Abstract. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Ethiopia and the Amhara region. Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and health-seeking practice in this region is essential to plan, implement, and evaluate advocacy, communication, and social mobilization work. This may improve the case detection rate. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of patients toward TB in the Eastern Amhara region of Ethiopia. A crosssectional survey was conducted among suspected and confirmed TB patients who were 18 years of age and older. For this purpose, 422 participants were enrolled. A structured and pre-validated questionnaire was used to collect data. In addition χ 2 and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to see an association with different variables. The mean and median knowledge score of respondents about pulmonary TB was 6.81 and 7, respectively. The majority of respondents had several misconceptions in all aspects of the most infectious form of TB. About half of the respondents did not know the current free cost of TB diagnosis and treatment. The 69.9% of respondents claimed that cost is the main reason for not getting care. The majority of respondents had several misconceptions about TB. The TB control program needs to consider advocacy, communication, and social mobilization for addressing the gap in the study sites. BACKGROUND

Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess treatment outcome and associated risk factors among TB patients registered for anti-TB treatment at Enfraz health center, northwest Ethiopia. Methods. A five-year retrospective data (2007–2011) of tuberculosis patients (n = 417) registered for anti-TB treatment at Enfraz health center, northwest Ethiopia, were reviewed. Tuberculosis outcomes were following the WHO guidelines. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results. Among 417 study participants, 95 (22.8%), 141 (33.8%), and 181 (43.4%) were smear-positive, smear-negative, and extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients, respectively. Of the 417 study participants, 206 (49.4%) were tested for HIV. The TB-HIV coinfection was 24/206 (11.7%). Seventeen study participants (4.2%) were transferred to other health facilities. Among the 400 study participants, 379 (94.8%) had successful treatment outcome (302 treatment completed and 77 cured). The overall death, default, and failure rates were 3.4%, 0.5%, and 1.2%, respectively. There was no significant association between sex, age, residence, type of TB, HIV status, and successful TB treatment outcome. Conclusion. Treatment outcome of patients who attended their anti-TB treatment at Enfraz health center was successful. Therefore, this treatment success rate should be maintained and strengthened to achieve the millennium development goal.

BackgroundAlthough the demand for blood supply has progressively increased in developing countries, evidences indicate that there is a major shortage of blood and blood products in these countries, particularly in Ethiopia. Thus, identifying motivational factors affecting blood donation and recruitment of safe and low risk donors is necessary. For this reason, the study aimed at assessing knowledge, attitude, and practice towards blood donation and its associated factors.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Debre Markos town from February to April, 2015. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to recruit a total of 845 study participants. Interviewer administered questionnaire was employed as a data collection tool. Binary logistic regression was applied to assess the relationship between explanatory variables and outcome variables.ResultsIn this study, 436 (56.5 %) and 403 (52.2 %) were found to be knowledgeable and having favorable attitude, respectively, while the other 124 (16.1 %) reported to have the practice of blood donation. Younger age group, male sex, those who attended formal education and radio listener were significantly associated with the knowledge of blood donation. Attending secondary and above education, having higher income, listening to radio broadcasts, and knowledge of blood donation were found to be the independent predictors of attitude. The practice of blood donation was higher among respondents who were older, attended certificate and above education, knowledgeable, and favorable attitude groups.ConclusionThe prevalence of knowledge and practice of blood donation is found to be higher compared to similar study conducted in Mekelle, whereas the level of attitude is found to be lower. The finding of this study also justified any possible interventions on the independent predictors. There should be a regularly scheduled awareness creation and voluntary blood donation campaigns organized at the community level to utilize potential blood donors.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Amhara region, Ethiopia where the TB case detection rate is low (22%). This situation has been worsened by the emergence and spread of drug resistance strains which have been threatening efforts of TB control.Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of drug resistance patterns of M. tuberculosis in Eastern Amhara region, Ethiopia. Methods:A facility based cross sectional study was conducted among 230 (165 new and 65 retreated) smear positive TB patients (age ≥18 years old) from September 2010 to June 2011. Socio-demographic data of the study participants and possible factors for development of drug resistance were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaire. Smear positive sputum samples were processed and decontaminated by the modified Petrof method. Primary isolation and drug susceptibility testing (DST) were carried out on egg based Lowenstein -Jensen media (LJ). Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Multivariate analysis using the logistic regression model was computed. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results:The overall prevalence of drug resistance to at least a single drug was 77/230(33.5%). The prevalence of MDR-TB in all, new and re-treated patients was 15/230(6.5%), 3/165(1.8%) and 12/65 (18.5%), respectively. In the multivariate analysis previous exposure to anti-TB drugs and 1+ bacterial load were significantly associated with anti TB drug resistance (P<0.05). Conclusion:A high rate of drug resistance for main anti-tuberculosis drugs was observed on new and previously treated cases. Previous exposure to anti-TB drugs and bacterial load were important determinants of development of drug resistance. So, patient's adherence to anti-TB drugs (especially re-treated cases) and scaling up of DST service at district hospital level will help to reduce the development of drug resistance in the study area.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are major public health problems, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. So, updated information on TB-HIV co-infection might be important for the planning, resource allocation, prevention and control activities. Objective: To determine the TB-HIV co-infection and possible associated factors among patients attended TB clinic in five years (2008-2013) at a referral Hospital in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among 717 TB patients who are registered at DOTs clinic of Debre Markos referral hospital. Socio-demographic and clinical data of the study participants were collected from the TB log from the DOTS clinic. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Results: The prevalence of TB-HIV co-infection was 44% (321/717). The trend of co-infection was decreased from 2008/9 179 (49.2%) to 2012/13 29 (44.6%). Types of TB and age group were significantly associated with TB-HIV co-infection. Conclusion: The prevalence of TB-HIV co-infection was high. Therefore, actions targeting (health education and early case detection) on those predictors are necessary to effectively reduce TB-HIV co-infection and strengthen the collaborative activities. J o ur nal o f A ID S & Cli n ic a l R es earc h

No abstract

No abstract

Background T cell activation (HLA-DR, CD-38), proliferation (KI-67), and functional (IFN-γ, TNF-α) markers have recently been shown to be useful in predicting and monitoring anti-TB responses in smear positive TB, but previous research did not characterize the activation and proliferation profiles after therapy of smear negative TB. Methodology In this study, we used polychromatic flow cytometry to assess selected PPD-specific T cell markers using fresh PBMC of smear negative and positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients, recruited from health facilities in Addis Ababa. Result Levels of activation (HLA-DR, CD38) and proliferation (Ki-67) among total unstimulated CD4 T cells decreased significantly after therapy, particularly at month 6. Similarly, levels of PPD-specific T cell activation markers (HLA-DR, CD-38) were significantly lower in smear positive PTB patients following treatment, whereas a consistent decline in these markers was less apparent among smear negative PTB patients at the sixth month. Conclusion After six months of standard anti-TB therapy, persistent levels of activation of HLA-DR and CD-38 from PPD specific CD4+T cells in this study could indicate that those markers have little value in monitoring and predicting anti-TB treatment response in smear negative pulmonary TB patients in Ethiopian context.