Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine

7-12

Authors: DV Dapper, IM Siminialayi， OO Ebong

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf) is a popular alternative to western medicines for a number of conditions, including fevers, muscle soreness and superficial infections in Nigeria.In addition to its already reported suppressive effects against P. berghei infection, this study sought to determine its repository and blood schizonticidal activities in established P. berghei infection using Swiss albino mice as models. Mice weighing on average, between 15 and 25g were given 103mg/kg, 155mg/kg and 310mg/kg/day of the crude aqueous extract of cymbopogon citratus stapf, in the 4－day test, 24－hour Rane test and 72－hour Rane test. The effects of these doses of the extract were then compared with chloroquine (5mg/kg/day) and sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (3mg/kg/day). We report an average percentage suppressive repository activity of 65.8% for the extract at a dose of 310mg/kg and a blood schizonticidal activity that increased from 68.33% in the 24－hour Rane test to 92% in the 72－hour Rane test for the same dose of extract. The crude aqueous extract of C. citratus stapf thus has significant repository and blood schizonticidal activities against established P. berghei infection in Swiss albino mice compare to that of pyrimethamine and sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine respectively.

20-24

Authors: Mariana A, Srinovianti N, Ho TM, Halimaton I1, Hatikah A, Shaharudin MH, Rosmaliza I, Wan Ishlah L, Sathananthar KS

Ticks were extracted from ear canal of 318 cases in Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang over a 5－year period (January 2002 to December 2006). A total of 329 ticks were recorded and a majority belonged to the genus Dermacentor (99.7%). The genus was represented by Dermacentor atrosignatus, Dermacentor compactus and Dermacentor steini. A single tick of the genus Haemaphysalis was found. All active stages (larvae, nymphs and adults) were present. The nymphal stages were most frequently encountered (82.4%). Usually, there was only one tick per case. However, there were 7 cases where 2 or 3 ticks were extracted from a single ear canal. Throughout the study, there were 6 repeat cases. Average body engorgement indices for detached larvae, nymph, male and female ticks were 1.04, 1.24, 1.32 and 1.31, respectively. Based on these indices, duration of attachment was then predicted. Attachment for most nymphal (99.6%) and all adult ticks were less than 24 hours. Only 1 nymphal tick attached for a 60 hours' duration. Ticks were commonly found in the bony part of ear auditory canal (47.3%), followed by tympanic membrane (29.1%) and cartilage part of ear auditory canal (22.0%); a small percent was attached to the pinna (1.6 %). All ticks were alive before extraction. However, most attached ticks were found dead (71.7%) after extraction. Majority of the ticks were intact (90.3%) while others were either in a bad condition (3.6%) or broken (6.1%). Those alive were either unfed or at early stage of feeding. Generally, removal of ticks did not result in any complication (61.4%) to the cases. The most common complication was bleeding (27.6%), followed by haematoma of external auditory canal (5.5%), haematoma of tympanic membrane (3.1%) and perforated tympanic membrane (1.6%). Bleeding was a common complication at the site of skin abrasion due to the strong grip of ticks' mouthparts that were deeply embedded into the skin of cases. In this study, 32.5% of removal ticks had remnants of case tissues attached to the ticks' mouthparts.

30-35

Authors: Arun Kumar，Sivakanesan Ramiah

Nutritional status of a population or an individual could be assessed by clinical, biochemical and anthropometric means. It is widely used in the monitoring of growth and assessment of the nutritional status of children and adults. Even though a large number of anthropometric studies is done in Nepal and Sri Lanka, on various projects related to the nutritional aspects, but only few have been done on anthropometry and due to lack of information on anthropometric data of Nepalese and Sri Lankan medical students, the present study was initiated at Nepal Medical college and Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.The aim of the study was to measure height and weight of medical students of Nepal Medical College and Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. A total of 1228 (males 681;females 547) medical students participated in the study. The ratio of male to female was 1.24:1. The height was measured, to the nearest 0.1 cm without shoes, using a measuring tape affixed to the wall. The weight was recorded using weighing scale, with minimum clothes and without shoes to the nearest 0.1kg.Two tail unpaired 't' test was performed to compare mean values. The percentile values were obtained using Microsoft excel for Windows 98. The age of the students varied from 18－26 years with a mean ± SD of 20.77 ± 1.17 and 20.90 ± 1.10 in males and females respectively. The heights of the male and female medical students were1.65±0.08 and 1.61±0.08 and the weight was 59.70±9.26 and 55.54±9.16 respectively. The percentile values obtained for height and weight were compared with National Centre for Health statistics (NCHS) standards. The 50th percentile value of male's height and weight corresponded to the 20th percentile and below the 20th percentile values respectively of the NCHS standard. The 50th percentile value of female's height and weight corresponded to less than 10th and 15th percentiles respectively. The height and weight of only 9 males and 8 females were above the 50th percentile value of NCHS standards. The study reveals that the Nepalese medical students and Sri Lankan medical students are underweight and shorter compared to western standards.

42-47

Authors: Atiregun AA, Oluwatoba OA

Despite a substantial reduction in the incidence and prevalence of parasitic diseases in the industrialized world, they continue to be an important public health problem in many developing African countries, including Nigeria. However, estimates of the prevalence of such infections among school age children, who bear the greatest health burden due to these diseases, are hard to come by. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence and type of intestinal helminth infections among primary school pupils. The study was cross－sectional in design. The participants included 266 pupils recruited from three government primary schools in the Mokola area of Ibadan, Nigeria. The pupils were interviewed and their stool samples examined for eggs of common helminths. The mean age of the pupils was 9.8±2.6 years, and 128 (48.1%) were males. Nineteen pupils (7.1%) had intestinal helminth infestations. Ascaris lumbricoides was found in 17 pupils (6.4%) and was the most prevalent helminth among the children, while Trichuris trichiura was found in only two subjects (0.8%). Previous infestations and the use of public toilets were found to be significantly associated with current infections (P<0.05).This study demonstrated that the prevalence of intestinal infections was low among the pupils studied, and that Ascaris infection was the commonest infestation.

55-59

Authors: Abdelaaty A. Shahat, Hanaa H. Ahmed, Rasmeia A. Hassan, Ahmed A. Hussein

Besides (－)－epicatechin, epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin (procyanidin B2), epicatechin－(4β－6)－epicatechin (procyanidin B5), epicatechin－(4β－8, 2β－O－7)－epicatechin (proanthocyanidin A2) and epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin (procyanidin C1), which were isolated before from Adansonia digitata, in this work an A－type proanthocyanidin trimer, i.e. epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin－(4β－8, 2β－O－7)－epicatechin, tetrameric procyanidin D1, i.e. epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin－(4β－8)－epicatechin and a polymeric compound were isolated from the pericarp (fruit wall) of the fruits for the first time from this plant . The antioxidant activity of different fractions and pure compounds was experimentally evaluated in the DPPH- assay. The ethyl acetate fraction, and most of the isolated compounds displayed a high activity (IC50 2.40－9.60 μg/ml) compared with the reference antioxidant Trolox (IC50 12.18 μg/ml) as a standard.

65-68

Authors: Stephen Onwere, Obioha Okoro, Bright Chigbu, Chuks Kamanu, Christian Aluka, Paul Feyi-Waboso

Despite continuing advances in scientific knowledge about treatments to prevent mother－to－child (MTCT) of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV), there is a paucity of data on pregnant women's knowledge of treatments to prevent MTCT of HIV in Aba, South Eastern Nigeria. We investigated pregnant women's knowledge of the availability of treatments to prevent MTCT of HIV in the low resourced setting of Aba town in South Eastern Nigeria.A descriptive study involving 100 consecutive and consenting patients at the antenatal clinic of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, South Eastern Nigeria over the period 1st November, 2007 to 30th November, 2007. Using a structured questionnaire, the respondents' sociodemographic data were obtained as well as their knowledge of the availability of treatments to prevent mother to child HIV transmission in pregnant women and self－reported data on their having ever tested for HIV.Knowledge regarding availability of treatment to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV was good as 95% of the respondents were aware that such treatment was available. Knowledge that treatment is available to help someone infected by HIV to live longer was also good as 96% of the respondents were aware of the availability of such treatment. Seventy one percent of the respondents had ever tested for HIV.The levels of knowledge regarding the availability of treatment to prevent mother to child HIV transmission and to help someone infected with HIV are good. Thus, utilization of anti－retroviral prophylaxis amongst HIV infected pregnant women in this community would be expected to be high if the drugs were available. This will reduce the impact of HIV, especially in children.

72-78

Authors: Ibtihal Fadhil, Batool Hasan G. Baqer, Fatima Faisal Al Hlwachi, Eman Ahmed Dashti, Nawara Essam Behzad Amina A.Jabbar A.Karim, Samara Al Reefy

The study was conducted to assess the women's knowledge and attitude towards cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening, to support the health education programs in this field.A total sample of 350 women (n=350), 70 women from each health center was chosen based on a multistage sampling technique according to a number of 21 health centers that serve the population. One health center from each government was selected based on the population it serves, thus the health center with the highest population number was chosen. The main tool of data collection was a face to face interview questionnaire. When assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of our sample, we observed that approximately equal percentages (70%) of women have heard of both Pap smear and cervical cancer. Only 47.4 % had ever had Pap smear and of those 35.1 % had it during a period of 5 years or less. The main source of knowledge for those who have done the procedure is the family physician (30.8%). When asked about the reason behind having a Pap smear, the majority (62.3 %) had it during postnatal visits. Nevertheless, those that didn't have it, almost half (46.6%) disapproved to do so because they are healthy even after being told that Pap smear is a painless significant procedure.In conclusion, majority of respondents have a good knowledge about cervical cancer but is not reflected in their practice. The results strongly recommend continued health education for the women which can be achieved through the introduction of this topic into the schools' curriculum and planning educational programs within antenatal and postnatal visits.