ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Investigate Tooth Surface Loss TSL, among 12-14 years school children in Khartoum State, Sudan; evaluate pattern, severity and determine relationship between TSL, dietary habits and socio-economical status. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross sectional survey among primary public and private schools. METHOD AND PARTICIPANTS: Cluster sample of 1,138 12 to 14-year old students from both public and private school. Mild and moderate TSL was measured on buccal, lingual/palatal surfaces of maxillary and mandibular incisors and canines and occlusal, buccal, lingual/palatal surfaces of maxillary and mandibular premolars and molars. Surfaces scored according to criterion described by the National Survey of Child Dental Health. RESULTS: The prevalence of TSL was found to be 74%. Mild and moderate TSL was detected on palatal surfaces of maxillary central incisors followed by occlusal surfaces of mandibular molars. TSL into the pulp was not detected. CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of 74% was found with mild and moderate TSL with no pulpal involvement. There was an association between consumption of erosive foods and the prevalence of TSL. Socio-economic status and gender did not present significant differences.
Subject(s)
Tooth Erosion/epidemiology , Tooth Erosion/etiology , Adolescent , Beverages/adverse effects , Chi-Square Distribution , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Diet/adverse effects , Female , Fruit/adverse effects , Humans , Male , Prevalence , Regression Analysis , Risk Factors , Sex Factors , Social Class , Statistics, Nonparametric , Sudan/epidemiology , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The efficacies of several antimalarial drugs in the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria were compared, during an open, randomized trial, in New Halfa, eastern Sudan. The 96 patients who completed the 28 days of follow-up were treated with chloroquine (N = 26), sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (N = 38) or quinine (N = 32). No treatment failures were observed among the patients given sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Only 23.1% of the patients given chloroquine showed adequate clinical response, however, the rest showing early (15.4%) or, more frequently, late (61.5%) treatment failure. In terms of parasitological failure, 54.1% of the patients given chloroquine showed early RI resistance, 7.7% showed late RI, and 15.1% showed RIII. Most (90.6%) of the patients treated with quinine had adequate treatment responses, the rest having late treatment failures (and late RI). The frequency of treatment failure was significantly higher, however, among the patients given chloroquine than in the quinine-treatment arm. The present results and those of earlier investigations indicate that the problem of chloroquine resistance is worsening in eastern Sudan, and that the use of chloroquine as the first-line drug for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in this area is now compromised. The response to quinine may also be faltering.
Subject(s)
Antimalarials/therapeutic use , Malaria, Falciparum/drug therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Chloroquine/therapeutic use , Drug Combinations , Drug Resistance , Humans , Infant , Pyrimethamine/therapeutic use , Quinine/therapeutic use , Sudan , Sulfadoxine/therapeutic use , Treatment Failure , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Chronic Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections in a Sudanese village, in an area of seasonal and unstable malaria transmission, were monitored and genetically characterized to study the influence of persistent infection on the immunology and epidemiology of low endemicity malaria. During the October-December malaria season of 1996, 51 individuals out of a population of 420 had confirmed and treated P. falciparum malaria in the village of Daraweesh in eastern Sudan. In a cross-sectional survey carried out in December 1996, an additional 6 individuals were found to harbour a microscopically negative but polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive P. falciparum infection. On 1 January 1997, a cohort of 43 individuals aged from 9 to 53, recruited from this group of recently malaria-infected individuals agreed to donate fortnightly blood samples for the next 9 months, the first 6 of which constitute the long Sudanese dry season when transmission falls to undetectable levels. Each blood sample was tested for the presence of persistent malaria infection by microscopy and PCR. Parasite-positive samples were genotyped using PCR assays that detect allelic polymorphism at the MSP-1, MSP-2 and GLURP marker gene loci. Of 43 individuals 16 were found to maintain chronic P. falciparum infections which were continuously genetically characterized.
