Hydatid disease in Yemeni patients attending public and private hospitals in Sana'a City, Yemen

Hydatid disease is endemic and represents a major health problem in Yemen. The aim of this study is to determine the magnitude of the problem of hydatidosis in patients attending Public and Private Hospitals at Sana'a city, Yemen. 66 patients with hydatid disease were identified during the period from August 2006 to February 2007. Complete medical history for all CE patients were collected and analyzed. Among the 66 CE patients, 67% were females and 33% males. Liver was the most common involved organ. Single cyst was more frequently detected than multiple cysts and approximately 94% of the cysts were >/= 5 cm. Moreover, Public hospitals were the main source of patients with CE disease. Hydatidosis is still an endemic disease and an important health problem in Yemen which needs to be studied further. Therefore, accurate information on the distribution of the disease is the first step for the control and prevention of the disease. Moreover, it is crucial to investigate the role of different intermediate hosts and genotypes of E. granulosus in humans and animals

Comparison of performance characteristics of two immunoassays in the detection of antigenic components of plasmodium falciparum in blood from Yemeni patients

Objective: the purpose of the study was to compare the performance characteristics of two immunochromatographic antigen detection systems for the diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum in an attempt to detect the parasite components in blood samples from Yemeni patients

Methods: the traditional microscopic examination was peij5onned to identify the cases of malaria and subsequently two immunoassays were compared: OptiMAL [R] detects parasite lactate dehydrogenase [pLDH] and Core detects parasite histidine rich protein-2 [pHRP-2] in blood samples using monoclonal antibodies. During the study period, blood samples from 518 cases of suspected malaria were collected from hospitals in Taiz [214] and Hodeidah [304] and examined microscopically. All cases that were found positive for falciparum malaria were subsequently examined by the indicated immunoassays. In addition, 87 blood samples from healthy individuals and 47from subjects with heterologous infections were tested by the same immunoassays in order to assess sensitivity and specificity

Results: of 518 cases suspected of malaria, 171 [33%] were positive for trophozoites and/or gametocytes in the blood films examined. Among them, the rate of infection in Taiz was 27% and in Hodeidah 37% [P= 0.02]. Of 171 positive blood samples, 164 were positive by the OptiMAL immunoassay giving 96% sensitivity. Specificity of this test was 100% as none of the heterologous infections was positive. The Core immunoassay was able to detect pHRP-2 in 159 of 171 tested blood samples to give a 93% sensitivity. This test showed cross reactivity with blood samples from patients with toxoplasmosis giving 94% specificity. Nineteen of the parasitologicaly confirmed cases were classified as negative by the two immunoassays [7 with OptiMAL and 12 with Core]

Conclusion: The newer generation antigen detection systems have a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. This makes such systems a promising tool for diagnosis of falciparum malaria in Yemen