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The Level of Coverage of Dog Vaccination Against Rabies in Moiben Sub-County, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya
No full textDog bites and subsequent transmission of rabies virus
continue to be a public health threat in some parts of the world. While
prophylaxis has proven successful in limiting transmission of rabies virus,
dog vaccination coverage has been far below the WHO-recommended level
of 75% in many parts, particularly in Africa and Asia. Aim: The aim of this
study was to determine the level of dog vaccination coverage in Moiben Subcounty
of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study also sought to investigate
the reasons for possible low dog vaccination coverage. Methodology: The
dog owners were interviewed using structured questionnaires on whether
they had their dogs vaccinated, the frequency of vaccination and the number
of dogs maintained per household. The respondents were also interviewed on
whether their dogs were confined or not and whether they had bitten
residents or not. Data was entered into SPSS version 22 of 2013 for analysis.
The data was analyzed using chi square and the statistical significance
determined at critical p-value of 0.05 and 0.01 in some cases. Results: The
coverage of dog vaccination against rabies virus in Moiben Sub-county,
Uasin Gishu County was found to be 19.5% (130/666). The number of dogs
that had not been vaccinated were 536 out of 666 accounting for 80.5% of
the sample in this study. It was established that 32.7% of dogs kept in singles
per household and 5.9% of dogs kept in more than 4 dogs per household
were vaccinated. The findings show that number of dogs kept by each
household is significantly associated (X²=32.2) with the level of vaccination
coverage. We also found that a total of 351 (54.6) children below 15 years
European Scientific Journal December 2017 edition Vol.13, No.36 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431
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were the majority who had been bitten by dogs (X² =26.3, p= 0.01) while the
least bitten were those above 46 years of age. It was also established that the
unconfined dogs (487/75.7%) significantly bit more people than those that
were partially confined (X² =12.9, p= 0.01) Conclusion and
Recommendation: The dog vaccination coverage at 19.5% in Moiben Subcounty
is far below the 75% level recommended by the WHO. The
frequency of dog vaccination was found to be once a year among some dog
owners, twice among a few others, and once in the life-time of the dog
among some dog owners. There was an inverse proportionality between
vaccination frequency and the number of dogs owned per household. Dog
confinement limits dog bites and hence should be enforced among dog
owners. This study recommends that households in Moiben Sub-county keep
the number of dogs that they can manage with regards to vaccination to be
able to control rabies virus transmission. The county government of Uasin
Gishu should move with speed to make and implement a policy on dog
ownership to regulate the number of dogs owned per household
Metabolic syndrome and its components among university students in Kenya
No full textBackground: Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of interrelated disorders which occur together causing an
increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The university population is an understudied
group despite the increase in the frequency of related disorders and metabolic risk factors e.g. obesity and
diabetes, majorly due to the assumption that they are in their most active phase of life therefore healthy. This study
looked at metabolic syndrome, the sedentary lifestyles and dietary habits present among university students
attending Mount Kenya University, main campus.
Methods: Stratified sampling was used to select participants. Self-administered questionnaires were issued to
participants after a signed consent had been obtained following which clinical assessments and biochemical
measures were performed. They included blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, high density
lipoprotein-cholesterol, anthropometric measurements; height, weight, BMI and waist circumference. Pearson’s chisquare
tests and non-parametric independent t-test were used to analyze the prevalence of metabolic syndrome
criteria per gender, the number of metabolic syndrome criteria per BMI and prevalence of metabolic syndrome
criteria per BMI category.
Results: The study established that 1.9% of the participants met the criteria for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome
according to HJSS criteria. Among the elements, there was statistical difference in gender BMI and waist
circumference. 11.8% of subjects had two metabolic syndrome components while 3.1% had three components
while none of the subjects had all six components. Elevated triglycerides was the most prevalent defining
component for metabolic syndrome. There is a statistically significant relationship between sedentary lifestyle and
dietary habits as risk factors to metabolic syndrome.
Conclusion: Young adults in university have begun developing metabolic syndrome and the risk of developing the
syndrome continues to increase with the components being reported in early age. Educational initiatives to
encourage healthy eating should be conducted within school premises in order to reinforce the message on
healthy diets and physical exercise. Pre-admission screening to identify at risk students should be conducted.
Targeted interventions development through a mandatory extra co-curricular program should be enforced to
positively engage those at risk
Mount Kenya University rolls out equipment for medical school
No full textMount Kenya University chairman Simon Gicharu and some medical students examine the state-of -the-art medical equipment for scientific, practical training and research at the university’s college of health sciences. This is part of a Sh70 million scientific equipment procured by the university
MKU to host the first ever international peace, security and social enterprise conference
No full textNaturally acquired antibody responses to more than 300 Plasmodium vivax proteins in three geographic regions
Get PDFPlasmodium vivax remains an important cause of malaria in South America and the Asia-Pacific. Naturally acquired antibody responses against multiple P. vivax proteins have been described in numerous countries, however, direct comparison of these responses has been difficult with different methodologies employed. We measured antibody responses against 307 P. vivax proteins at the time of P. vivax infection, and at 2–3 later time-points in three countries. We observed that seropositivity rates at the time of infection were highest in Thailand, followed by Brazil then PNG, reflecting the level of antigenic input. The majority of sero-reactive antigens in all sites induced short-lived antibody responses with estimated half-lives of less than 6 months, although there was a trend towards longer-lived responses in PNG children. Despite these differences, IgG seropositivity rates, magnitude and longevity were highly and significantly rank-correlated between the different regions, suggesting such features are reflective of the individual protein
MKU AND Makerere join hands to boost health research
No full textResearchers in East Africa will benefit from a research fund established to address common health issues affecting the region.
The fund mainly targets areas which receive minimal support from international donors.
The kitty, a joint initiative of the schools of health sciences of Makerere and Mt Kenya universities, will also facilitate research and development of innovations geared towards addressing health challenges brought about by climate change and disease outbreaks which bear a direct impact on the economies of the affected countries
Substitution Kinetics of [Fe(PDT/PPDT)n(phen)m]2+ (n ≠ m; n,m = 1,2) with 2,2′-Bipyridine, 1,10-Phenanthroline, and 2,2′,6,2″-Terpyridine
No full textThe triazines 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine (PDT), 3-(4-phenyl-2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine (PPDT), and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) were coordinated to the Fe2+ ion to form urn:x-wiley:05388066:media:kin21066:kin21066-math-0001 (1), urn:x-wiley:05388066:media:kin21066:kin21066-math-0002 (2), urn:x-wiley:05388066:media:kin21066:kin21066-math-0003, (3) and urn:x-wiley:05388066:media:kin21066:kin21066-math-0004 (4). The complexes were synthesized and characterized by mass spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The rate of substitution of these complexes by 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), and 2,2′,6,2″-terpyridine (terpy) was studied in a sodium acetate–acetic acid buffers over the range 3.6–5.6 at 25, 35, and 45°C under pseudo–first-order conditions. The reactions are first order with respect to the concentration of the complexes. The reaction rates increase with increasing [bpy/phen/terpy] and pH, whereas ionic strength has no influence on the rate of reaction. Plots of kobs versus [bpy/phen/terpy] and 1/[H+] are linear with positive slopes and significant y-intercepts. This indicates that the reactions proceed by both dissociative as well as associative pathways for which the associative pathway predominates the substitution kinetics. Observed temperature-depended rate constants at the three temperatures at which substitution reactions were studied together with the protonation constants of the substituting ligands (phen, bpy, terpy) were used to evaluate the specific rate constants (k1 and k2) and thermodynamic parameters (Ea, ΔH#, ΔS#, and ΔG#). The reactivity order of the four complexes depends on the phenyl groups present on the triazine (PDT/PPDT) molecule. The π-electrons on phenyl rings stabilizes the charge on the metal center by inductive donation of electrons toward the metal center resulting in a decrease in reactivity of the complex, and the order is 1 terpy > bpy. Higher rate constants, low Ea values, and more negative entropy of activation (−ΔS#) values were observed for the associative path, revealing that substitution reactions at the octahedral iron(II) complexes by bpy, phen, and terpy occur predominantly by the associative mechanism. Density functional theory calculations support the interpretations
MKU sets up maritime course at its Mombasa campus
No full textMount Kenya University (MKU) has been given the green light to offer maritime and transport logistic courses. The Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) authorised MKU to offer certificate and diploma programmes at its Mombasa campus after reviewing the university's facilities and resources