Knowledge, Attitude and Practices regarding Swine Flu among adult population

Introduction: Prevention is the most appropriate measure to control H1N1 flu pandemic and awareness of H1N1 flu is ranked very high in preventive measures. Keeping this in view, study was designed to assess the awareness level and to compare it among urban and rural participants. Aims and objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding swine flu among adult population, to assess whether there is any difference among rural and urban population and to assess the response generated by the media coverage and the Government efforts.Methods: This cross-sectional study was done from April to July 2015 on 300 houses from the urban area and 150 houses from rural area, chosen from study population by random sampling. Mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and percentages for categorical were calculated. Results: 94% of urban and 91.3% of the rural participants had previously heard about swine flu, main source being TV. 46% of urban and 74% of rural participants had myth about spread of swine flu by eating pork. 41.3% of urban and 8.7% of rural population thought that government measures are sufficient for controlling swine flu. Conclusion: Knowledge regarding swine flu pandemic is good among study participants but role of health care providers is minimal and requires more dedicated effort. Lack of awareness among study population regarding some key focus areas like health promoting habits, vaccination and myths regarding the spread is of serious concern and needs to be addressed by the media, health workers and the Government effort

Study and analysis of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels as a biomarker of placental adherence in low lying placenta

Background: The objective was to study and analyze maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels as a biomarker of placental adherence in low lying placenta. Methods: This was a prospective observational study analysing the conditions and the data of 80 cases with low lying placenta in a tertiary care hospital. The analysis was done for the association of MSAFP with MRI, perinatal and maternal outcome. Results: The level of MSAFP was found higher in 12 out of 13 cases (93.3%) of placenta previa with placental adherence. There was significant surgical intervention (80%) and increased maternal morbidity (68.8%) in the study group with placental adherence and raised MSAFP respectively. Conclusions: MSAFP is an important biomarker for prognostication of placental adherence in low lying placenta