ABSTRACT
Historically, mountainous areas of Morocco have been affected by endemic goiter and severe iodine deficiency. In 1995, Morocco legislated salt iodization to reduce iodine deficiency. There has been no national survey of iodine nutrition in school-age children for nearly 3 decades. Our aim was to assess iodine nutrition in a national sample of 6-12-year-old children in Morocco to inform the national salt iodization strategy. In this cross-sectional household-based survey, we randomly recruited healthy 6-12-year-old children from 180 clusters in four geographic zones (north and east, central, north and south) covering the 12 regions of Morocco. A questionnaire was completed, including socio-economic status and parental level of education. In addition, anthropometric measurements were taken to assess nutrition status, and a spot urine sample was collected to measure urinary iodine concentration (UIC). A total of 3118 households were surveyed, and 1043 eligible children were recruited, 56% from urban areas and 44% from rural areas. At the national level, the percentage of surveyed samples with UIC < 50 µg/L was 21.6% (19.2%; 24.2%), which exceeds the WHO suggestion of no more than 20% of samples below 50 µg/L, despite an adequate level of median urinary iodine concentration (mUIC) at 117.4 µg/L (110.2; 123.3). There were no statistically significant differences in mUIC comparing urban vs. rural areas and socio-economic status. However, the mUIC was significantly lower in the central (high-altitude non-coastal) zone (p < 0.004), where the mUIC (95% CI) was deficient at 89.2 µg/L (80.8; 102.9). There was also a significant difference in the mUIC by head of household education level (p = 0.008). The mUIC in Moroccan children >100 µg/L indicates iodine sufficiency at the national level. However, the percentage of surveyed samples with UIC < 50 µg/L above suggests that a significant proportion of children remain at risk for iodine deficiency, and it appears those at greatest risk are residing in the central (high altitude non-coastal) zone. A national level mUIC value may conceal discrepancies in iodine intake among different sub-groups, including those defined by geographic region.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis is a major public health threat, annually affecting new individuals worldwide, especially those in developing countries. Rapid detection of the agent and effective treatment are two important factors in controlling this disease. METHODOLOGY: The present study aimed to evaluate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a rapid and direct molecular method for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in 70 clinical specimens (62 sputum samples, six cerebrospinal fluids, and two biopsies) using heat shock protein (hsp65) as the gene target. Automated sequencing of the same gene was used for the identification of MTB to the species level. RESULTS: The sensitivity of PCR was 81.13%, with specificity of 88.24%; the positive and negative predictive values were 95.56% and 60%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, the hsp65 gene sequence can be used to differentiate the members of MTB complex from non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM).
