Effect of breastfeeding on growth in Ifemeni infants

To estimate the prevalence of effective breastfeeding [EBF] practice and its association with weight of young infants, mothers education, employment status, and parity. The study is a cross-sectional, conducted in Dula Health Center in Sanaa city, the capital of Yemen during the year 2003. Six hundred and twenty-one mothers and their exclusively breastfed apparently healthy infants attended to the health center for immunization were enrolled in the study. Effective breastfeeding was evaluated according to the World Health Organization integrated management of childhood illnesses literature. Weight was measured using Seca scale. We conducted interview to investigate the age of the child, parity, employment status, and education of the mother. The mean age of infants was 49.7 +/- 16.8 days. The prevalence of EBF was 16.9% [n = 105]. Good positioning was observed in 26.7% [n=l66], followed by good suckling in 23.7% [n=l47] and finally by good attachment in 20.3% [n=126]. The mean weight of EBF infants was 3.9 +/- 0.5 kg, whereas that of the ineffectively breastfed gtoutp was 3.5 +/- 0.5 kg [P<0.000l]. The 2 groups were compared with gender and age matched. The mean weight of well-attached infants was 3.8 +/- 0.55 kg and for those with good suckling was 3.8 +/- 0.55 kg and for those with good positioning was 3.7 +/- 0.59 kg. No association was found between EBF with mother's education and employment status while parity was positively related to EBF rate. Prevalence of EBF is low. Infants with EBF are heavier than the ineffectively breast-fed infants

Etiology of hearing in loss in children attended al thawra teaching hospital in sana'a, yemen

To determine the etiology of hearing loss among children presenting at Al-Thawra teaching Hospital in Sana'a, Yemen A total of 580 children with hearing loss attended the ENT out-patient clinic in Al-Thawra Teaching Hospital during the period from January 2003 to December 2004. Patients were examined clinically and investigated by pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and auditory brain stem response [ABR] when indicated. A proportion of 68.3% of children with hearing loss were aged between 5-15 years at presentation. Males were 337 [58.1%] and females were 243 [41.9%]. Of the 385 [66.4%] children who were subjected to pure tone audiometry 282 [73.2%] had profound hearing loss, 71 [18.4%] had severe hearing loss and 32 [8.3%] had moderately severe hearing loss. Causes of hearing loss were: unknown in 238 [41.0%], meningitis in 122 [21.0%], hereditary in 76 [13.1%], ototoxicity in 47 [8.1%] and febrile convulsion in 3.5 [6.0%]. Consanguinity was recorded in the parents of 309 [53.3%] children. Of them 192 [62.1%] married to their first cousins and 117 [37.9%] to their relatives. The highest range of presentation of children with hearing loss was between 5-15 years old. The most common causes were unknown, meningitis, hereditary and ototoxicity. Consanguinity was reported by more than half of the parents. Majority of the children were with profound type of hearing loss

Prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium in Sana'a, Yemen

To estimate the prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium. A record-based study was carried out in the Specialized Pediatric Center in Sana'a city, Yemen during the 4 year period 1999 to 2003. Out of 90600 patients seen for different causes, 310 [0.34%] were subjected to serum calcium level examination. Data regarding age and gender were also collected. The median age of the patients was 5 months, with minimum age of one day and maximum age of 4 years. Prevalence of hypocalcemia among children examined for serum calcium was 58%, 60% of them were males and 40% were females. Age group of 0-1 months constituted 17.8% while the age group of 1-3 months constituted 17.2%. Patients with serum calcium level between 4-6 mg constituted 27.8% and less than 7.5 mg were 72.2%. Prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium was high. Males were more affected than females and was more in neonates followed by age 1-3 months then age 3-6 months

Chlamydia trachomatis infections among Yemeni schools pupils in relation to environmental conditions

This study is aimed at establishing the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infections among school pupils in Sana'a, Republic of Yemen, and to explore the association of infection with environmental and social factors. A total of 787 school children, 529 boys and 258 girls, were randomly selected for enrollment in this study. Four hundred and twenty-nine were from 4 schools in Sana'a city, and 358 from 3 rural schools around Sana'a, Republic of Yemen. Questionnaire forms were filled in for each child to investigate environmental and social factors. Sera were tested for anti Chlamydia trachomatis IgG antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay CTM-IgG'. An overall rate of infection of 45.9% was determined. The rate of infection among rural pupils [73.2%] was higher [P<0.0001] than that among urbanones [23.1%]. The rate of infection was found significantly [P<0.001] inversely correlated with age of the pupils. Environmental factors which were found to influence the infection rate were; rural residence, unplastered walls, mud floor, lack of stand pipe water, lack of latrine and presence of animals within dwelling with odds ratio of 9.1, 6.3, 6.1, 5.2, 3.7, 3.5 and 1.7. Also, the male sex and illiteracy of the parents has been found to be risk factors for infection. Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection was found to be high. The prevalence correlates inversely with age. Rural residence, environmental conditions and social factors were risk factors for infections. Yemen could be identified as a trachoma endemic area, which should be targeted by the control programs

Clinical and experimental evaluation of the effect of khat-induced myocardial infarction

To evaluate the effect of Khat-induced myocardial infarction [MI] in Yemen. One hundred and twenty patients with MI, admitted to Al-Thawra Hospital, Sana'a City, Yemen, during the year 2001 and 120 volunteer controls were collected for this study. On the other hand, we used 48 adult male rabbits for this study and divided it into 8 groups. Each group was consist of 6 animals; group I was used as normal control, group II was given adrenaline 60micro g/kg intravenous infusion, group III and IV were given Khat 1g/kg once daily for 2 months, group V and VI were given Khat 1g/kg 3 times daily for 2 months, group VII and VIII were given Khat extract equivalent to 1g/kg intravenous infusion, 4 hours after the last dose of Khat and adrenaline 60micro g/kg intravenous infusion was given to groups IV, VI and VIII. The animals were killed by decapitation. Blood samples were collected from each rabbit for determination of their creatinine kinase-iso enzyme [CK-MB] lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] and serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase enzymes. Also, hearts were dissected out rapidly for histopathological study. Seventy-nine% of patients with MI were Khat chewers and only 20.8% were non-Khat chewers. Experimental study shows that Khat in a dose of 1g/kg 3 times a day for 2 months, Khat extract equivalent to 1g/kg intravenous infusion alone and in combination with adrenaline 60micro g/kg intravenous infusion significantly increased cardiac enzymes [CK-MB, aspartate transaminase, LDH], also, the histopathological study for the same groups revealed multiple areas of infarction. The present study has demonstrated that Khat chewing may be considered as a risk factor for the occurrence of MI especially in persons who are susceptible to the disease. It is therefore, recommended that Khat chewing should be avoided in persons who have any cardiovascular problems

Some aspects in the control of schistosomosis and soil-transmitted helminthosis in Yemeni children

Prevalence, intensity and incidence of schistosomosis and soil-transmitted helminthosis among school children in an ignored area in Yemen were determined. The study aimed to investigate the impact of single doses of Praziquantel or Albenedazole or both, relating to sanitary, socioeconomic and behavioral practices on the prevalence and intensity of infections. Out of a total number of 897 pupils, 453 were randomly selected from AlMahweet town and 444 from rural surrounding areas. Millipore filtration, modified Kato and precipitation techniques were applied for urine and stool analysis. Prevalence rates were 27% for schistosomosis, 61% for ascariosis, 21% for trichuriosis, 2% for fascilosis, 0.3% for entrobiosis, 0.7% for hook worm infection and 0.2% for strongloydiosis. Factors found confounding the relationship between schistosomosis and residence, under logistic regression analysis, were sex and frequency of water contact. Probability of infection by Bilharzia for boys who reside in rural AlMahweet and visit the water source is 0.52, compared to 0.30 for their mates who reside in AlMahweet town. Odds ratio estimates accounted for via residence was 2.5, via water contact 1.7 and via boys 3.2. With regards to other helminthic infections, availability of latrines remained the only significant factor under ANOVA. In conclusion, annual campaigns for treatment as a single control measure can reduce the infection rate of S. mansoni by 62.5%, T. trichura by 48% and A. lumbricoides by 24%. Whereas for S. hematobium the appropriate time interval for intervention should be shortened according to the findings of a properly designed intervention study before used as a single control measure. Since 77% of the children were infected by other helminthes, therefore mass treatment should be extended to cover all children. For those boys in rural AlMahweet who visited the water source during the week before the interview, mass treatment for schistosomosis is recommended since the prediction of infection rate reached 52%