Defining the hidden burden of disease in rural communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand: a cross-sectional household health survey protocol

Introduction In low-income and middle-income countries in Southeast Asia, the burden of diseases among rural population remains poorly understood, posing a challenge for effective healthcare prioritisation and resource allocation. Addressing this knowledge gap, the South and Southeast Asia Community-based Trials Network (SEACTN) will undertake a survey that aims to determine the prevalence of a wide range of non-communicable and communicable diseases, as one of the key initiatives of its first project-the Rural Febrile Illness project (RFI). This survey, alongside other RFI studies that explore fever aetiology, leading causes of mortality, and establishing village and health facility maps and profiles, will provide an updated epidemiological background of the rural areas where the network is operational. Methods and analysis During 2022-2023, a cross-sectional household survey will be conducted across three SEACTN sites in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand. Using a two-stage cluster-sampling approach, we will employ a probability-proportional-to-size sample method for village, and a simple random sample for household, selection, enrolling all members from the selected households. Approximately 1500 participants will be enrolled per country. Participants will undergo questionnaire interview, physical examination and haemoglobin point-of-care testing. Blood samples will be collected and sent to central laboratories to test for chronic and acute infections, and biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Prevalences will be presented as an overall estimate by country, and stratified and compared across sites and participants' sociodemographic characteristics. Associations between disease status, risk factors and other characteristics will be explored. Ethics and dissemination This study protocol has been approved by the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee, National Research Ethics Committee of Bangladesh Medical Research Council, the Cambodian National Ethics Committee for Health Research, the Chiang Rai Provincial Public Health Research Ethical Committee. The results will be disseminated via the local health authorities and partners, peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations. Trial registration number NCT05389540

First record of Epophthalmia vittata Burmeister, 1839 (Insecta, Odonata, Anisoptera) from Dhaka, Bangladesh

We report Epophthalmia vittata Burmeister, 1839 (Odonata, Anisoptera, Macromiidae) from Bangladesh for the first time, based on a specimen collected on 27 May 2016 in the National Botanical Garden, Dhaka. This is first record of any species of the family Macromiidae from Bangladesh. This new record exemplifies gaps in sampling for dragonflies in Bangladesh and suggests that additional research on odonates in the country is needed

Pomacentrus bangladeshius, a new species of damselfish (Perciformes, Pomacentridae) from Saint Martin's Island, Bangladesh

Habib, Kazi Ahsan, Islam, Md Jayedul, Nahar, Najmun, Neogi, Amit Kumer (2020): Pomacentrus bangladeshius, a new species of damselfish (Perciformes, Pomacentridae) from Saint Martin's Island, Bangladesh. Zootaxa 4860 (3): 413-424, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4860.3.

Grunts (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Haemulidae) of Bangladesh with two new distributional records from the northern Bay of Bengal assessed by morphometric characters and DNA barcoding

Grunts (family Haemulidae) are among the most commercially important fish in Bangladesh. This paper provides brief diagnostic characters of five previously reported grunt species: Plectorhinchus pictus (Thunberg, 1792); Pomadasys andamanensis McKay et Satapoomin, 1994; Pomadasys argenteus (Forsskål, 1775); Pomadasys argyreus (Valenciennes, 1833); Pomadasys maculatus (Bloch, 1793) and two new distributional records: Pomadasys guoraca (Cuvier, 1829) and Plectorhinchus macrospilus Satapoomin et Randall, 2000. The fishes were collected from the Saint Martin’s Island coral reef-like ecosystem and the adjacent sea of the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh. The examined specimens were identified and diagnosed based on their morphometric characters and DNA barcoding COI gene. The new records of Pomadasys guoraca and Plectorhinchus macrospilus from Bangladesh greatly extend their distributional range in the Bay of Bengal. An updated checklist of grunts of Bangladesh is provided

Low Genetic Diversity Study on Leopard Coral Grouper Plectropomus leopardus (Perciformes: Serranidae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia

Bar-cheek coral trout (P. leopardus) is the flagship of the grouper in the live fish market in Asia. Unfortunately, the potential of the grouper is still partly produced from natural catches. Even though hybridisation activities have also started to be carried out, there still have not been many studies on the genetic diversity of these fish. The application of molecular identification has been widely applied in marine aquatic animal species, which are very likely to occur due to errors in terms of shape and colour in the morphological character. DNA information has been beneficial in efforts to the breeding program and develop grouper aquaculture activities. DNA barcoding was used for the molecular identification and haplotype analysis of P. leopardus from two locations in Gorontalo, Sulawesi, Indonesia. A total of 14 fish samples were collected from two traditional fish markets around Kwandang and Sumalata Gulf in the northern part of Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi. This study identified and found three haplotypes from both regions. Molecular identification using Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene region on mitochondrial DNA. Besides Mega7 for phylogenetic reconstruction, the data analysis using DnaSP6, Arlequin Ver.3.5.2.2, and Network 5.0.1.1. The first Haplotype is a mixed population between the Kwandang Gulf and the Sumalata Gulf, then the Kwandang Gulf haplotype and the Sumalata Gulf haplotype. The genetic distance between Kwandang Gulf haplotype and Sumalata Gulf haplotype is 0.003984, classified as a shallow genetic distance and needs more samples from another region to figure out leopard coral grouper around Indonesia

Defining the burden of febrile illness in rural South and Southeast Asia: an open letter to announce the launch of the Rural Febrile Illness project.

In rural areas of South and Southeast Asia malaria is declining but febrile illnesses still account for substantial morbidity and mortality. Village health workers (VHWs) are often the first point of contact with the formal health system, and for patients with febrile illnesses they can provide early diagnosis and treatment of malaria. However, for the majority of febrile patients, VHWs lack the training, support and resources to provide further care. Consequently, treatable bacterial illnesses are missed, antibiotics are overused and poorly targeted, and patient attendance wanes along with declining malaria. This Open Letter announces the start of a new initiative, the Rural Febrile Illness (RFI) project, the first in a series of projects to be implemented as part of the South and Southeast Asian Community-based Trials Network (SEACTN) research programme. This multi-country, multi-site project will run in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Myanmar. It will define the epidemiological baseline of febrile illness in nine remote and underserved areas of Asia where malaria endemicity is declining and access to health services is limited. The RFI project aims to determine the incidence, causes and outcomes of febrile illness; understand the opportunities, barriers and appetite for adjustment of the role of VHWs to include management of non-malarial febrile illnesses; and establish a network of community healthcare providers and facilities capable of implementing interventions designed to triage, diagnose and treat patients presenting with febrile illnesses within these communities in the future