[Knowledge, attitude and practice of children and young adults on road traffic injuries]

According to records, the rate of road traffic injuries among children and adolescents is high. The aim of this study was to determine knowledge, attitude and practice of children, adolescents and young adults between 9 and 30 regarding traffic accidents in 2008. In this descriptive study, 304 children and adolescents between 9 and 14 as well as 327 young adults between 15 and 30 were randomly selected according to their distribution in 19 educational districts and all universities of Tehran in 2008. Data were collected by a 3-part questionnaire validated and made reliable by content and test-retest methods respectively after taking the informed consent of the subjects. The scores were divided in 3 ranks: Good [above 75%], moderate [50%-75%], and poor [below 50%]. Means of age in the first and second groups were 11.7 +/- 1.6 and 20.7 +/- 4.3 respectively. Overall, 50.7% was male. The practice score of females in the first group [9-14 years old] was better than males [P<0.001] and, among males in the second group [15-30 years old], attitude as well as practice scores were higher than female [P<0.02]. Attitude scores in high school students were better than primary school students [P<0.043]. In university students, attitude and practice scores were higher than others [P<0.001]. Knowledge and practice scores were higher in police assistants at primary schools than high schools [P<0.003]. The findings revealed the need of both groups for more educational programs regarding traffic accidents and injuries

Prevalence of coxiella burnetii in human, animal hosts and hard ticks in west Mazandaran province; Iran, 2003-4

Query [Q] fever is caused by hard ticks infected by Coxiella burnetii. It belongs to a group of diseases, classified as zoonosis, that are common between human-beings and animals. This study was conducted with the objective of defining the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii in humans, animal hosts and hard ticks in the western part of the Mazandaran province. Blood samples were collected from subjects randomly selected from individuals working in professions that brought them in close contact with animals. We also obtained blood samples from randomly selected farm animals, and a limited number of samples from stray dogs in the community. Hard ticks were collected from the bodies of farm animals and also from the shrubs around the farms. The ticks were identified by genus, species and developmental stage. All blood samples were tested by PCR. With the aid of two pairs of primers especially designed 16S rRNA for Coxiella burnetii, PCR and then Nested-PCR was done on each sample. A total of 2417 hard ticks were removed from: animal bodies [1644] and from the shrubbery [773]. The hard tick species were identified as follow: - Ixodes ricinus [72%] - Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum [15%] - Boophilus annulatus [9%] - Haemaphysalis sulcata [3%] - Dermacentor marginatus [1%] No positive case of Coxiella burnetii was observed in 1052 investigated samples in this study [120 humans, 135 sheeps, 102 cows, 60 goats, 20 dogs, 10 hedgehogs and 605 hard ticks]. This study did not find any evidence of contamination with Coxiella burnetii in the samples collected from the rural areas of Western Mazandaran. To define the prevalence of this microorganism in different parts of northern Iran further epidemiological studies are necessary