Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a serious cause of liver disease affecting millions of people throughout the world. When HBV is acquired during pregnancy, prenatal transmission can occur to the fetus. Therefore, this study is aimed at estimating seroprevalence and associated factors of HBV infection among pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinic (ANC) of Arba Minch Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted on 232 pregnant women visiting ANC from February to April, 2015. Data regarding sociodemographic and associated factors were gathered using questionnaire. Serum samples were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. The overall seroprevalence of HBV infection was 4.3% (95% CI: 2.2–6.9%). Multivariate analysis showed that history of abortion (AOR = 7.775; 95% CI: 1.538–39.301) and having multiple sexual partners (AOR = 7.189; 95% CI: 1.039–49.755) were independent predictors of HBsAg seropositivity. In conclusion, the prevalence of HBV infection is intermediate. Therefore, screening HBV infection should be routine part of ANC; health information on having single sexual partner for women of childbearing age and on following aseptic techniques during abortion should be provided to health facilities working on abortion.

Background: There is limited information regarding tuberculosis (TB) in prisons in Ethiopia. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in prisons and assess associated risk factors among inmates suspected for pulmonary tuberculosis in Gamo Goffa Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A crosssectional study design was used to recruit 124 inmates in Gamo Goffa Zone, Southern Ethiopia, between November 1 and March 3, 2011. During the study period there were a total of 3817 prisoners in the three prisons of the study Zone. Inmates were eligible for the study if they had cough for more than or equal to two weeks during the study period. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis. Sputum samples were collected from suspected inmates and examined using sputum smear microscopy and culture on Lowenstein-Jensen media. Results: The prevalence of pulmonary TB among inmates who had cough for at least 2-weeks was 19.4% (24/124). Extrapolation of the finding implies that there were 629 pulmonary tuberculosis cases during the survey period per 100,000 prisoners. Smoking, previous history of treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis, poor ventilation of the cell, cough for more than four weeks before diagnosis and decreased body mass index were significantly associated with increased odds of being positive for pulmonary tuberculosis. Conclusion: The estimated prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis was about 8 folds higher than its counterpart in the community which was in line with the findings of previous studies in Ethiopia. This implies the need for tuberculosis control measures to be targeted on factors driving tuberculosis in southern Ethiopia: improving ventilation status of cells in prisons, monitoring nutritional status of prisoners and restricting access to smoking.

Mass drug administration (MDA) to the most risky population including school-age children (SAC) is the central strategy to control soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection. The present study was aimed at estimating the prevalence of STHs reinfection three months posttreatment and associated risk factors among SAC in Chencha district. A cross-sectional study design was employed from April 20 to May 5, 2015, to enroll 408 SAC. Structured questionnaire and Kato-Katz thick smear technique were used to interview parents or guardians and quantify the number of eggs per gram of stool. Pearson chi-square and logistic regression were used to assess the association between predictor variable and STH reinfection. The prevalence of STHs within three months of mass chemotherapy among SAC was 36.8% which is 93.4% of the prevalence (39.4%) before treatment. The estimated prevalence of reinfection (95%CI) for Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworms was 23.8% (21.1–28.2), 16.2% (12.7–20.1), and 1.0% (0.3–2.5), respectively. Children of merchant fathers were more likely to be reinfected by STHs in Chencha district. In conclusion, there is rapid reinfection after mass chemotherapy among SAC in Chencha district. Further studies should be carried out to generate cost efficient methods that can supplement mass drug administration to accelerate the control of STHs.

Introduction Prenatal anxiety and depression are major health problems all over the world. The negative sequela of prenatal comorbid anxiety and depression (CAD) has been suggested to be higher than that of anxiety or depression alone. CAD increases the odds of preterm birth, low birth weight, prolonged labor, operative deliveries, postpartum psychiatric disorders and long term cognitive impairment for the newborn. Despite its significant ill consequences, there is a dearth of studies in low-and middle-income countries. So far, to the best of our knowledge, no study assessed the prevalence of CAD in Ethiopia. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess CAD and associated factors among pregnant women in Arba Minch Zuria district, Gamo zone, southern Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 676 pregnant women from January 01 to November 30, 2019. Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scales were used to assess depression and anxiety respectively. The data were collected electronically using an open data kit (ODK) collect android application and analyzed using Stata version 15.0. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were carried out to identify factors associated with CAD using binary logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05. Results A total of 667 women were involved. The prevalence of CAD was 10.04% [95% confidence interval (CI): 7.76, 12.33]. Being married [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.16, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.56], categorized in the highest wealth quintile [AOR: 2.83, 95% CI: 1.17, 6.84], having medical illness [AOR: 3.56, 95% CI: 1.68, 7.54], encountering pregnancy danger signs [AOR: 2.66, 95% CI: 1.06, 6.67], experiencing life-threatening events [AOR: 2.11, 95% CI: 1.15, 3.92] and household food insecurity [AOR: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.85, 6.64] were significantly associated with CAD. Conclusions In general, one in every ten women faced CAD in the study area. Nutritional interventions, early identification and treatment of pregnancy-related illness and medical ailments, prenatal mental health problems screening and interventions are imperative to minimize the risk of CAD in pregnant women.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a ubiquitous, coccidian intracellular protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. T. gondii infection acquired during pregnancy may result in severe damage or death of the fetus and long-term sequelae in offspring. So far, no documented data concerning the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection among pregnant women is available in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining of T. gondii sero-prevalence and associated factors among pregnant women attending in ante natal clinic (ANC) of Arba Minch hospital, southern Ethiopia.

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Background Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections remain the most common neglected tropical diseases among children living mainly in low-resource settings. Preventive chemotherapy (PC) has been implemented as one of the main public health interventions to control and eliminate STH infections. Although data on routine coverage of PC against STH are available at different level of the health system; these data are unreliable as they are subject to errors and manipulation and evidence is lacking on validated treatment coverage. Thus, this study aimed to determine anthelminthic coverage among school age children (SAC) to inform decision made in PC program implementation. Methods We conducted a community-based cross-sectional coverage survey in ten districts of Ethiopia; in April 2019. Sample size was computed automatically using Coverage Survey Builder (CSB) tool in Microsoft excel. Thirty segments were randomly selected per each selected districts. Collected data were cleaned and analysed using SPSS software (IBM, version 25).

Preventive chemotherapy (PC), the main strategy recommended by the World Health Organization to eliminate soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and schistosomiasis (SCH), should be strengthened through identification of the remaining SCH transmission foci and evaluating its impact to get a lesson. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of STH/SCH infections, the intensity of infections, and factors associated with STH infection among school-aged children (SAC) in Uba Debretsehay and Dara Mallo districts (previously not known to be endemic for SCH) in southern Ethiopia, October to December 2019. Structured interview questionnaire was used to collect household data, anthropometric measurements were taken and stool samples collected from 2079 children were diagnosed using the Kato-Katz technique. Generalize mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to assess the association of STH infections with potential predictors. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni in the Dara Mallo district was 34.3% (95%CI 30.9–37.9%). Light, moderate, and heavy S. mansoni infections were 15.2%, 10.9%, and 8.2% respectively. The overall prevalence of any STH infection was 33.2% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 31.1–35.3%. The intensity of infections was light (20.9%, 11.3% & 5.3%), moderate (1.1%, 0.1% & 0.4%) and heavy (0.3%, 0% & 0%) for hookworm, whipworm and roundworms respectively. The overall moderate-to-heavy intensity of infection among the total diagnosed children was 2% (41/2079). STH infection was higher among male SAC with Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) of 1.7 (95%CI 1.4–2.1); occupation of the household head other than farmer or housewife (AOR = 0.5; 95%CI 0.3–0.8), middle [AOR = 1.1; 95%CI 1.0–1.3] or high [AOR = 0.7; 95%CI 0.5–0.9] socioeconomic status. Dara Mallo district was moderate endemic for S. mansoni; and it needs sub-district level mapping and initiating a deworming campaign. Both districts remained moderate endemic for STH. Evidence-based strategies supplementing existing interventions with the main focus of the identified factors is important to realize the set targets.