Prevalence of Soil-transmitted Helminths in Primary School Playgrounds in Edo State, Southern Nigeria.

Schoolchildren in primary schools are mostly at risk of acquiring soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) infections due to their habits (geophagy, onychophagy and playing with barefoot). Profiling soil parasites on school playgrounds is expected to provide an insight to an array of parasites schoolchildren are constantly at risk of acquiring; and this information could guide on intervention programmes. Soil samples from sixteen primary school playgrounds in Edo State (South-South, Nigeria) were collected over a six-month period both in the dry (January, February and March) and wet (May, June and July) seasons in 2018 and early 2019. Samples were processed and analysed following standard parasitological procedures. Of the 576 soil samples collected, 318(55.2 %) were positive with one or more soil parasites. Generally, the predominant parasites recovered from the total number of soil samples collected were: Ascaris 127(22 %), Strongyloides 111(19.27 %) and hookworm 50(8.68 %). Ascaris was most preponderant in the dry season, while Strongyloides was the most occurring in the wet season. The mean differences in the parasite load for Ascaris and hookworm between dry and wet seasons were not significant; while for Strongyloides it was higher in the wet than dry season. These results could be a consequence of observed poor state of toilet/sanitary facilities as well as the lack or poor state of basic infrastructure like proper drainage and waste disposal systems in the host communities. There is therefore urgent need to interrupt the STHs transmission cycles in the environment and possibly in schoolchildren by instituting sustainable intervention programmes within schools located in STHs endemic regions like southern Nigeria.

Mobile health clinic for the medical management of clinical sequelae experienced by survivors of the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

An Ebola survivor Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) was established to implement lasting changes in communities it operates by providing effective and efficient mobile healthcare. After months of development, the MHC solution was operationalised in February 2015, aiming to provide integrated primary healthcare services to address the medical and psychosocial needs of Ebola virus (EBOV) survivors living in areas with low medical coverage. A total of 910 medical consultations for 246 EBOV survivors were performed between 7 February 2015 and 10 June 2016. Females constituted 148 (60.2%) whereas 6 (2.44%) were children under 5 years of age. The most common complication was arthralgia 185 (75.2%), headache 98 (39.8%), abdominal pain 167 (68%), myalgia 182 (73.6%), and skin disease 25 (10%). Moreover, ocular problems were diagnosed in 84 survivors (34.1%), and 60 (24.4%) suffered from psycho-trauma. Some 16 female survivors (10.8%) had miscarriages, whereas 9 (6.1%) had complaints of oligomenorrhea, 7 (4.7%) loss of sexual desire and 4 (2.7%) premature menopause. Five male survivors (5.1%) reported erectile dysfunction and 10 (10.2%) loss of sexual desire. At least 221 (89.8%) reported more than one complication. Other infectious diseases were common and no clinically relevant differences were established from haematology and clinical biochemistry laboratory results. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, anti-malaria drugs and antibiotics were the most common medicines prescribed. Community participation is critical for implantation of MHC among EBOV survivors. Future strategies for the mobile clinics should include enrolment of survivors at discharge from treatment centres with close monitoring follow-up activities, to address sequelae as they arise, to reduce the potential for development of long-term disabilities.

The etiology of infectious corneal ulceration in Sierra Leone.

The microbial etiology of infectious corneal ulceration in Sierra Leone has been investigated. Patients either presenting to district health centers or encountered on rural surveillance expeditions with suspected infectious ulcerative keratitis were recruited into the study. Infectious corneal ulceration was defined as clinical evidence of corneal infection with epithelial defect with or without hypopyon. Cultures were obtained in a standard fashion and subsequent microbial analysis performed on all specimens. Seventy-three (73) cases of suspected infectious ulcerative keratitis were obtained between January 2005 and January 2006. The most commonly isolated organisms from microbial cultures of infected eyes were Gram-negative bacteria (45.2%), Gram-positive bacteria (37.0%), and fungal species (35.6%). Mixed bacterial and fungal organisms were isolated from ten eyes (13.7%) and no organisms were isolated from four eyes (5.5%). There is a high incidence of Gram-negative and fungal ulcerative keratitis in the population studied in Sierra Leone. Empirical therapy for corneal ulceration in this region should be aimed towards treatment of bacterial, fungal, and mixed infections.