ABSTRACT
It is well-known that public compliance with health directives is a prerequisite for an effective pandemic management and that individual beliefs, perceptions and knowledge are important factors in determining this compliance. To evaluate the level of people's knowledge and practice towards Influenza A [H1N1pandemic]. A descriptive cross-sectional study. Five commercial malls, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Self-administered questionnaires which were distributed among 550 adults attending specific commercial malls in Eastern Province from 27th of June to 11th of July 2009. A total of 550 adults participated in this study. Five-hundred twenty-seven [95.8%] participants were Saudi and 286 [52%] were males. Five-hundred forty-seven [99.5%] participants heard about "swine flu". Five-hundred thirty-eight [97.8%] knew that this disease is transmissible to humans. Four-hundred eighty-six [88.4%] thought that the disease can be prevented. Three-hundred nine [56.2%] participants stated that there is a vaccine against the disease. Two-hundred thirty-six [42.9%] stated that they were washing their hands and the same figure stated that they were avoiding people with seasonal influenza symptoms. Moreover, only ninety [16.4%] stopped kissing and hugging friends and relatives and 68 [12.4%] stopped shaking hands. Although the knowledge of the people in Eastern Province in KSA about Influenza A [H1N1] was good, poor compliance with the government recommended preventive measures was noted. This study proved that there is a need for more efforts to encourage the public to undertake specific behaviours related to preventive measures of infectious diseases outbreaks
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Male , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Cross-Sectional StudiesABSTRACT
In United Arab Emirates [UAE], the prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus was 19.6% in 1998-2000. Co-morbidity with Hypertension [HT] and Dyslipidemia [DL] increases the probability of cardiovascular complications, and hence the importance of control of all these conditions. The purpose of the present study was to study the distribution of HT and DL in patients with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus [DM] and their control. Source of data was the records of one private and one government hospital in Northern Emirates, UAE. 294 patients with type- 2 DM, who attended the hospitals from September to November, 2009 were included. A checklist was used for collection of data. Relevant data were collected from the records, entered on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using PASW 17.0 statistics. Proportions and Chi-square tests were used for assessing the co-morbidity of DL and HT, and control of DM with respect to socio-demographic variables. Of the total DM patients, 50.7% were males, 95% married, 76.5% of Middle East origin and only 12.6% were paying patients. The most common [49%] age group was 40- 59 years. 8.6% of the DM patients did not have DL or HT, 69.6% had DL, 88% had HT, and 66.1% had both. There was a statistically significant [p<0.05] association between age and DL and nationality and DL, but not with HT. Duration of DL and HT were similar to that of DM. only 32% had DM under control. As for control of DL, 60.2% had triglyceride under control, 59.5% LDL and 7.4% HDL, 39.3% had systolic and 52.7% diastolic blood pressure under control. Co-morbidity with HT and DL is found to be high in the patients with type -2 DM. The poor control of all three conditions highlights the importance of all levels of prevention to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications
ABSTRACT
We are reporting what we think is probably the first case of brucellosis in a Bahraini patient. Our patient was a 54 year old Bahraini who presented with a history of fever of three weeks and back pain. He has elevated liver enzymes, highly positive brucella serology and his spinal MRI revealed multilevel spondylitis. He was diagnosed as having Brucellar spondylitis and was treated with two courses of antibiotics over a period of 8 months. He improved dramatically and was discharged from the hospital in March 2007 and since then he had no recurrence