Pharmacoepidemiological study of self-medication in adults attending pharmacies in Alexandria, Egypt

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the extent and pattern of selfmedication among adults, to identify their knowledge and practice concerning the purchased drugs and to calculate prescribing and purchaser care indicators. Following WHO methods, 35 pharmacies were randomly selected from districts in Alexandria city, Egypt. Of 1294 clients interviewed at these pharmacies, 1050 [81.1%] purchased self-medication; the commonest reason given was a belief that the condition was minor. The most frequently dispensed drugs were those for the respiratory system. The mean number of drugs per encounter was 1.10, mean cost LE 7.29 and mean dispensing time 2.53 minutes. Purchasers' knowledge and practice regarding the purchased drugs were poor

educational programme on dengue fever prevention and control for females in Jeddah high schools

A mass communication campaign was conducted at 20 randomly selected female high schools and 2 school supervision centres in Jeddah to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices of students, teachers and supervisors about dengue fever. A total of 5977 pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were completed and the intervention was conducted using lectures and audiovisual aids. A marked improvement in all areas of knowledge, attitudes and practices was observed after the programme in all groups. Students obtained the highest improvement in mean knowledge scores after the programme compared to the other 2 groups. There is a need to expand such programmes to all Jeddah schools

Assessment of safety of frozen foods

This cross-section study was conducted to assess the microbiological quality of 90 frozen food samples [50 samples of raw frozen vegetables including molokeya, okra green peas, peas + carrot and artichoke], 20 of frozen poultry products and 20 of frozen meat products as well as to assess the level of women practice during handling. The results showed that the mean aerobic mesophilic plate count of the frozen vegetables was 3.4 x 105 +or- 7.3 x 105 cfu/g. The mean mold and yeast count was 3.9 x 103 +/- 1.1 x 104 cfu/g. The mean coliform count was 3.9 x 10 +/- 6.6 x 10 m.o./g. In case of meat product, the mean aerobic count was 2.3 x 105 +/- 3.2 x 105, that of mold and yeast was 2.5 x 105 +/- 8.8 x 105 cfu/g and that of coliform was 3.2 x 102 +/- 3.8 x 102 m.o./g. On, the other hand, poultry products had a mean aerobic count of 6.8 x 105 +/- 1.6 x 106, a mean mold and yeast count of 3.5 x 105 +/- 7.4 x 105 cfu/g and a mean coliform count of 6.4 x 102 +/- 5.2 x 102 m.o./g. Fecal coliforms were detected only in 60.0% of meat product samples and in 45.0% of poultry product samples. On the other hand, Staph. aureus was detected only in 10.0% of poultry product samples. The difference between the five types of vegetables was statistically significant for total plate and mold and yeasts counts. Among the 113 interviewed women, 80 used frozen food products, 26 of them had scores <50%, those were classified as being bad as they were handling frozen food improperly which would contribute to the outbreaks of food borne diseases. Less than 4% of the users used satisfactory practice during handling frozen foods. Illiteracy affected significantly the level of practice

pharmacoepidemiologic study on childhood respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases

The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of drug therapeutic practice regarding acute respiratory infections [ARI] and diarrhoeal diseases [DD] for children < 12 years. Study design and sample size followed WHO guidelines for investigation of therapeutic practice. Accordingly, 600 encounters at 15 private pharmacies [covering the six districts of Alexandria] over one year were investigated. As regards ARI, antibiotics were the commonest requested drugs. More than half [51.5%] of the treatment cost was attributed to these drugs. Paracetamol was the commonest requested antipyretic, however, acetyl salicylates comprised about one fourth of these drugs. Antidiarrhoeals were the most commonly prescribed group [40.6%], antibiotics represented 19.3% and ORS 6.7%. More than half [53.1%] treatment cost was attributed to antidiarrhoeals. Antibiotics represented 25.3% of total expenditure. Chloramphenicol constituted 44.1% of all antibiotics requested. For all cases, four fifths of drugs were prescribed while one fifth was sought over the counter [OTC]. The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.3 and the average cost was L.E. 6.7. Only 15% of drugs were prescribed by generic name. The average dispensing time was 54 seconds and 71% of drugs were adequately labelled. In conclusion, inappropriate drug therapeutic practice still prevails