ABSTRACT
Background:Healthcare workers have a higher risk of SARS CoV2 infection with implications for transmission of infection and the safety of workers and patients. Objective: To assess knowledge on COVID-19 and the safety practices among selected healthcare workers in southwest Nigeria. Methods:A cross-sectional study of 210 workers providing direct care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. Respondents wererecruited through simple random sampling of members of online platforms of healthcare workers in Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of PPE and safety practices was obtained through a close-ended questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 36.5±7.5 years. About 29% and 30% of respondents were from the State and Federal Government-owned Teaching Hospitals, respectively. A little above half (58.1%) had good knowledge of COVID-19, while 62.1%used PPE always when attending to suspected COVID19 cases. More than half (53.8%) had been trained on infection prevention and control (IPC), but only 34.3% adhered to good safety practices. Healthcare workers in State government-owned teaching hospitals had lower odds of good safety practices than those in Federal Teaching Hospitals (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.19-0.93, p = 0.031).Conclusion: The knowledge of appropriate PPE and practice of safety precautions among healthcare workers is sub-optimal. This may predispose to increased COVID-19 transmission among healthcare workers, patients, and their families. Training and retraining healthcare workers, especially those from hospitals identified by the study as having poor safety practices, should be encouraged.
Subject(s)
Knowledge , Disease Prevention , Personal Protective Equipment , COVID-19 , Equipment SafetyABSTRACT
Four healthy bucks of the West African Dwarf breed aged between 24 and 30 months were used for this study. The bucks were first used as control and later as experimental animals upon being fed daily with oiled pumpkin plant for the period of six months. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of the pumpkin plant on the morphology of the spermatozoa of the bucks. There were significant differences (p< 0.05) between the control and experimental values for both primary and secondary morphological spermatozoa abnormalities: the pyriform head has a control value of 6 (0. 42 percent) and post-feeding value of 0 (0 percent), the beat tail; 14(0.97 percent) and 2 (0.16 percent) for the control and post feeding values respectively. The curved mid piece: 17 (1.18 percent) and 1 (0.08 percent) for the control and post-feeding values respectively. The bent mid piece also differed significantly (p<0.05) between control value of 16 (1.11 percent) and post feeding value of 3 (0.23 percent). All through the stages of the study, there were significant reductions in the number of sperm cells with abnormalities consequent upon daily feeding of the animals with pumpkin plant. The plant is therefore recommended for both prevention and treatment of make infertility in man and animals.
Cuatro cabras de la raza enana del oeste de África, con edades comprendidas entre los 24 y 30 meses, fueron utilizadas para este estudio. Las cabras sirvieron primero como control y, posteriormente, como animales de experimentación los que se alimentaron diariamente con aceite de planta de calabaza por un período de seis meses. El objetivo del estudio fue investigar el efecto de la planta de calabaza sobre la morfología de los espermatozoides de las cabras. Hubo diferencias significativas (p <0,05) entre los valores control y experimental en las anomalías morfológicas primarias y secundarias de los espermatozoides: la cabeza tuvo un valor de control de 6 (0,42 por ciento) y post alimentación valor 0 (0 por ciento), el movimiento de la cola un valor de 14 (0,97 por ciento) y 2 (0,16 por ciento) para el control y post alimentación, respectivamente. La curvatura media: valores de 17 (1,18 por ciento) y 1 (0,08 por ciento) para el control y post-alimentación, respectivamente. La inclinación media también difería significativamente (p <0,05), con un valor entre 16 (1,11 por ciento) el control y 3 (0,23 por ciento) post-alimentación. Hasta el final de las etapas del estudio, hubo una reducción significativa en el número de células de esperma con anomalías como consecuencia de la alimentación diaria de los animales con la planta de calabaza. Por lo tanto, la planta se recomienda para la prevención y el tratamiento de la infertilidad en hombres y otros animales.