ABSTRACT
Background: HIV and its complication AIDS was a source of serious public health concern that greeted the end of the 20th century. Being a multi-systemic disease, it was also associated with different forms of ocular morbidities of interest. Purpose: To determine the prevalence, patterns and determinants of HIV related eye diseases in patients attending anti-retroviral clinics in Katsina state, Nigeria.Methods: Two hundred and twenty subjects met the inclusion criteria over a six month period. A questionnaire was administered for socio-demographic data, patients’ history, record review and a detailed ophthalmic examination. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20. Parametric and non-parametric assessments were used to assess the relationship of various factors with manifestation of HIV associated eye diseases.Results: Out of 220 respondents, 164 were females. The Male: Female was 1:2.9. The mean age was 28.5 years ± 14.83 SD. About 65.5% of respondents had eye diseases while 46.4% had HIV associated eye diseases. Prevalence of HIV associated eye diseases was found to be 46.4%. The most common types of eye diseases found were Kerato-conjunctivitis Sicca (KCS) 25.5%, conjunctivitis 5.5%, herpes zoster ophthalmicus 3.2%, anterior uveitis 2.7% and molluscum contagiosum 2.3%. Factors found to affect the manifestation of these eye diseases were CD4 cell count, WHO Clinical Stage of the disease and the Presence of eye symptoms.Conclusion: The study showed a high prevalence of HIV associated eye disease. The Patient’s clinical/WHO stage, CD4 cell count and presence of ocular symptoms were shown to have significant association with the ocular manifestation.
ABSTRACT
The effects of Thonningea sanguinea Vahl. root extracts were tested against Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium chabaudi, acetic acid induced abdominal constriction and egg albumin induced paw oedema in rodents. Eighteen mice assigned to 3 groups of 6 animals each were infected with P. berghei (NK 65 chloroquine sensitive strain). Group I was treated with 300 mg/kg bw T. sanguinea, group II with 5mg/kg bw chloroquine phosphate (standard) and group III with 20ml/kg bw normal saline (control). Another set of eighteen mice were also inoculated with P. chabaudi and treated similarly. P. berghei was significantly suppressed by the extract over the time course of the study with mice survival periods of 36, 20 and 16 days for chloroquine, plant extract and normal saline treatments respectively. T. sanguinea produced some initial suppression of parasites but subsequently resurgence in parasitaemia was observed in the case of P. chabaudi infected animals. Mice survival periods with the later were 24 days (CQ), 22 days (extract) and 10 days (normal saline). Whole body weights significantly decreased in P. chabaudi but not P. berghei infected mice. Packed Cell Volume significantly (p<0.05) decreased with both models irrespective of the treatments. The extract had a minimal (10.89%) analgesic effect and had no anti-inflammatory activity. T. sanguinea though effective only in the P. berghei model could still be further investigated.