Background: COVID-19 is a respiratory tract infection which is responsible for the recent Pandemic with its socioeconomic and Health consequences. One way to control the spread of the disease is through hand hygiene. ...Background: COVID-19 is a respiratory tract infection which is responsible for the recent Pandemic with its socioeconomic and Health consequences. One way to control the spread of the disease is through hand hygiene. This study was done to examine the knowledge and practice of hand washing to limit COVID-19. Method: An institutional-based, cross-sectional study carried out among 247 Health care workers using systemic sampling. A standardized questionnaire used in a previous study was used to collect data. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis. Statistical significance was set at 0.05. Results: Health care workers had good knowledge (92.0%) and practice (99.0%) of hand washing, respondent’s profession (chi-square value = 618, p value = 0.001), and Gender (chi-square = 5234, p-value = 0.022) were statistically significant. Conclusion: Knowledge and practice of hand-washing were generally good in Federal Medical Centre Asaba. However, conscious and targeted efforts should be maintained by hospital organizations in organizing regular training on Infection, Prevention. They should also make available running water and consumables for hand-washing exercises.展开更多
Objectives: This was to estimate the proportion of Dengue virus specific IgG ELISA among asymptomatic children between the ages of 1 year to 15 years, residing in an urban population of Karachi. Design: Cross-sectiona...Objectives: This was to estimate the proportion of Dengue virus specific IgG ELISA among asymptomatic children between the ages of 1 year to 15 years, residing in an urban population of Karachi. Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings: Subjects were selected from Garden, Karachi;an urban area located adjacent to the Central district of Karachi. Participants: Children of ages 1 year to 15 years, of either sex, residing in the urban area of Garden, Karachi for more than 1 year were selected for the study. Those with a history of yellow fever or using corticosteroids within 1 month of recruitment were excluded. Outcome measures: Data were collected on socioeconomic status of households, medical history, including previous dengue infection, general examination findings and anthropometric indices. Blood samples were collected and sent to Research Laboratories, AKU for determining complete blood counts and serum IgG antibodies for Dengue. All collected information was then analyzed for ascertaining the predicting factors for positive IgG among children less than 15 years. Results: From a total of 900 subjects, 46% were found to have positive IgG in their bloods. Our results revealed that a male child of age more than 10 years was more likely to be IgG positive. Other risk factors identified with the seropositivity included lower household income and absence of anemia, thrombocytopenia and lack of hand washing. Conclusions: The study indicated a significant proportion of children under 15-year-old infected with Dengue virus, with a potential risk of severe complications, if re-infected with dengue. Stringent measures are still needed by both public and private authorities to contain dengue outbreaks, and reducing the proportion of associated mortality, as seen in the previous years. Trial registration: Seed Money Grant (ID# SM090101) was awarded to the corresponding author by Research Committee, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Pakistan.展开更多
文摘Background: COVID-19 is a respiratory tract infection which is responsible for the recent Pandemic with its socioeconomic and Health consequences. One way to control the spread of the disease is through hand hygiene. This study was done to examine the knowledge and practice of hand washing to limit COVID-19. Method: An institutional-based, cross-sectional study carried out among 247 Health care workers using systemic sampling. A standardized questionnaire used in a previous study was used to collect data. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis. Statistical significance was set at 0.05. Results: Health care workers had good knowledge (92.0%) and practice (99.0%) of hand washing, respondent’s profession (chi-square value = 618, p value = 0.001), and Gender (chi-square = 5234, p-value = 0.022) were statistically significant. Conclusion: Knowledge and practice of hand-washing were generally good in Federal Medical Centre Asaba. However, conscious and targeted efforts should be maintained by hospital organizations in organizing regular training on Infection, Prevention. They should also make available running water and consumables for hand-washing exercises.
文摘Objectives: This was to estimate the proportion of Dengue virus specific IgG ELISA among asymptomatic children between the ages of 1 year to 15 years, residing in an urban population of Karachi. Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings: Subjects were selected from Garden, Karachi;an urban area located adjacent to the Central district of Karachi. Participants: Children of ages 1 year to 15 years, of either sex, residing in the urban area of Garden, Karachi for more than 1 year were selected for the study. Those with a history of yellow fever or using corticosteroids within 1 month of recruitment were excluded. Outcome measures: Data were collected on socioeconomic status of households, medical history, including previous dengue infection, general examination findings and anthropometric indices. Blood samples were collected and sent to Research Laboratories, AKU for determining complete blood counts and serum IgG antibodies for Dengue. All collected information was then analyzed for ascertaining the predicting factors for positive IgG among children less than 15 years. Results: From a total of 900 subjects, 46% were found to have positive IgG in their bloods. Our results revealed that a male child of age more than 10 years was more likely to be IgG positive. Other risk factors identified with the seropositivity included lower household income and absence of anemia, thrombocytopenia and lack of hand washing. Conclusions: The study indicated a significant proportion of children under 15-year-old infected with Dengue virus, with a potential risk of severe complications, if re-infected with dengue. Stringent measures are still needed by both public and private authorities to contain dengue outbreaks, and reducing the proportion of associated mortality, as seen in the previous years. Trial registration: Seed Money Grant (ID# SM090101) was awarded to the corresponding author by Research Committee, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Pakistan.
