Comparative Assessment of Some Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) Kits for Malaria Diagnosis in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background:  Deployment of sound diagnostic deliverables remains a crucial component of malaria control and prevention programme in Africa. This study aims to make a comparative assessment of the efficacy of three famous brands of rapid diagnostic kits (RDT) available in Nigerian market, with the traditional Giemsa staining (microscopic) method, in testing for malaria in endemic zones, also to provide relevant information and guidance to individuals, health care service providers, test kit manufacturers as well as health corporate organizations. Methods: Giemsa microscopy along with RDT kits (Acon, Paracheck and SD Bioline) were carried out on 525 patient samples presumed to present with acute uncomplicated malaria by clinical diagnosis. In addition, the total WBC count and haematocrit were conducted on the blood samples. Results: Out of the 525 samples recruited, three hundred (300) 57.1% were found positive by Giemsa microscopy. SD Bioline had a positivity rate of 260 (49.5%) while Acon and Paracheck trailed behind with 200 (38.1%) and 150 (28.6%) samples respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and efficiency of the three RDT kits were as follows: SD Bioline (86.3%, 99.6%, 92%); Paracheck (50%, 97.7%, 70.4%) and Acon (66.7%, 100%, 80.9%) respectively. Children within the age bracket 0-10 years had the highest malaria positivity rate (F=5.29; p< 0.05). 115 (38.3%) of children in this age group were positive for malaria with Mean PCV of 30.65 ± 0.52 compare to non-malaria control. The dominant malaria species was P. falciparum with 280 (93.3%) cases. However, an appreciable cases of P. falciparum & P. vivax 15 (5.0%) along with P. falciparum & P. malariae 5 (1.7%) co-infections were confirmed. It was also observed that the haematocrit value for individuals correlated inversely with the parasite density (r = -0.78; p< 0.05). Conclusion and Recommendation: Giemsa microscopy method still remains the gold standard for malaria diagnosis in limited resources endemic zones and recommends that imported RDT kits for malaria should be validated before use in developing countries. Keywords: Giemsa Microscopy; Rapid Diagnostic Kits; Parasite Density; Co-Infection; Malaria Contro

Spatio Temporal Land Use Land Cover Change Mapping of Malete Elemere: Implication on Development Planning of Emerging Communities

The use of Ecosystem and Biodiversity mapping, land use land cover change detection has been advocated in preparation of developmental master plan in towns and cities. Noticeable changes have been observed within Malete Elemere community since the establishment of Kwara State University Malete, yet its spatial pattern and socio ecological implication have not been investigated. This work seek to determine and produce land cover land use change map of Malete Elemere over the last 10 years and post 15 year periods through change detection techniques so as to evaluate the impact of the establishment of Kwara State university on the settlement spatial development. Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite images of 2005, 2010 and 2015 of the study area were acquired from USGS at spatial resolution of 30 m. Radiometric correction were applied to all the images using radiance modules in Idrisi32 with radiance spectral value set at DN 0 (Lmin) and 255 (Lmax). An unsupervised classification was carried out on the composite images of bands 4,3,2,1 for all the selected years to identify possible maximum spectral reflectance classes, this was followed by supervised classification using training sample from the field survey from which image to image spatio-temporal changes statistics were extracted. To generate a prediction of LULC changes for 2025, Cellular Automata-Markovian transition estimator (CA-Markov) in Idrisi32 was used. Various Kappa statistics was used to evaluate the performance of prediction with an average K statistics of above 0.83 recorded. The result shows that built up area gained an astronomical increase (180%) between 2005 and 2015 while forest lost significantly (34%) within the same periods, with most of the gains occurring in 2010 and 2015 after the establishment of KWASU. By 2025, two Major growth pole centres will emerge along Malete Elemere Axis and one minor in Jenkunu Omoni Axis which will exert a great stress on infrastructural facilities and may create a chaotic condition if left unattended to

Can free open access resources strengthen knowledge-based emerging public health priorities, policies and programs in Africa? [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Tackling emerging epidemics and infectious diseases burden in Africa requires increasing unrestricted open access and free use or reuse of regional and global policies reforms as well as timely communication capabilities and strategies. Promoting, scaling up data and information sharing between African researchers and international partners are of vital importance in accelerating open access at no cost. Free Open Access (FOA) health data and information acceptability, uptake tactics and sustainable mechanisms are urgently needed. These are critical in establishing real time and effective knowledge or evidence-based translation, proven and validated approaches, strategies and tools to strengthen and revamp health systems.  As such, early and timely access to needed emerging public health information is meant to be instrumental and valuable for policy-makers, implementers, care providers, researchers, health-related institutions and stakeholders including populations when guiding health financing, and planning contextual programs

PERCEPTION AND WILLINGNESS TO THE UPTAKE OF COVID-19 VACCINE AMONG HOUSEHOLD-HEADS IN A RURAL COMMUNITY OF SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its vaccine have been met with varying perceptions that may have both negative and positive effects on the willingness to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. The study is set to determine the perception and willingness of the household heads to the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine in a rural community in Southwestern, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 409 household heads selected through a multistage sampling technique. The instrument of data collection was a semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire using the Health Belief model constructs. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS version 21.0 and Pearson's Chi-square test was used to determine the association between perception and willingness to uptake vaccine. P<0.05 was taken as significant at 95% confidence interval. Results: The majority of the unvaccinated respondents in the study were not willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine (60.1%). There was a poor perception of the susceptibility/severity of unvaccinated respondents to COVID-19 infection and a poor perception of the benefit/barrier to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. Perception of susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 infection were statistically related to the willingness to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: There should be an increase in awareness campaigns to change the perception of people positively to COVID-19 infection and uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine

Re-emerging Lassa fever outbreaks in Nigeria: Re-enforcing “One Health” community surveillance and emergency response practice

Abstract We evaluated the impact of man-made conflict events and climate change impact in guiding evidence-based community “One Health” epidemiology and emergency response practice against re-/emerging epidemics. Increasing evidence of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases including recent Lassa fever outbreaks in almost 20 states in Nigeria led to 101 deaths and 175 suspected and confirmed cases since August 2015. Of the 75 laboratory confirmed cases, 90 deaths occurred representing 120% laboratory-confirmed case fatality. The outbreak has been imported into neighbouring country such as Benin, where 23 deaths out of 68 cases has also been reported. This study assesses the current trends in re-emerging Lassa fever outbreak in understanding spatio-geographical reservoir(s), risk factors pattern and Lassa virus incidence mapping, inherent gaps and raising challenges in health systems. It is shown that Lassa fever peak endemicity incidence and prevalence overlap the dry season (within January to March) and reduced during the wet season (of May to November) annually in Sierra Leone, Senegal to Eastern Nigeria. We documented a scarcity of consistent data on rodent (reservoirs)-linked Lassa fever outbreak, weak culturally and socio-behavioural effective prevention and control measures integration, weak or limited community knowledge and awareness to inadequate preparedness capacity and access to affordable case management in affected countries. Hence, robust sub/regional leadership commitment and investment in Lassa fever is urgently needed in building integrated and effective community “One Health” surveillance and rapid response approach practice coupled with pest management and phytosanitation measures against Lassa fever epidemic. This offers new opportunities in understanding human-animal interactions in strengthening Lassa fever outbreak early detection and surveillance, warning alerts and rapid response implementation in vulnerable settings. Leveraging on Africa CDC centre, advances in cloud-sourcing and social media tools and solutions is core in developing and integrating evidence-based and timely risk communication, and reporting systems in improving contextual community-based immunization and control decision making policy to effectively defeat Lassa fever outbreak and other emerging pandemics public health emergencies in Africa and worldwide

Ethnobotanical Survey and Habitat Mapping of Medicinal Plants and Its Implication on Conservation Management in Rural Kwara Communities

Background: In Nigeria, medicinal plants are now being threatened due to increased urbanization, land clearing for farming and over-harvesting from their natural habitats. As such, if such trends continue, some of these medicinal plants might increasingly become not available and in the extreme circumstance be faced with extinction. Methods: An epidemiological descriptive field survey that employed a carefully-structured, closed-ended, interviewer-administered, paper-based questionnaire designed to capture information on the use of medicinal plants as antimalarial and for management of other associated illnesses. We also employed Global Positioning System (Garmin etrex 75) to captures the geo-coordinates of previously identified medicinal plants across the footpath transect at 20 m intervals. A total of twenty-one (21) medicinal plant species were surveyed across five communities with varying numbers per locations. Results: Out of the nine (9) identified traditional healers across the communities, all claimed to have used at least one or combinations of these plants for treatment of malaria. An image classification performed through land cover land use map of the study area revealed six classes: swamp /water bodies, river valley, savanna woodland, degraded woodland, grassland and settlements cluster. Most threatened species such as Aristolochia ringes, Mucuna prurins, Azadirachta indica, Kigelia africana, Citrus limon, Ludwigia suffruticosa, Parkia biglobosa, and Picralima nitida are those found in Malete KWASU campus axis in the degraded woodland and settlement cluster classes. This is due to the high level of forest destruction in the area as a result of growing student population and massive constructions of students’ hostel. We reported that about 60% of original plant cover has been lost between 2005 and 2015. It was observed that availability of surface water bodies played a crucial role in influencing the distribution of identified medicinal plants. The nearest neighbour analysis gave a nearest neighbour index of 0.695 at p=0.000003 and z-score of -4.70314. This shows that the observed random distribution of medicinal plants in the study area was statistically significant. It has been observed that random patterns are usually associated with natural occurrences. The random spatial pattern confirms that these plants have not yet been affected by anthropogenic activities and hence need to be conserved there in the wild. Conclusion: There is need to leverage on conservation of medicinal plants for treating malaria in their natural habitats. Also, the need to ensure sustainable harvesting and other socio-ecological process to ensure these are not threatened to the extreme case of extinction in these communities. In the view of the above, we recommend that KWASU-Malete campus axis be monitored, proper urban planning initiatives implemented and ensure cultivation and preservation of these plants are incorporated into the greening efforts of the Kwara state government in this area

Addressing knowledge gaps in molecular, sero-surveillance and monitoring approaches on Zika epidemics and other arbovirus co-infections: A structured review

Globalization, with consequent increased travel and trade, rapid urbanization and growing weather variation events due to climate change has contributed to the recent unprecedented Zika virus (ZIKV) pandemic. This has emphasized the pressing need for local, national, regional and global community collaborative proactiveness, leadership and financial investment resilience in research and development. This paper addresses the potential knowledge gaps and impact of early detection and monitoring approaches on ZIKV epidemics and related arboviral infections steered towards effective prevention and smart response strategies. We advocate for the development and validation of robust field and point of care diagnostic tools that are more sensitive, specific and cost effective for use in ZIKV epidemics and routine pathophysiology surveillance and monitoring systems as an imperative avenue in understanding Zika-related and other arbovirus trends and apply genomic and proteomic characterisation approaches in guiding annotation efforts in order to design and implement public health burden mitigation and adaptation strategies

Ethical, legal and societal considerations on Zika virus epidemics complications in scaling-up prevention and control strategies

Abstract Much of the fear and uncertainty around Zika epidemics stem from potential association between Zika virus (ZIKV) complications on infected pregnant women and risk of their babies being born with microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities. However, much remains unknown about its mode of transmission, diagnosis and long-term pathogenesis. Worries of these unknowns necessitate the need for effective and efficient psychosocial programs and medical-legal strategies to alleviate and mitigate ZIKV related burdens. In this light, local and global efforts in maintaining fundamental health principles of moral, medical and legal decision-making policies, and interventions to preserve and promote individual and collectiveHuman Rights, autonomy, protection of the most vulnerable, equity, dignity, integrity and beneficence that should not be confused and relegated by compassionate humanitarian assistance and support. This paper explores the potential medical and ethical-legal implications of ZIKV epidemics emergency response packages and strategies alongside optimizing reproductive and mental health policies, programs and best practice measures. Further long-term cross-borders operational research is required in elucidating Zika-related population-based epidemiology, ethical-medical and societal implications in guiding evidence-based local and global ZIKV maternal-child health complications related approaches and interventions. Core programs and interventions including future Zika safe and effective vaccines for global Zika immunization program in most vulnerable and affected countries and worldwide should be prioritized

Perception and willingness to the uptake of covid-19 vaccine among household-heads in a rural community of south-western Nigeria

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its vaccine have been met with varying perceptions that may have both negative and positive effects on the willingness to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. The study is set to determine the perception and willingness of the household heads to the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine in a rural community in Southwestern, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 409 household heads selected through a multistage sampling technique. The instrument of data collection was a semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire using the Health Belief model constructs. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS version 21.0 and Pearson's Chi-square test was used to determine the association between perception and willingness to uptake vaccine. P<0.05 was taken as significant at 95% confidence interval. Results: The majority of the unvaccinated respondents in the study were not willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine (60.1%). There was a poor perception of the susceptibility/severity of unvaccinated respondents to COVID-19 infection and a poor perception of the benefit/barrier to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. Perception of susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 infection were statistically related to the willingness to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: There should be an increase in awareness campaigns to change the perception of people positively to COVID-19 infection and uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine