BACKGROUND To present and compare population-based and antenatal-care (ANC) sentinel surveillance HIV prevalence estimates among women in a rural South African population where both provision of ANC services and family planning is prevalent and fertility is declining. With a need, in such settings, to understand how to appropriately adjust ANC sentinel surveillance estimates to represent HIV pr...

Background: We conducted a retrospective literature review of all the data published on Helicobacter pylori in Africa in order to test whether the prevalence of diseases associated with this organism differs from that in developed nations. Methods: Both sero-epidemiological (n = 8) as well as prospective endoscopic studies in subjects with either dyspepsia or epigastric pain (n = 23) and one re...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of HIV/AIDS and HBsAg sero-positivity is very high in sub-Saharan African. There is a risk of horizontal transmission of these diseases amongst ophthalmic patients. AIM To determine the proportion patients for eye surgery who are HIV/AIDS and HBsAg sero-positive at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, Nigeria. METHODS Patients selected for eye surgery during a surgical...

PURPOSE Knowledge of the long-term clinical outcome of Raynaud's syndrome (RS), essential both for patient counselling and formulation of optimal therapeutic recommendations, is conspicuously deficient in current medical literature. We have prospectively monitored 1039 patients with RS, 118 (11.4%) for more than 10 years to determine whether initial characterization was able to predict outcome....

BACKGROUND Prisoners are at high risk of blood borne and sexually transmitted infections due to their high involvement in risky behaviors. In this descriptive/cross-sectional study, the prevalence, sero-prevalence, and risk factors for bloodborne tumor viruses including HTLV-I, HBV, HCV, and KSHV were evaluated among inmates of two central prisons in the northeast of Iran. METHODS Blood sampl...

Background: Hepatitis C virus is now widely recognized as one of the common etiological agents for cirrhosis of liver. The prevention and control of HCV infection shows complexity and challenge in describing geographic distribution of HCV infection and determining its associated risk factors. This study aims to provide a data on the demographic characteristics that determine the risk for HCV in...