Perception and practice of social distancing among Egyptians in COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Social distancing is principally intended to reduce infectious disease transmission by decreasing interactions among people in a broader community. Keeping social distancing is an essential public health measure to resist the COVID-19 pandemic.Methodology: a cross sectional study was conducted among 1,036 Egyptians using an online questionnaire between 5 and 10 May 2020.Results: There was significant association between the practice of social distancing and some sociodemographic factors as sex, age, education, working status, and place of residence at p value < 0.001 and with community of residence at pvalue 0.021.Conclusions: Egyptians had good perception for social distancing to prevent transmission of COVID 19, but they were not strictly practicing it

Seroprevalence and potential root cause of toxoplasmosis in primary children; a study conducted at King Abdulaziz hospital

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis with a high prevalence throughout the world. Toxoplasma gondii infection is frequently asymptomatic. Primary school children are particularly vulnerable to toxoplasmosis due to their habits of playing in water, soil, eating various raw foods, or contact with pets, including dogs, cats, and birds and hence they are an ideal target group to investigate T. gondii prevalence. Data collected from this age group can thus be used to assess whether T. gondii threatens the health of school-aged children, and also as a reference for evaluating the need for community interventions. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of anti-toxoplasmosis IgG and IgM in Primary School children and to detect agents that increase prevalence of the disease

Materials and methods: 328 primary children [219 females and 109 males] were screened for T. gondii antibodies with ELISA along with a questionnaire conducted to all children and parents/guardians to obtain data for relevant eating and social habits. Among the risk factors tested, including contact with cats and soil, consumption of raw meat and vegetables, and drinking unboiled milk

Results: the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM was found to be 12 % [40 out of 328] and 2.4 % [8 out of 328], respectively while combined anti Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies were found in 1.5 % of the children [5 out of 328]. Infection acquisition rate was directly proportional to age and it was of interest that the most significant risk factor was not the petting of cats but the ingestion of raw meat. The seroprevalence of T. gondii IgG and IgM by ELISA among primary children in this region of Saudi Arabia is considerable with few identifiable significant risk factors reported

Conclusion: effective measures should be taken to prevent and control T. gondii infection in primary school children, the results of this study showed that in order to increase awareness of the disease in the community especially for girls and their parents on common root causes such as raw meat and vegetable is necessary. Policy makers also need to initiate prevention and control programs to not only primary children but also pregnant women and immunocompromised patients in particular because they are more severely affected by T. gondii infection

Prevalence and risk factors of severe perineal injuries during childbirth in Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and risk factors for obstetric anal sphincter injuries [OASIS] in Saudi Arabia using data in a tertiary care University Center

Design: A retrospective case-control study

Setting: King Khalid University Hospital, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Subjects: All women with third and fourth degree perineal tears over a 10-year period

Interventions: We conducted this study by creating an obstetric database compiled over a period of 10 years [2002-2012] screening all for third and fourth degree perineal tears and too control matched by the time of delivery and delivery team [midwife and obstetrician]

Main Outcome Measures: The prevalence of perineal injuries was calculated in cases and controls. Maternal and obstetric parameters were analyzed and compared between the two groups

Results: Of 31,665 vaginal deliveries, seventy-three patients [0.23 %, 95% Cl by the adjusted wald method: 0.18%-0.29%] had a recognized third [n=66] or fourth-degree [n=7] perineal tear. The following three variables were independently associated with OASIS on multivariate logistic regression models adjusting for potential confounders: primiparity [OR 3.32] instrumental delivery [OR 7.19] and episiotomy [OR 4.92]

Conclusion: The overall prevalence of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears in our population is low; avoidance of certain obstetric interventions including instrumental delivery and episiotomy may decrease such complications

Correlative study between immunodulatory action of propolis on cultured PBMNCs and it's schistosomicidal activity

Propolis, a beehive product widely used in folk medicine as an anti-nflammatory agent, have heen attracting researchers attention to scientifically elucidate us biological properties and therapeutic activities. This study aimed to spot light on the value of propolis as an immune-stimulant and to evaluate the influence on schistosome hematobium infection cure rate. To achieve this goal we estimated the effect of propolis on cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells activation in-vitro by IL-2 and NO determination. We also evaluated the effect of in-vivo treatment with propolis on Schistosoma hematobium worm and bone marrow by parasitological and ultrastructural studies. Twenty S. haematobium infected golden hamsters were included in the study, subdivided into two groups each of 10 animals Group 1: Infected Control with 300 +/- 10 cercariae of S. haematobium by abdominal skin exposure. Group 2: Animals were treated with propolis three months post the infection. Our in-vitro results revealed that propolis induces a discreet elevation in IL-2 and NO release in PBMNCs cultures supernatant of S. hematobium infected hamsters. Mean level of IL-2 was 16.17 +/- 1.67 pg/ml in the presence of propolis and 3.31 +/- 0.76 in its absence with highly statistically significant difference [p < 0.001]. Regarding NO, Mean level of NO was 7. 76 +/- 1.30 U/ml in the presence of propolis and 2.6 +/- 0.42 in its absence with. highly statistically significant difference [p < 0.001]. Also, propolis caused observed activation and absence of apoptotic changes at the ultrastructural level of cultured PBMNCs revealed. In-viva results, revealed significant reductions in mature worm loads [either male or female], tissue egg loads [either intestinal or hepatic] 21.00 and 19.79% respectively and Percentage reductions of egg developmental stages was 68.07% with statistically significant difference compared with infected control group [P < 0.05]. Ultrastructural study of S. hematobium women revealed implantation and degeneration of the spines within vesiculated tegument and for the bone marrow it revealed evidence of lymphocyte and promonocyts activation in addition to remarkable increase in the number of the activated natural killer cell. Data suggest that propolis acts on host immunity by PBMNCs activation. This information would provide new insights in considering propolis to have a potential therapeutic benefit if used in conjunction with antischistosomal drug in treatment of schistosome infection

Intraperitoneal injection of echinostome antigens confers resistance to schistosomal infection in murine model

The effect of immunization protocol against S. mansoni infection with purified metacercarial antigen from E. liel alone or combined with BCG on resistance to S. mansoni infection and associated immunoparasitological changes in murine experimental model was studied. The results revealed highly significant reduction in worm burden and hepatic and intestinal tissue egg loads were observed on comparing the two immunized groups [purified metacercarial antigen alone or purified metacercarial antigen plus BCG] with the infected control group [p> 0.001]. Moreover the greatest reduction in the worm burden was observed in group injected with purified metacercarial antigen pluse BCG. A significant reduction [p> 0.001] was observed in granuloma diameter in the two immunized groups relative to infected control. However, the greatest reduction in granuloma diameter was noticed in group II [purified metacercarial antigen pluse BCG]. No significant difference was observed in granuloma diameter berween the two immunized groups. Anti-SEA serum specific immunoglobulins in group I and group II showed a significant increase in both IgG and IgM [p> 0.05] compared to the infected control group. A higher significant increase was found in the specific immunoglobulin isotype IgGI [p> 0.001] in both group I and II compared to infected control group. In conclusion, our findings showed that multiple intraperitoneal adminestration of purified metacercarial antigen induce highly significant reduction in worm burden, hepatic and intestinal tissue egg loads and granuloma size 8 weeks post infection

Parasitological, hematological and ultrastructural study of the effect of Cox-2 inhibitor, pyocyanin pigment and praziquantel, on S. mansoni infected mice

The effect of cyclooxygenase-2 [COX-2] inhibitor, such [as meloxicam, and pyocyanin pigment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa] with and without praziquantel [PZQ] on worms, ova count, bone marrow and blood cells in 7 groups of Schistosoma mansoni infected mice was studied. The results revealed significant decrease of worm burden and ova count in all treated groups as compared to the infected untreated group, while those with combined treatment of PZQ and meloxicam or pyocyanin showed complete eradication of the worm with the highest reduction in the tissue egg load. EM showed extensive swelling and vesiculation of the tegument, completely implanted spines that overlie degenerated muscle layer were obvious in groups treated with either meloxicam or pyocyanin. Hematological study revealed significant increase [P < 0.05] of total leucocytic count of PZQ treated group while that treated with either meloxicam or pyocyanin showed significant decrease [P < 0.05], but in combination of PZQ with meloxicam or pyocyanin no significant difference as compared to the infected untreated group. The neutrophil was the main cell affected in groups treated with neither meloxicam nor pyocyanin alone with significant decrease [P < 0.05], but with significant increase [P < 0.05] in combination with PZQ as compared to the infected untreated group. Those treated with PZQ plus meloxicam showed significant increase as compared to that plus pyocyanin. Eosinophil count showed significant decrease [P < 0.05] in all treated groups as compared to the infected untreated group. Inverse correlation between serum level of sFas and peripheral neutrophil count was detected. Ultrastructural study of the bone marrow explained the results as groups treated with meloxicam revealed dissociation between nuclear and cytoplasmic development in the neutophils with cytoplasm maintaining primitive appearance despite maturation of the nucleus that is manifested by the persistent production of immature granules and the still orientation of Golgi cternae and the centriole around the nucleus. Groups treated with pyocyanin pigment revealed many abnormalities in neutophils as hypogranularity or early apoptotic morphology changes as intense pen- nuclear chromatin aggregation or nucleus fragmentation.In peripheral blood apoptotic morphology changes was detected in both groups treated with meloxicam or pyocyanin while most of cells of mice treated with PZQ were in an active state. Consequently, it is preferable to give meloxicam with PZQ for a short period of time [less side-effect] to eradicate S. mansoni worm completely but with continuous observation of the peripheral neutrophil count and function