Prevalence of skin infections, infestations, and papular urticaria among adolescents in secondary schools in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Acne is an inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous gland, and the most common dermatosis in adolescents globally. Infectious dermatoses are common in the tropics, but due to the paucity of epidemiologic surveys, not much is known about the prevalence and common types found in different sub-populations including adolescents.It is however presumed that the prevalence will be high and the pattern diverse. We therefore conducted a school-based survey to ascertain the prevalence and pattern of infectious dermatoses, infestations, and papular urticaria (insect bite reactions) in teenage adolescents in Calabar, Nigeria.Methods: A cross sectional observational survey of adolescents aged 13-19 years attending randomly selected secondary schools in Calabar, Nigeria. It involved the use of  questionnaires and subsequent whole body examination.Results: A total of 1447 senior secondary school students were examined. Infectious dermatoses, infestations, and papular urticaria (IDIP) were observed in 505 (34.9%) persons, among whom were 269 (53.3%) males, and 236 (46.7%) females (X2=34.87, p=<0.001). Fungal dermatoses constituted more than 90% of the diseases, the bulk of which was contributed by pityriasis versicolor [430 (79.6%)]. The six most common dermatoses in descending order of frequencies were Pityriasis versicolor, tinea, papular urticaria, candidiasis, furuncles, and viral warts.Conclusion: A high prevalence of cutaneous infections exists among teenage adolescents in Calabar, Nigeria. Males have a higher predisposition to fungal dermatoses. Control of the predominant cause of cutaneous infections – pityriasis versicolor, will significantly affect the prevalence of infectious dermatoses, and invariably, the burden of skin disorders in adolescents in Calabar, Nigeria.Keywords: Dermatoses, Infections, Adolescents, Nigeria, PrevalenceFunding: Self sponsore

Effects of mothers' socio-economic status on the management of febrile conditions in their under five children in a resource limited setting

BACKGROUND: Public health research is shifting focus to the role of socioeconomic indicators in the promotion of health. As such an understanding of the roles that socio-economic factors play in improving health and health-seeking behaviour is important for public health policy. This is because the share of resources devoted to different policy options should depend on their relative effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: To measure the effect of socio-economic status (age, education, occupation, income, religion and family structure) of mothers on the management of febrile conditions in under-fives children METHOD: Two hundred mothers who brought their febrile under-five children to a health facility were interviewed on the treatment they gave to their children before reporting at health facility. Data collected were entered and analyzed using the SPSS software. Binary logistic regression was adopted for the quantitative analysis of the effect of socio-economic variables on the mothers' actions prior to utilizing the health facility. RESULTS: Results showed that while mothers' age was negatively correlated (-0.13), occupation was positively correlated (0.17) with under-fives mothers' action. Education, religion, income and family structure were however insignificant at 5% level CONCLUSION: This poses a lot of challenges to policy makers in the developing nations where women's education and earning capacity is low. There is therefore a need to increase the number of women benefiting from micro credit. This will ensure that more women are engaged in a form of occupation that is profitable and can sustain the economic and health needs of the family

HIV vaccine acceptability in seronaive patients in a resource limited setting - a pilot study

Background: Current lifetime antiretroviral regimes are associated with clinically important toxicities, and have several limitations (eg. cost, development of resistance, complications). There is need for an alternative regime that must be acceptable, easy to administer and permanent for the eradication of HIV/AIDS. This creates a necessity for vaccine trials in human subjects. Objectives: To evaluate the response and acceptability profile of a possible coming HIV vaccine trial and usage among a study population that are not aware of their serostatus. Methods: Five hundred males and females who were seronaive regarding their HIV status were recruited into the study. An open ended questionnaire was administered before and after counselling to assess the acceptability of the proposed vaccine with and without counselling.Results: Male:female ratio was one to one. Ninety percent (450 out of 500) said they would not take part in a new HIV vaccine trial but only sixty five percent (325 out 500) reacted negatively after counselling. Sixty eight percent (340 out of 500) said they would partake in the vaccination after a successful trial has been carried out on other human subjects and after counselling, this increased to eighty five percent (425 out of 500). The general attitude to HIV vaccine was that of fear and distrust. Discussion: Coming HIV vaccine trials and usage is likely to be met with suspicion and distrust in resource limited settings. Certain barriers to acceptability of the vaccines need to be addressed to increase acceptability both to the trials and usage of the vaccine. Successful trial will lead to increased acceptability of usage.Sudanese Journal of Dermatology Vol. 3(3) 2005: 113-11

Familial vitiligo in mother and child; the genetic theory connection

Vitiligo is an acquired loss of skin pigment of unknown etiology. It frequently occurs in familial clusters thereby favoring the genetic theory for its pathogenesis. Several genes have been described in association with vitiligo and it is often thought to be polygenic with variable expressivity. We present two cases of familial vitiligo occurring in a mother and her child with a more severe presentation in the child. These cases of familial vitiligo portray the genetic theory with associated features suggesting genetic anticipation

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ABstRAct Background: The advent of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs has transformed HIV/AIDS into a chronic manageable disease and strict adherence is required for the medication to be effective. However, factors influencing adherence to ARV therapy (ART) vary from country to country. A f fi l i a t i o n s: