ABSTRACT
With roughly 50 % of the global population at risk for infection, malaria is one of the most serious public health problems in the world. This infection is caused by single-celled protozoa of the genus Plasmodium. By the turn of the century, the majority of antimalarial drugs were no longer effective against Plasmodium falciparum. However, one year after World Health Organization's final endorsement for the global use of ACTs, an appearance of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum was seen in the border regions of Thailand and Cambodia and has since spread to other areas on the globe in subsequent years. The purpose of this work is to summarize the knowledge structure and trend of malaria and artemisinin resistance from 2012 to 2022. The VOS viewer application was used to bibliometrically analyze publications from 2012 to 2022. A total of 169 papers that discussed the keywords were used. VOS viewer application was used to produce maps based on the scientific data between the top authors and top terms in clusters. The research trend of artemisinin resistance and malaria was reported to be on the decline from 2019 to 2022. The bibliographic analysis offered an intellectual framework for the study area by identification of research groups and themes. The years with the most publications were 2015-2017, with 23 articles published each year. The most often used keywords in the research were artemisinin resistance (38 occurrences). The spread of artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum in significant regions of Southeast Asia threatens to destabilize malaria control globally. One of the most pressing global health concerns today is preventing artemisinin resistance from spreading to Africa, where the consequences for childhood mortality might be severe.
Subject(s)
Humans , ArtemisininsABSTRACT
Aims: To ascertained and compared the knowledge and attitude of public and private health-care workers in South-East, Nigeria on hospital-acquired infections. Study Design: A cross sectional surveillance report. Place and Duration of Study: Randomly selected hospital workers in private and public hospital in South-east Nigeria were administered questionnaire between April and July 2013. Methodology: Proportional sampling technique was used to obtain a representative sample of the health-care workers. Structured and validated questionnaires (n=660) were self-administered to randomly selected healthcare workers present on the days of visit and consenting to participate in the study. Data were analyzed using Chi square statistical tool. Results: The workers have good knowledge of HAIs but their attitude to preventive measures is poor and significantly different (p = 0.0002: Chi-square (X2) test). Hospital-acquired infections occurred more in public than private hospitals. The prevalence of nosocomial infections in the hospitals surveyed (as reported by the respondents) is urinary tract infection (34.9%), Gastroenteritis (27.1%), Hospital acquired pneumonia (20.3%), yeast infections (10.8%), Tuberculosis (9.0%), ventilator associated pneumonia (3.6%) and methicillin and/or vancomycin resistant infections (1.5%). The prevalence of the etiological agents of the nosocomial infections are the Staphylococcus aureus (31.0%), Candida albicans/ Aspergillus species (10.8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.5%), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (9.0%) and Clostridium difficile (3.9%). The workers know well about hospital-acquired infections, 322 (97.58%) and 297 (90%) in public and private hospitals respectively. About 11 (3.6%) and 19 (6.2%) workers in private and public hospitals respectively process their equipment as well as practice hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment. Conclusions/Recommendation: The burden of HAI is very high. UTI is the most prevalent HAI. The most common causative agent in both hospital setting is Staphylococcus aureus. The knowledge of the workers concerning hospital acquired infections is adequate but their attitude to the infections’ prevention is poor and significantly different. Standardized surveillance of nosocomial infections has to be urgently addressed in Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To check the effects of the vaccines on the hematopoietic system and weight of mice after immunization. Methods: The study was done with the Expanded Programme on Immunization vaccines donated by the Ministries of Health of Abia and Imo States of Nigeria. The vaccines were collected from the cold-chain stores and transported in vaccine carriers to the cold-chain facility in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital within 3 hours of collection. They were used to immunize a total of 160 mice. The Ethics Committee of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi of Anambra State, Nigeria approved the protocol. Results: Mice body weight changes test showed that the mice all had increased body weight at Days 3 and 7 post-immunization and none died during the 7 d post-immunization observation. The percentage weight gains of the mice compared with the control were 69%, 70%, 64%, 63%, 65% and 68% for oral polio vaccine, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, bacillus Calmette- Guérin, measles, yellow fever and hepatitis B vaccines respectively collected from Imo State. The mice immunized with oral polio vaccine, pentavalent, bacillus Calmette-Guérin, measles, yellow fever and hepatitis B vaccines collected from Abia State had 123%, 114%, 121%, 116%, 142% and 119% weight gain respectively compared with the control. Leukocytosis promoting toxicity test showed that none of the vaccines was able to induce proliferation of leukocytes up to ten folds. Leukopenic toxicity test showed that all the vaccines had an leukopenic toxicity test value higher than 80% of the control (physiological saline). Conclusions: The vaccine samples tested were safe and did not affect the hematopoietic system adversely. The storage conditions of the vaccines in the States' cold-chain stores had not compromised the safety of the vaccines.