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KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND RISK PERCEPTION OF COVID-19 AMONG NIGERIANS
Full text linkBackground: COVID-19 emerged as a novel disease with global health importance. Personal and collective behaviours have been modified to prevent the spread of this pandemic.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and risk perception of Nigerians towards COVID-19.
Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between the 30th of April and 17th of May 2020 with a national representative across Nigerians using a combination of online and interviewer administered questionnaire.
Results: A total of 1,135 respondents participated in the study with a slight male preponderance (M: F=1.5:1). The mean age of the participants was 42±12.2 years with the majority (77%) between the ages of 26 and 55 years. The majority were aware of the pandemic, mostly through mass and social media. Most of the respondents demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19 but the unaware minority (0.6%) were likewise uneducated. Educational status had no significant association with attitude towards hand washing and wearing of facemask (p>0.05). Risk perception was however low to moderate despite their concerns on COVID-19 and lack of trust in the governments’ response to the disease.
Conclusion: The risk perception of COVID is not encouraging, hence more advocacy and public orientation must be done to curb further spread of COVD-19 in our setting
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO PULMONARY TB TREATMENT LOST TO FOLLOW-UP IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN OVERVIEW
Full text linkBackground: Despite the available treatment options, pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of disease-related deaths worldwide. Treatment non-adherence/lost to follow-up (LTFU), particularly in developing countries, is a continuous concern. LTFU prolongs TB infectiousness and contributes to TB treatment failure, relapse, and death. Furthermore, LTFU also delays global TB eradication by promoting TB spread and drug-resistant TB strain development. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the commonly observed risk factors associated with TB treatment LTFU in developing countries.
Materials and Methods: A literature survey was done of studies published in the past decade, which evaluated the risk factors for LTFU in TB patients, specifically in developing countries.
Results: Several variables, including socio-demographic, patient-related, TB disease and other health-related-factors, healthcare and system determinants, as well as treatment-related factors, were identified to increase the risk of TB treatment LTFU. More recently applied adherence interventions in developing countries, show potential for implementation on a larger scale.
Conclusion: Successful TB treatment is contingent on treatment adherence, and by addressing these persisting LTFU risk factors, treatment adherence in developing countries may be improved.
CORRELATION OF SARS-COV-2 EXPRESSION IN THE PLACENTA AND THE INCIDENCE OF PREECLAMPSIA
Full text linkBackground: The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 also caused infection in some pregnant women. Some reports say this viral infection can show symptoms of preeclampsia.
Material and Methods: We analyzed 25 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection with 4 patients presenting with symptoms of preeclampsia. we performed routine blood analysis, renal function, liver function, and IHC examination to see the expression of viral proteins in the placenta.
Results: we obtained 4 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR. In these 4 cases, none of the cases showed expression of the SARS-CoV-2 viral protein in the placenta, and all 4 mothers were declared dead after treatment, and 2 babies delivered out of these 4 cases died. In one case we had fetal death in pregnancy while in one case prematurity. 2 babies born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection with preeclampsia were born in good condition. There were no babies infected with SARS-CoV-2
Conclusion: We conclude that SAR-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women with comorbidities can lead to a poor prognosis for both mother and baby. We cannot yet conclude whether SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause preeclampsia, but SARS-CoV-2 infection can exacerbate preeclampsia symptoms
TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS OF EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE WITH VACCINE, CONDOM USE, QUARANTINE, ISOLATION AND TREATMENT DRUG: Transmission dynamics of Ebola virus disease
No full textBackground: Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has brought the human population, especially the West African race, great losses in so many areas such as economic productivity and human life. During the 2014 Ebola Virus outbreak, the disease devastated and threatened the whole world. EVD symptoms (fever, diarrhea, vomiting, etc) may appear anywhere between two to twenty-one days after infection. Those that recovered from the disease return to being susceptible again and can transmit the virus through semen as research has shown the virus presence in semen even after recovery.
Material and Methods: Mathematical modeling method with the combination of vaccine, condom use, quarantine, isolation and treatment drug together as control measures in a population consisting of human and animals. A model system of non-linear differential equations for the control of EVD was formulated and the model effective reproduction number () was obtained using the next generation matrix method and used in the stability analysis of the model. Center manifold theorem was used in the bifurcation analysis of the model.
Results: The result shows that the stability analysis of the model shows that the EVD – Free Equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable when and EVD - Endemic Equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable when . The model was shown to exhibit a forward bifurcation.
Conclusions: Numerical simulations and analysis of the model show that EVD could be effectively controlled and eradicated within a short period of time when vaccine, condom use, quarantine, isolation and treatment drug control measures are implemented together
SIBLING PAIR ANALYSIS IN THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS OF THE MADURESE POPULATION USING STR CODIS LOCI
Full text linkBackground: The most common problem in forensic personal identification, particularly in paternity tests, is the availability of information originating from a mother or a father that can be used as a comparison in the forensic DNA examination process. The use of sibling analysis in paternity tests is still not widely known.
Materials and methods: The respondents of this study were 25 families of the Madurese population with 6, 9, and 10 sibling pairs categorized as female-female, male-male, and male-female siblings. The kinship relationship was analyzed by using 13 STR CODIS loci technique (TPOX, D3S1358, FGA, D5S818, CSFIPO, D7S820, D8S1179, THOI, vWA, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11), and Amelogenin (Amel) x: 106bp,y: 112bp).
Results: The results of DNA contents and purity examination of the extracted DNA sample showed that the average value of DNA contents was 675±5.35 ng/μL with a purity range of 1.05-1.86. The findings proved that the male-male siblings of the Madurese population had the highest allele sharing percentage at the loci of D13S317, D16S539, and D21S11. The highest allele sharing percentage for female-female siblings was at the loci of TPOX and D21S11. Meanwhile, the male-female siblings had the highest allele sharing percentage at the loci of TPOX, D5S818, vWA, D7S820, THO1, vWA, and D13S317.
Conclusion: The main STR loci recommended in the male-female siblings of Madurese population identification are TPOX, D13S317, and D21S1
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND MORTALITY: lessons from the ICU
No full textBackground: Antibiotic resistance has been a long-debated topic since decades ago. The development of stronger, newer antibiotics, implementation of antibiotic stewardship and revised guidelines remain the main focus of our society to prevent resistancy. But is it really resistancy that cause higher mortality to patients with multidrug resistance (MDR) infections?
Methods: We conducted a cohort retrospective study from 2016 to 2019 in our Intensive care unit (ICU). Antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) results were analyzed for their association with patient mortality outcomes.
Results: Over the four-year period, 381 positive bacterial cultures were analyzed and 51% of them grew MDR pathogens upon their first culture. The overall mortality rate was 19% (38/195), and there was no significant association between MDR and mortality; p 0.387. A strong association was however found between patients with medical cases with an OR 1.76; CI 1.76-2.55; p 0.003 and those with APACHE scores ≥20 upon admittance to the ICU, OR 1.32; CI 1.68-8.29; p 0.001.
Conclusion: Resistancy is not the true cause of mortality. Infection by resistant microbes does not necessarily mean the worst outcome since virulency is the actual cause of pathogenicity, and thus mortality
A CROSS-SECTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PHARMACISTS’ KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF PREVENTION OF MOTHER-TO-CHILD TRANSMISSION OF HIV IN TWO NIGERIAN TEACHING HOSPITALS: Pharmacists’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of PMTCT
No full textBackground: The pharmacological component of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services involves the provision of antiretroviral agents (ARVs) to the mothers and/or their babies at any stage of pregnancy. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Pharmacists about PMTCT.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among consenting Pharmacists at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) and University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH). Completed questionnaires were collated and analyzed using SPSS Version-25 with appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
Results: A total of 77 Pharmacists participated in the study, with 54(70.13%) being from ABUTH. In ABUTH, 15(33.3%) Pharmacists identified as being females, against 16(69.6%) in UNTH. Majority (40,95.2%) of the Pharmacists in ABUTH had less than 10 years working experience as against 8(34.8%) in UNTH. Forty-eight (88.9%) respondents knew the correct meaning of PMTCT. The Pharmacists in ABUTH and UNTH had mean knowledge scores of 58.70±2.88% and 52.17±6.19%, respectively; t(75)=1.094, p=0.760. In ABUTH and UNTH, 16(69.6%) and 22(42.3%) Pharmacists, respectively, strongly agreed that PMTCT can prevent future infections in the infants. Their mean attitude scores were 69.65±1.22% (ABUTH) and 74.09±1.68% (UNTH); t(73)=-2.063, p=0.487. For practice, 4(5.33%) Pharmacists in both hospitals very often dispensed PMTCT drugs, while 37(70.83%) counseled PMTCT treatment-naïve patients.
Conclusion: The Pharmacists assessed in both hospitals had a fair knowledge of PMTCT services. Their attitudes to PMTCT was very good, although only a few of them had experience in providing care for PMTCT patients
PROSPECTS OF INTEGRATION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY TO ANTIMALARIAL HERBAL REMEDIES FOR IMPROVED THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY – A CONCISE REVIEW: Antimalarial Herbal Medicines Nanoformulations
No full textBackground: The therapeutic utility of herbal medicinal products including antimalarial herbal remedies has been hampered by some unfavorable biopharmaceutical properties of the bioactive constituents such as low aqueous solubility, poor oral bioavailability, poor intestinal permeability and large molecular size. Al these biopharmaceutical issues are responsible for observed reduced in vivo efficacy of some herbal products compared to their in vitro efficacy. These drawbacks can by countered by the integration of nanotechnology. The present article identified the various documented nanosystems and examined the recent efforts in the deployment of nanotechnology in formulations of antimalarial herbal medicines for improved therapeutic efficacies. Also safety considerations in clinical applications of nanoformulations were highlighted.
Methods: The information was acquired from an extensive literature searching of electronic databases such as Science-Direct, PubMed, and Google-Scholar to obtain appropriate articles made in the English language which were published up to 2022, using a combination of relevant keywords.
Results: Only very few herbal antimalarial remedies such as extracts of Azadirachta indica, Momordica charantia, Curcuma longa, and Artemisia species have been nanoformulated and evaluated for antimalarial efficacy. In all these studies, the drug-loaded nanoformulations exhibited significantly higher in vitro and/or in vivo antimalarial efficacy. The different nanoformulations of antimalarial herbal remedies that have been reported include nanoparticles of lipid-based, cyclodextrin, chitosan/lecithin , liposomes, nanosuspension, nanoemulsions, and metal-based nanoparticles..
Conclusion: Different types of nanoformulations of herbal antimalarial drugs have been reportedly prepared by different techniques and these offer advantages of improved efficacies. Safety concerns present a hurdle to clinical applications
EMERGENCE OF NEW STRAINS OF SARS-COV-2: AFRICA’S FATE AND ITS PREPAREDNESS AGAINST COVID-19 INFECTION WAVES
Full text linkBackground: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2(SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 100million individuals worldwide with diverse impacts on nations. The rising cases of new strains and resultant infection waves create an urgent need to assess the readiness of countries especially in Africa to mitigate the impact on community transmission. This paper delivers a brief synopsis of the novel SARS-CoV-2, emerging cases of new variants reported worldwide, and implications for genetic surveillance of disease transmission in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) especially Africa.
Materials and Methods: Literature search used keywords like SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 epidemiology; pandemic waves; corona outbreak, clinical syndromes, treatments, prevention and control. Cross-sectional and observational studies published on COVID-19 from 2019 till date of study provided main information sources. Databases such as Web of Science, Embase, PubMed and Google Scholar were utilised.
Main findings: Over 220 countries have documented COVID-19 cases with varied severity till date. Before the spikes in resurgence, a highly virulent mutated (>90% fatality rate) novel strain of COVID-19 had been documented. There is very little data to ascertain the impact of the COVID-19 infection waves in LMICs.
Discussion: LMICs especially African countries still grapple with significant challenges like inefficient surveillance mechanisms, inadequate vaccination coverage, inadequate enforcement of environmental health strategies, poor health systems etc. Hence, Africa’s fate remains dicey in the face of the dynamic evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 and other identified challenges.
Conclusion: The adoption of a multidisciplinary approach to mitigate the impact of emergence of mutant SARS-CoV-2 variants and resurgence of infection spike is recommende
RAPID IMPLEMENTATION OF REAL-TIME REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTION POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (REAL-TIME RT-PCR) ASSAY FOR THE DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 IN A MOROCCAN HOSPITAL
Full text linkBackground: The main challenge faced in the African countries was to implement efficient molecular diagnostic facilities and start Covid-19 diagnosis as fast as possible to handle the rapid and unpredictable rise of cases.
Materials, Methods and Results: We describe our experience in implementing a molecular biology unit at Sheikh Zaïd International University Hospital in Rabat, with a delay as short as one week, and starting real-time RT-PCR assay for the detection of SARS-Cov-2 infection, since the outbreak widened in Morocco in mid-March, 2020.
Conclusion: The challenges encountered in the first period of Covid-19 pandemic are still present. This work aims to give an example of a rapid and adaptive response in order to maintain our diagnosis ability for Covid-19 and for other pathogen