High human papillomavirus prevalence among females attending high school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mbulawa ZZA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8213156 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:There is a high prevalence of Taenia solium taeniosis/cysticercosis in humans and pigs in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) of South Africa. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors of porcine cysticercosis in select districts of the ECP. Data were collected in 2003 by interviewing 217 pig producers from the area. Blood samples were collected from 261 of their pigs, which were tested using two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for the presence of antibodies to cysticercosis. Frequencies of both owner- and pig-level characteristics were determined. For pig-level analysis, all bivariable and multivariable associations were determined using the surveylogistic procedure of the SAS/STAT® software to accommodate for the intraclass correlation that exists for clusters of pigs within one owner and for clusters of owners within a district. All tests for significance were performed at the α = 0.05 level, and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were determined. Among the respondents, 48% of their households lacked a latrine, 98% slaughtered pigs at home, and 99% indicated that meat inspection services were not available. On bivariable analysis, there was a significant association between porcine infection and district (p = 0.003), breed (p = 0.041) and the absence of a latrine (p = 0.006). On multivariable analysis, the absence of a latrine was the only variable significantly associated with porcine infection (aOR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.07, 3.35) (p = 0.028). The increased odds of porcine infection with households lacking a latrine contributes to our understanding of the transmission of this parasite in the ECP. Determining and addressing the risk factors for T. solium infection can potentially lower the very high prevalence in humans and pigs in this endemic area.
| S-EPMC3359999 | biostudies-other
Project description:Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on vaginal self-collected and cervical clinician-collected specimens shows comparable performance. Self-sampling on FTA cards is suitable for women residing in rural settings or not attending regular screening and increases participation rate in the cervical cancer screening programme. We aimed to investigate and compare high-risk (HR)-HPV prevalence in clinician-collected and self-collected genital specimens as well as two different HPV tests on the clinician collected samples. A total of 737 women were recruited from two sites, a community health clinic (n = 413) and a referral clinic (n = 324) in the Eastern Cape Province. Cervical clinician-collected (FTA cards and Digene transport medium) and vaginal self-collected specimens were tested for HR-HPV using the hpVIR assay (FTA cards) and Hybrid Capture-2 (Digene transport medium). There was no significant difference in HR-HPV positivity between clinician-collected and self-collected specimens among women from the community-based clinic (26.4% vs 27.9%, p = 0.601) or the referral clinic (83.6% vs 79.9%, p = 0.222). HPV16, HPV35, and HPV33/52/58 group were the most frequently detected genotypes at both study sites. Self-sampling for HPV testing received a high positive response of acceptance (77.2% in the community-based clinic and 83.0% in referral clinic). The overall agreement between hpVIR assay and HC-2 was 87.7% (k = 0.754). The study found good agreement between clinician-collected and self-collected genital specimens. Self-collection can have a positive impact on a cervical screening program in South Africa by increasing coverage of women in rural areas, in particular those unable to visit the clinics and women attending clinics where cytology-based programs are not functioning effectively.
| S-EPMC7654756 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Water scarcity remains a major threat to most rural areas in Africa due to heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture. This prompts the need to document and understand the determinants of traditional knowledge of water conservation practices. Our aim here is to document and identify the determinants of people's knowledge of traditional knowledge of water conservation in the South Africa's Eastern Cape province. A mixed research method was used. Purposive approach was used to collect data, i.e., elderly people were targeted during the face-to-face pre-COVID-19 pandemic interviews on the basis that traditional knowledge increases with age. However, people of different age groups were also included in the study especially when we employed only online questionnaire during the pandemic. We used questionnaire to collect all the data, and 93 people responded in total to our questions. We documented 10 traditional water conservation technologies. We identified rainfall variation, water quality issues, and increased water demand as the major challenges linked to these technologies, while easy access and the amount of water harvested are reported as benefits of these technologies. We found that traditional knowledge is not influenced by age (β = -0.006 ± 0.01, P = 0.64) or gender (β = -0.16 ± 0.25, P = 0.64) but rather correlates positively with geographic location, irrespective of the starting point of the distance measurement (distance from Port Elizabeth city: β = 0.002 ± 0.0008, P = 0.004; distance from Ngqushwa village: β = 0.0024 ± 0.0009, P = 0.008). Counterintuitively, formally educated people tend to have more traditional knowledge, but this is likely linked to the modern technologies (online survey and social media platforms) used to collect data during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that traditional knowledge that has sustained life for centuries in rural communities must be integrated into water resource management to address water scarcity issues in rural Africa.
| S-EPMC9035209 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Traditional ecological knowledge among indigenous communities plays an important role in retaining cultural identity and achieving sustainable natural resource management. Hundreds of millions of people mostly in developing countries derive a substantial part of their subsistence and income from plant resources. The aim of this study was to assess useful plant species diversity, plant use categories and local knowledge of both wild and cultivated useful species in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.The study was conducted in six villages in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa between June 2014 and March 2017. Data on socio-economic characteristics of the participants, useful plants harvested from the wild, managed in home gardens were documented by means of questionnaires, observation and guided field walks with 138 participants.A total of 125 plant species belonging to 54 genera were recorded from the study area. More than half of the species (59.2%) are from 13 families, Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Araliaceae, Asparagaceae, Asphodelaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae and Solanaceae. More than a third of the useful plants (37.6%) documented in this study are exotic to South Africa. About three quarters of the documented species (74.4%) were collected from the wild, while 20.8% were cultivated and 4.8% were spontaneous. Majority of the species (62.4%) were used as herbal medicines, followed by food plants (30.4%), ethnoveterinary medicine (18.4%), construction timber and thatching (11.2%). Other minor plant use categories (1-5%) included firewood, browse, live fence, ornamentals, brooms and crafts.This study demonstrated that local people in the Eastern Cape province harbour important information on local vegetation that provides people with food, fuel and medicines, as well as materials for construction and the manufacturing of crafts and many other products. This study also demonstrated the dynamism of traditional ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs of local people demonstrated by the incorporation of exotic plants in their diets and indigenous pharmacopoeia.
| S-EPMC5549312 | biostudies-other
Project description:Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) remains the main causative viral pathogen of porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVAD) of great economic importance in pig industry globally. This present study aims at determining the occurrence of the viral pathogen in swine herds of the Province.The data obtained revealed that 15.93% of the screened samples (54/339) from the swine herds of the studied areas were positive for PCV2; while the severity of occurrence of the viral pathogen as observed at farm level ranges from approximately 5.6 to 60% in the studied farms. The majority (15 out of 17 = 88%) of the analyzed sequences were found clustering with other PCV2b strains in the phylogenetic analysis. More interestingly, two other sequences obtained were also found clustering within PCV2d genogroup, which is presently another fast-spreading genotype with observable higher virulence in global swine herds.This is the first report of PCV2 in swine herds of the Province and the first detection of PCV2b and PCV2d in South African swine herds. It follows the first reported case of PCV2a in an outbreak of porcine multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in Gauteng Province, South Africa more than one decade ago. This finding confirmed the presence of this all-important viral pathogen in pigs of the region; which could result in a serious outbreak of PCVAD and huge economic loss at the instances of triggering factors if no appropriate measures are taken to effectively curb its spread.
| S-EPMC5669008 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Acinetobacter species have been found in a variety of environments, including soil, food, plants, hospital environments and water. Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic and emerging waterborne pathogen. It has been implicated in several nosocomial infections that demonstrate resistance to commonly administered antibiotics. We investigated phenotypic antibiotic resistance (PAR) and relevant antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in A. baumannii isolated from three freshwater resources in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; A. baumannii (410) was confirmed by the recA and gyrB genes of 844 suspected Acinetobacter species in the water samples. The PAR of the confirmed isolates was assessed using a panel of 11 antibiotics by the disc diffusion method, while ARGs were investigated in isolates exhibiting PAR. The A. baumannii isolates were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam (11.2%), ceftazidime (12%), cefotaxime (18.8%), cefepime (8.8%), imipenem (2.7%), meropenem (4.15%), amikacin (2.4%), gentamicin (8.8%), tetracycline (16.8%), ciprofloxacin (11%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (20.5%). For multidrug resistance (MDR), two isolates were resistant to all antibiotics and 28 isolates were resistant to imipenem and meropenem. Moreover, β-lactamases blaTEM (64.4%) and blaOXA-51 (28.70%) as well as sulphonamides sul1 (37.1%) and sul2 (49.4%) were common ARGs. Overall, PAR and ARGs had positive correlations (r) in all rivers. Detection of MDR-A. baumannii in freshwater resources could be linked to possible wastewater discharge from the nearby animal farms, indicating potential implications for public health.
| S-EPMC8466806 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPersistent high-risk (hr) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a major public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa. This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with hr-HPV infection among women attending a tertiary hospital in Gauteng Province, South Africa.MethodsCervical samples were collected from 526 participants aged ≥ 18 years using a Cervex Brush® Combi and tested for hr-HPV types on the Abbott m2000 analyzer using the Abbott RealTime HR HPV assay. Samples that tested hr-HPV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-positive were further tested for hr-HPV E6/E7 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) using the APTIMA® HPV assay on the Panther system (Hologic, Inc.). Sociodemographic data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Binomial regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with hr-HPV infection.ResultsOverall hr-HPV DNA prevalence was 48.1% (95%CI: 43.8-52.4%). Of the hr-HPV DNA-positives, 24.5% (95%CI: 19.3-30.1) had HPV-16; 12.3% (95%CI: 8.5-16.9) had HPV-18 and 87.4% (95%CI: 82.6-91.2) had other 12 h-HPVs. Of the samples positive for hr-HPV DNA, 84.2% (95%CI: 79.1-88.5) (213/253) were positive for hr-HPV E6/E7 mRNA. Advanced age was an important factor linked to hr-HPV E6/E7 mRNA positivity. Based on multivariate binomial regression analysis, unemployment (PR: 1.50; 95%CI: 1.23-1.83) and being married (PR: 0.61; 95%CI: 0.47-0.81) were identified as statistically significant (p < 0.0001) predictive and protective factors, respectively, for hr-HPV infection.ConclusionsThe prevalence of hr-HPV infection was high. Furthermore, hr-HPV DNA-positive samples had a high hr-HPV E6/E7 mRNA prevalence. The presence of hr-HPV E6/E7mRNA indicates active infection and thus a greater risk of developing the cervical disease. Therefore, HPV mRNA testing could be a better test to monitor women who are positive with Pap smear before colposcopy is performed to reduce the burden of referrals.
| S-EPMC9354293 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Raw meats are sometimes contaminated with Campylobacter species from animal faeces, and meats have repeatedly been implicated in foodborne infections. This study evaluated the prevalence, virulence genes, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and resistance gene determinants in Campylobacter species isolated from retailed meat carcasses. A total of 248 raw meat samples were collected from butcheries, supermarkets, and open markets; processed for enrichment in Bolton broth; and incubated at 42 °C for 48 h in 10% CO2. Thereafter, the broths were streaked on modified charcoal cefoperazone deoxycholate agar (mCCDA) plates and incubated at the same conditions and for the same amount of time. After incubation, colonies were isolated and confirmed by Polymerase chain reaction using specific oligonucleotide sequences used for the identification of the genus Campylobacter, species, and their virulence markers. The patterns of antimicrobial resistance profiles of the identified isolates were studied by disk diffusion method against 12 antibiotics, and relevant resistance genes were assessed by PCR. From culture, 845 presumptive Campylobacter isolates were obtained, of which 240 (28.4%) were identified as genus Campylobacter. These were then characterised into four species, of which C. coli had the highest prevalence rate (22.08%), followed by C. jejuni (16.66%) and C. fetus (3.73%). The virulence genes detected included iam (43.14%), cadF (37.25%), cdtB (23.53%), flgR (18.63%), and flaA (1.96%), and some of the isolates co-harboured two to four virulence genes. Of the 12 antibiotics tested, the highest phenotypic resistance displayed by Campylobacter isolates was against clindamycin (100%), and the lowest level of resistance was observed against imipenem (23.33%). The frequency of resistance genes detected included catll (91.78%), tetA (68.82%), gyra (61.76%), ampC (55%), aac(3)-IIa (aacC2)a (40.98%), tetM (38.71%), ermB (18.29%), tetB (12.90%), and tetK (2.15%). There is a high incidence of Campylobacter species in meat carcasses, suggesting these to be a reservoir of campylobacteriosis agents in this community, and as such, consumption of undercooked meats in this community is a potential health risk to consumers.
| S-EPMC7074574 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAnaemia affects one in four adults in South Africa, with a higher prevalence in persons with HIV and tuberculosis. The aim of this study is to characterise the causes of anaemia in primary care and a district hospital setting.MethodsA cross-sectional study design investigated a purposive sample of adult males and non-pregnant females at two community health centres and a hospital casualty and outpatients. Fingerpick blood haemoglobin was measured with HemoCueHb201+. Those with moderate and severe anaemia underwent clinical examination and laboratory tests.ResultsOf 1327 patients screened, median age was 48 years, and 63.5% were female. Of 471 (35.5%) with moderate and severe anaemia on HemoCue, 55.2% had HIV, 16.6% tuberculosis, 5.9% chronic kidney disease, 2.6% cancer, and 1.3% heart failure. Laboratory testing confirmed 227 (48.2%) with moderate and 111 (23.6%) with severe anaemia, of whom 72.3% had anaemia of inflammation, 26.5% iron-deficiency anaemia, 6.1% folate deficiency, and 2.5% vitamin B12 deficiency. Overall, 57.5% had two or more causes of anaemia. Multivariate modelling showed that patients with severe anaemia were three times more likely to have tuberculosis (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.5-6.5; p-value = 0.002). Microcytosis was present in 40.5% with iron deficiency, macrocytosis in 22.2% with folate deficiency, and 33.3% with vitamin B12 deficiency. The sensitivities of the reticulocyte haemoglobin content and % hypochromic red blood cells in diagnosing iron deficiency were 34.7% and 29.7%, respectively.ConclusionsHIV, iron deficiency, and tuberculosis were the most prevalent causes of moderate and severe anaemia. The majority had multiple causes. Iron, folate, and vitamin B12 deficiencies should be identified by biochemical testing rather than by red cell volume.
| S-EPMC9966846 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The developmental projects, particularly construction of dams, result in permanent changes of terrestrial ecosystems through inundation.The present study was undertaken aiming at documenting useful plant species in Ntabelanga dam catchment area that will be impacted by the construction of the proposed dam.A total of 55 randomly selected quadrats were used to assess plant species diversity and composition. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods were used to identify useful plant species growing in the catchment area through interviews with 108 randomly selected participants.A total of 197 plant species were recorded with 95 species (48.2%) utilized for various purposes. Use categories included ethnoveterinary and herbal medicines (46 species), food plants (37 species), construction timber and thatching (14 species), firewood (five species), browse, live fence, and ornamental (four species each), and brooms and crafts (two species).This study showed that plant species play an important role in the daily life and culture of local people. The construction of Ntabelanga dam is, therefore, associated with several positive and negative impacts on plant resources which are not fully integrated into current decision-making, largely because of lack of multistakeholder dialogue on the socioeconomic issues of such an important project.
| S-EPMC5554549 | biostudies-other