chain reaction and sequencing based allele typing for CTX-M ESBL genes was performed to 42 confirmed ESBL isolates followed by whole genome sequence of 25 randomly selected isolates to detect phylogenetic groups, sequence types plasmid replicon types. Of 334 humans investigated, 55 (16.5 %) were found to carry ESBL-producing bacteria. Age, history of antibiotic use and history of admission were independent factors found to predict ESBL-carriage. The carriage rate of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli was significantly higher than that of Klebsiella pneumoniae (15.1 % vs. 3.8 %, p = 0.026). Of 42 ESBL isolates, 37 (88.1 %) were found to carry the bla CTX-M-15 allele. Other transferrable resistance genes were aac(6')Ib-cr, aac(3)-IIa, aac(3)-IId, aadA1, aadA5, strA, strB and qnrS1. Eight multi-locus sequence types (ST) were detected in 25 E. coli isolates subjected to genome sequencing. ST-131 was detected in 6 (24 %), ST-38 in 5 (20 %) and 5 (20 %) clonal complex - 10(ST-617, ST-44) of isolates. The pathogenic phylogenetic groups D and B2 were detected in 8/25 (32 %) and 6/25 (24 %) of isolates respectively. BlaCTX-M-15 was found to be located in multiple IncY and IncF plasmids while in 13/25(52 %) of cases it was chromosomally located. The overlap of multi-drug resistant bacteria and diversity of the genotypes carrying CTX-M-15 in the community and hospitals requires an overall approach that addresses social behaviour and activity, rationalization of the antibiotic stewardship policy and a deeper understanding of the ecological factors that lead to persistence and spread of such alleles

Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from tuberculosis patients in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania

SummaryThis study was part of a larger cross-sectional survey that was evaluating tuberculosis (TB) infection in humans, livestock and wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania. The study aimed at evaluating the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from TB patients attending health facilities in the Serengeti ecosystem. DNA was extracted from 214 sputum cultures obtained from consecutively enrolled newly diagnosed untreated TB patients aged ≥18 years. Spacer oligonucleotide typing (spoligotyping) and Mycobacterium Interspersed Repetitive Units and Variable Number Tandem Repeat (MIRU-VNTR) were used to genotype M. tuberculosis to establish the circulating lineages. Of the214 M. tuberculosis isolates genotyped, 55 (25.7%) belonged to the Central Asian (CAS) family, 52 (24.3%) were T family (an ill-defined family), 38 (17.8%) belonged to the Latin American Mediterranean (LAM) family, 25 (11.7%) to the East-African Indian (EAI) family, 25 (11.7%) comprised of different unassigned (‘Serengeti’) strain families, while 8 (3.7%) belonged to the Beijing family. A minority group that included Haarlem, X, U and S altogether accounted for 11 (5.2%) of all genotypes. MIRU-VNTR typing produced diverse patterns within and between families indicative of unlinked transmission chains. We conclude that, in the Serengeti ecosystem only a few successful families predominate namely CAS, T, LAM and EAI families. Other types found in lower prevalence are Beijing, Haarlem, X, S and MANU. The Haarlem, EAI_Somalia, LAM3 and S/convergent and X2 subfamilies found in this study were not reported in previous studies in Tanzania

Hepatitis A, B and C viral co-infections among HIV-infected adults presenting for care and treatment at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tanzania is currently scaling-up access to anti-retro viral therapy (ART) to reach as many eligible persons as possible. Hepatitis viral co-infections are known to influence progression, management as well as outcome of HIV infection. However, information is scarce regarding the prevalence and predictors of viral hepatitis co-infection among HIV-infected individuals presenting at the HIV care and treatment clinics in the country.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study conducted between April and September 2006 enrolled 260 HIV-1 infected, HAART naïve patients aged ≥18 years presenting at the HIV care and treatment clinic (CTC) of the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). The evaluation included clinical assessment and determination of CD4+ T-lymphocyte count, serum transaminases and serology for Hepatitis A, B and C markers by ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of anti HAV IgM, HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM and anti-HCV IgG antibodies were 3.1%, 17.3%, 2.3% and 18.1%, respectively. Dual co-infection with HBV and HCV occurred in 10 individuals (3.9%), while that of HAV and HBV was detected in two subjects (0.8%). None of the patients had all the three hepatitis viruses. Most patients (81.1%) with hepatitis co-infection neither had specific clinical features nor raised serum transaminases. History of blood transfusion and jaundice were independent predictors for HBsAg and anti-HBc IgM positivity, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is high prevalence of markers for hepatitis B and C infections among HIV infected patients seeking care and treatment at MNH. Clinical features and a raise in serum alanine aminotransferase were of limited predictive values for the viral co-infections. Efforts to scale up HAART should also address co-infections with Hepatitis B and C viruses.</p