The study was conducted to investigate determinants (clinical, nutritional, and nonnutritional factors) of anemia among pregnant women in Kassala, eastern Sudan. Sociodemographic characteristics were gathered; serum ferritin, zinc, albumin, and C-reactive protein were measured using different laboratory methods in a cross-sectional study of 250 pregnant women. Of the 250 women, 58.4% had anemia (hemoglobin (HB) <11 g/dl), 6.8% had severe anemia (HB < 7 g/dl), 19.6% had iron deficiency (S-ferritin <15 µg/l), 14.8% had iron deficiency anemia (<11 g/dl and S-ferritin <15 µg/l), and 38% had zinc deficiency (<80 µg/ml). S-albumin, zinc, and ferritin were significantly lower in patients with severe anemia. While age, gestational age, ferritin, and C-reactive protein were not predictors for anemia, primigravidae (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.1-6.7, P = 0.02), low S-albumin (OR = 5.9, 95% CI = 1.4-25.2, P = 0.01), and low S-zinc (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.0-6.6, P = 0.03) were the predictors for anemia. While there was no significant correlation between hemoglobin, S-zinc, and S-ferritin, there was a significant positive correlation between hemoglobin and S-albumin (r = 0.308, P = 0.001) and significant inverse correlation between hemoglobin and C-reactive protein (r = 0.169, P = 0.007). Thus, the role of chronic inflammation and zinc as possible contributing factors to anemia in pregnancy has important implications for the clinical evaluation and treatment of these women.

Background The Novel Corona virus SARS-CoV-2 emerged to affect the human population in 2019 causing COVID-19 pandemic. The only preventive measures available are social distancing, hand washing and face masks. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the Sudanese people towards COVID-19. Methods An online cross-sectional study targeting adult Sudanese people was conducted in April 2020. The study used a self-administered questionnaire containing 18 knowledge questions, 5 questions for attitude and six questions for practices. Social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp were utilized to disseminate the questionnaire. The total number of eligible questionnaires available for analysis by the end of the period was 987. Results The mean (±SD) age of respondents was 30.13 (±9.84) years with males representing 55.4%. The majority were university and higher education levels (95.2%), residing in Khartoum (71.7%). The mean (±SD) knowledge score of the participants was 15.33 (± 2.24) and was found to be associated with education level and age groups (p-value = 0.022, P value =0.010) respectively. The mean (±SD) attitude score was 04.15 (± 0.97) and was significantly associated with older groups and better-educated participants (p-value =0.001, p-value = 0.048) respectively. The practices related to COVID-19 preventive measures mean (±SD) was 02.58 (± 1.73) with a significant difference between age groups and area of residence. Conclusions This study showed that the participants had good knowledge and satisfactory attitude that was not similarly expressed into practice. Efforts are needed in health education and law enforcement to improve the practices among all groups with special emphasis on younger and less educated males.

No abstract

The efficacy and safety of oral artesunate+sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (AS+SP) (4 mg/kg AS for 3 consecutive days+25 mg sulfadoxine on Day 0) in the treatment of Schistosoma mansoni infections were compared with those of praziquantel (PZQ) (40 mg/kg) among infected schoolchildren (46 in each study arm) in eastern Sudan. The cure rate at 28 days was 58.6% in the AS+SP group and 100% in the PZQ group (P<0.001). While drug-related adverse effects (headache, dizziness, nausea and diarrhoea) were not significantly different between the two groups, significantly more children suffered abdominal pain in the PZQ group than in the AS+SP group (P=0.001). Thus, AS+SP has poor efficacy in the treatment of S. mansoni compared with PZQ.

Anaemia is a widespread problem especially in the tropics. Among adolescent girls, it has negative consequences on growth, school performance, morbidity and reproductive performance. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of anaemia, iron, folate, zinc and copper deficiencies amongst adolescent schoolgirls in New Halfa, eastern Sudan, and to examine the relationship of these micronutrients with haemoglobin (Hb) levels. Out of 187 adolescent schoolgirls, 181 (96.8%) had anaemia (Hb<12 g/dl); 21% had mild anaemia (Hb 11.0-11.9 g/dl); 66.8.1% had moderate anaemia (Hb 8.0-10.9 g/dl), and 12.1% had severe anaemia (Hb<8 g/dl), respectively. Iron deficiency (S-ferritin<12 μg/l), iron deficiency anaemia (<12 m/dl and S- ferritin<12 μg/l) and folate deficiency (S-folate<3 ng/ml) were prevalent in 17.6%, 16.5% and 69% of these girls, respectively. Nine percent and 5.9% of these girls had zinc (<75 μg/ml) and copper deficiency (<75 μg/ml), respectively. Twenty-six (14%) girls had ≥ 2 micronutrient deficiencies. S-ferritin and zinc were significantly lower in patients with severe anaemia. Haemoglobin levels were significantly positively correlated with zinc levels (r=0.161, P=0.03) and with copper levels (r=0.151, P=0.03). Thus, interventions are required to prevent and control anaemia in this setting. Further research is needed.

Sixty-six children presenting to Singa hospital, Sudan with different manifestations of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria were randomly divided into two well-matched groups (33 in each arm) to receive either intravenous artesunate 2·4 mg/kg at 0, 12, and 24 hours, then daily, or intravenous quinine 20mg/kg initially then 10mg/kg three times a day. There was no significant difference in the fever, parasite clearance, and coma resolution times. Three patients died, one in the artesunate and two in the quinine groups. One patient developed hypoglycaemia following quinine infusion. Thus, artesunate can be used for the treatment of severe falciparum malaria.

In an efficacy trial of artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACT) in central Sudan, cases of uncomplicated, Plasmodium falciparum malaria were given artesunate-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (ASP) or artemether-lumefantrine (AL) as first-line treatment. On enrolment, the 71 patients given ASP were similar to the 72 given AL, apart from having generally lower parasitaemias (geometric mean counts of 4893 nu. 10,215 asexual parasites/microl) and having a lower mean age (15 nu. 23 years). Each patient was treated on days 0, 1 and 2, and all 137 who completed follow-up without further, unscheduled treatment were found aparasitaemic and afebrile from day 2 until the last follow-up, on day 28. No moderate or severe adverse side-effects, clinical failures or parasitological failures were observed among these 137 patients. ACT therefore appear both efficacious and safe for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in central Sudan.

Genetic alterations of the proto-oncogene human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER-2/neu) have been shown to induce malignant transformation and metastasis. Genotyping studies have addressed the association of codon 655 isoleucine to valine polymorphism located in the transmembrane coding region and the risk of breast cancer, but the results are inconsistent. In this study, we investigated the association of HER-2/neu Ile655Val polymorphism and the risk of breast cancer in a Sudanese population. In addition, the joint effects of HER-2/neu variants and our previously reported ESR1C325G polymorphism were tested for their association with breast cancer risk. Candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in HER-2/neu Ile655Val [db SNP rs1136200] was genotyped in breast cancer patients and in healthy controls that were randomly selected from the same age group as the patients. Genotyping was performed using a high-throughput allelic discrimination method using real-time PCR, and data on clinical features and demographic details were collected. Associations between genotype and breast cancer were assessed by means of logistic regression. The prevalence of Val/Val genotype was similar in patients of breast cancer and control subjects. In comparison with the Ile/Ile genotype, the Ile/Val had a borderline significantly (P= 0.06) higher risk of breast cancer (OR = 2.95, 95% CI: 0.97-8.96). Regarding the genotypic and allelic frequencies stratified by age and menopausal status, there were no significant associations. A significantly higher risk of breast cancer was observed among homozygous carriers of ESR1325 CC genotype and heterozygous carriers of HER-2/neu655 Ile/Val genotype (P= 0.05; adjusted OR = 4.9, 95% CI: 1.0-24). The association of HER-2/neu Ile655Val polymorphism and the risk of breast cancer was borderline significant with the heterozygous carrier being at higher risk. However, the frequency of different polymorphic variants varies with ethnicity. The results of this study suggest that a significant gene-gene interaction between ESR1325C (previously reported) and HER-2/neu Ile655Val variants may jointly contribute to a higher risk of breast cancer.