Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. In the last decade traditional medicine has become very popular in Cameroon, partly due to the long unsustainable economic situation in the country. The high cost of drugs and increase in drug resistance to common diseases like malaria, bacteria infections and other sexually transmitted diseases has caused the therapeutic approach to alternative traditional medicine as an option for concerted search for new chemical entities (NCE). The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Cameroon Government has put in place a strategic platform for the practice and development of TM in Cameroon. This platform aims at harmonizing the traditional medicine practice in the country, create a synergy between TM and modern medicine and to institutionalize a more harmonized integrated TM practices by the year 2012 in Cameroon. An overview of the practice of TM past, present and future perspectives that underpins the role in sustainable poverty alleviation has been discussed. This study gives an insight into the strategic plan and road map set up by the Government of Cameroon for the organisational framework and research platform for the practice and development of TM, and the global partnership involving the management of TM in the country.
Background HIV status has commonly been found to affect the serum lipid profile. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the effect of HIV infection on lipid metabolism; such information may be used to improve the management of HIV‐infected patients. Methods Samples were collected from December 2005 to May 2006 at Yaounde University Teaching Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon. Lipid parameters were obtained using colorimetric enzyme assays, while low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) values were calculated using the formula of Friedewald et al. (1972) and atherogenicity index by total cholesterol (TC)/high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and LDLC/HDLC ratios. Results HIV infection was most prevalent in subjects aged 31 to 49 years. Most of the HIV‐positive patients belonged to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categories B (43.0%) and C (30.23%). Compared with control subjects, patients with CD4 counts<50 cells/μL had significantly lower TC (P<0.0001) and LDLC (P<0.0001) but significantly higher triglyceride (TG) values (P<0.001) and a higher atherogenicity index for TC/HDLC (P<0.01) and HDLC/LDLC (P=0.02); patients with CD4 counts of 50–199 cells/μL had significantly lower TC (P<0.001) and significantly higher TG values (P<0.001); patients with CD4 counts of 200–350 cells/μL had significantly higher TG (P=0.003) and a higher atherogenicity index for TC/HDLC (P<0.0002) and HDLC/LDLC (P=0.04); and those with CD4 counts >350 cells/μL had a higher atherogenicity index for TC/HDLC (P<0.0001) and HDLC/LDLC (P<0.001). HDLC was significantly lower in HIV‐positive patients irrespective of the CD4 cell count. Lipid parameters were also influenced by the presence of opportunistic infections (OIs). Conclusion HIV infection is associated with dyslipidaemia, and becomes increasingly debilitating as immunodeficiency progresses. HDLC was found to be lower than in controls in the early stages of HIV infection, while TG and the atherogenicity index increased and TC and LDLC decreased in the advanced stages of immunodeficiency.
A valid scientific evaluation of the efficacy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccines or antiretroviral drugs (ARV) includes measurement of changes in physiological parameters of subjects from known established baseline reference ranges. This study was designed to establish reference ranges for biochemical parameters among healthy adult Cameroonians to support planned HIV vaccine clinical trials and scaling up of ARV among AIDS patients. After informed consent, blood and urine samples were collected from a total of 576 adult Cameroonians and analyzed for the presence of underlying pathologies that may affect biochemical parameters. Samples from 501 of them were found eligible for the determination of reference biochemical parameters. After complete assay, the data were subjected to both parametric and non parametric statistics for analyses, with 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles considered as the lower and upper limits of reference ranges. There were 331 (66.1%) males and 170 (33.9%) females, with 359 (71.7%) and 142 (28.3%) of them residing in the urban and rural areas respectively. The ranges for biochemical parameters got were: SGOT: 8.7 -40.7 IU/l ; SGPT: 5.2 -29.1 IU/l ; Alkaline Phosphatase: 52.6 -251.1 IU/l; Creatinine: 0.2 -2.2 mg/dl; Total Protein : 46.9 -107.4 g/l; Albumin : 30.1 -65.2 g/l; Triglyceride : 0.1 -3.5 g/l; HDL Cholesterol : 54.5 -172.0 mg/dl; LDL Cholesterol: 12 -190 mg/dl; Total Cholesterol 0.9 -3.2 g/l; Total Bilirubin: 0.4 -3.3 mg/dl; and Direct Bilirubin : 0.1 -1.2 mg/dl. These ranges are compared to ranges presently used in various clinical laboratories in Cameroon.
Little has been published on the long-term complications of Gambian sleeping sickness (GSS) following treatment. A case-control study to compare physical growth, sexual maturity and academic performance of children with and without a past history of GSS was therefore conducted. The study took place over a period of 6 months, in the 10 villages of the Fontem GSS focus, which is known to be very endemic for the disease. Overall, 100 young subjects (aged 6-20 years) with a past history of GSS were pair-matched for age (+/- 5 months), sex, place of residence, and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds with 100 other, control subjects who had no history of GSS and who were sero-negative for GSS when checked with a card agglutination test (Testryp-CATT). On average, the cases weighed 4.25 kg less, were 3 cm shorter and had 1.15-cm smaller mid-upper-arm circumferences than the controls (P < 0.05 for each). The mean sexual-maturity rating of the two groups was similar but the controls tended to have attained puberty earlier than the cases. When the cases were subdivided into those treated with melarsoprol and those given pentamidine, only the melarsoprol-treated sub-group was significantly different from the corresponding controls in terms of physical growth and sexual maturity.
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