Combined consumption of a single high-dose vitamin A supplement with provision of vitamin A fortified oil to households maintains adequate milk retinol concentrations for 6 months in lactating Moroccan women.

In Morocco, postpartum women systematically receive a single, high dose of vitamin A (VA; 200 000 IU) within the first month of giving birth and vegetable oil is fortified to increase the VA intake. The efficacy of this combined approach of supplementation and fortification for increasing maternal VA status during lactation is not known. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of postpartum high dose VA supplementation and provision of VA fortified oil for household consumption on plasma and milk retinol concentrations of lactating Moroccan women during the first 6 months after giving birth. Postpartum women aged 19-40 years received a VA supplement and thereafter were randomly assigned to one of two groups to receive weekly vitamin A fortified oil (FO) or non-fortified oil (NFO) for 6 months. Serum retinol concentration was higher in the FO group than in the NFO group at 6 months after giving birth (p < 0.0001). Milk retinol per gram fat at baseline did not differ by group; by 3 months after giving birth, milk retinol per gram fat was higher in the FO group than in the NFO group (p = 0.02) and remained higher throughout the 6 months (p < 0.0001). The combination of supplementation and fortification has a more sustained impact on milk retinol concentrations than supplementation alone, which did not have a sustained impact on milk VA concentrations. The fortification approach seems to be more effective for maintaining adequate milk VA concentrations among lactating Moroccan women. Fortification seems to be a long-term solution for the problem of VA deficiency, especially among women in low-income communities.

Rifoligotyping assay: an alternative method for rapid detection of rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Morocco.

One of the greatest threats to global tuberculosis (TB) control is the growing prevalence of drug resistant strains. In the past decades, considerable efforts have been made upon the development of new molecular technologies and methodologies for detection of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). A sensitive, specific reverse line blot assay, called rifoligotyping (RIFO), for the detection of genotypic resistance to rifampicin (RIF), was designed and evaluated. RIFO includes oligonucleotide probes specific for wild-type and mutant sequences, allowing specific and sensitive detection of both genotypes in a single assay. The RIFO was applied on 500 MTB isolates from Morocco. The results of the RIFO showed a good sensitivity (90.9%) and high specificity (100%); the positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 96.1%, respectively. This rapid, simple, economical assay provides a practical alternative for RIF genotyping, especially in low-income countries, to improve TB control and management.