BACKGROUND Shigellosis is rare in Taiwan, with an average annual incidence rate of 1.68 cases per 100,000 persons in 2000-2007. However, the incidence rate for a mountainous township in eastern Taiwan, Zhuoxi, is 60.2 times the average rate for the entire country. Traveling between Zhuoxi's 6 villages (V1-V6) is inconvenient. Disease transmission among the villages/tribes with endemic shigellos...

The southern districts of Odisha State in east-central India have been highly endemic for falciparum malaria for many decades. However, there is no adequate information on the abundance of the vector species or their bionomics in relation to space and time in these districts. Therefore, a study was carried out on the entomological aspects of malaria transmission to generate such information. Co...

In this study, the prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection was determined among school-age children living in the Middle and Lower Awash Valley, Afar Regional State of Ethiopia. Between February and May 2014, urine samples were collected from 885 school-age children (5-16 years of age) from the Middle (n = 632; 4 villages) and Lower (n = 253; 3 villages) Awash Valley. All ...

AIM To compare the prevalence of antibiotic resistance found in nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae between villages treated with topical tetracycline or systemic azithromycin as part of a trachoma control programme. METHODS All children aged 1-10 years were offered either single dose oral azithromycin treatment (20 mg/kg) or a course of topical 1% tetracycline ointment, depending on the ...

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by blood flukes (Trematodes) of the genus Schistosoma (S.). It is well documented that schistosomiasis haematobium was endemic in Ancient Egypt. Infection was diagnosed in mummies 3000, 4000 and 5000 years old. Scott was the first to describe the pattern of schistosomiasis infection in Egypt. Schistosomiasis haematobium was highly prevalent (60%) bo...

BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis has reemerged in China, threatening schistosomiasis elimination efforts. Surveillance methods that can identify locations where schistosomiasis has reemerged are needed to prevent the further spread of infections. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We tested humans, cows, water buffalo and the intermediate host snail, Oncomelania hupensis, for Schistosoma japonicum infe...

BACKGROUND Gambian infants frequently acquire Streptococcus pneumoniae soon after birth. We investigated the indirect effect of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) on pneumococcal acquisition in newborn Gambian babies. METHODS Twenty-one villages were randomised to receive PCV-7 to all subjects (11 vaccinated villages) or to infants aged 2-30 months (10 control villages). Other co...

We conducted a survey of schistosomiasis among schoolchildren in 2 villages in Southern Sudan. In Lui (West Equatoria region), prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni infection was 51.5%; no cases of S. hematobium infection were detected. In Nyal (Upper Nile region), prevalence of S. hematobium infection was 73% and S. mansoni infection, 70%.

In Office du Niger, an area endemic for both Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni in Mali, circulating anodic (CAA) and cathodic (CCA) antigen detection assays were performed on pretreatment serum and urine samples from two villages, Rigandé and Siguivoucé, and compared with egg counting methods. The highest prevalence was obtained with the urine-CCA assay which also had the highest sensitivi...