Intestinal Parasitosis in Children among Internally Displaced Persons in the Hauts-Bassins Region of Burkina Faso

Introduction: The setting up of camps for internally displaced persons in Burkina Faso as a result of terrorism creates favorable conditions for the emergence of digestive parasitosis in these displaced populations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of digestive parasitosis in children of this population in the Hauts-Bassins region. Material and methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study from November to December 2020, in which stool samples were collected from internally displaced children from the Sinfra reception site in Banzon and from Poya in Karangasso Vigué. The stool samples were stored at room temperature, protected from dust and insects, in a cooler and then sent to the laboratory of the CHUSS in Bobo-Dioulasso where the parasitological analyses were performed. Results: The mean age was 5.8 ± 2.4 years. The most represented age group was 5 to 10 years (75.31%). The sex ratio is 1.61. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasite infection was 53.09%. The prevalence was statistically higher among those who consumed well water than those consuming tap water (p = 0.01). Monoparasitism by protozoa and helminths represented 74.42% and 6.68% respectively. The polyparasitism rate was 9.31%. The species identified in monoparasite patients were protozoa with Entamoeba coli (37.21%), Giardia lamblia (25.58%), Endolimax nanus (6.98%) and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (4.65%). Biparasitism was identified with combinations, such as E. coli + E. histolytica/dispar (11.63%). Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of digestive parasitosis among IDPs in the Sinfra and Poya reception site. Educational sessions on hand washing before meals, use of drinking water, etc. should emphasize preventive measures in these IDP camps.

Reciprocal Association between Psychological Distress and PTSD and Their Relationship with Pre-Displacement Stressors among Displaced Women

It is established in the psychological literature that pre-displacement stressors,PTSD symptoms,and psycholo-gical distress are associated among internally displaced persons.However,existing studies have not demonstrated the mechanism underlying these associations.This study compared two explanatory models;one with PTSD symptoms severity explaining the indirect association between pre-displacement stressors and psychological dis-tress,and the other with psychological distress explaining the indirect relationship between pre-displacement stressors and PTSD symptoms severity.In a cross-sectional design,631 women(Mean age=31.18±8.59)were conveniently and purposely selected from the displaced women harboured in two camps in Borno State,Nigeria,due to the Boko-Haram insurgency.Data were collected utilizing structured questionnaires and subjected to path analyses.Results demonstrated that PTSD symptoms severity and psychological distress indirectly explained their respective and independent association with pre-displacement stressors.However,PTSD symptoms had a statis-tically larger standardized indirect effect size,greater indirect effect percentage,and bigger kappa-squared(k2)effect size than psychological distress.PTSD symptoms and psychological distress may have a reciprocal influence on each other from pre-displacement stressors.However,PTSD symptoms can better explain the association between pre-displacement stressors and psychological distress than the other way around.These outcomes have important implications for the psychological treatment of displaced persons.

Gut Bacteria and Nutritional Status of Nigerian Children at an Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp in Benue State, Nigeria: A Pilot Study

This study was conducted to determine the gut bacteria and nutritional status of children (n = 30) aged 2 - 11 in Benue’s largest internally displaced persons (IDP) camp since information on this is lacking. Gut bacteria were identified using culture techniques, while Body Mass Index (Kg/m2), Weight-for-Height (WHZ), and Weight-for-Age (WAZ) z scores were computed from anthropometric measurements. Socio-demographic and economic variables were collected via structured questionnaires. IBM SPSS v25 was used to analyze the data, with p Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Escherichia coli compared to children from a nearby private school (n = 10), except for E. coli, where the prevalence was equal. The results for BMI revealed that 23 (57.5%) of the children had a healthy weight while 17 (42.5%) were underweight.WAZ z-scores were between (-0.02 - 2.51) with evidence of mildly underweight (20%) and mildly overweight (5%) children. WHZ z-scores were between -0.03 - 2.37, with moderately wasted (30%) and severely wasted (5%) found. To ensure better health outcomes for residents, conditions in the camp must be improved.

Internal co-seismic deformation and curvature effect based on an analytical approach

In this study, we present a new method to compute internal co-seismic deformations of a homoge- neous sphere, based on our previous approach （Dong et al. 2016）. In practical numerical computations, we consider a strike-slip point source as an example, and compute the vertical co-seismic displacement on different internal spherical surfaces （including the Earth surface）. Numerical results show that the internal co-seismic deformations are generally larger than that on the Earth surface; especially, the maximum co-seismic displacement appears around the seismic source. The co-seismic displacements are opposite in sign for the areas over and beneath the position of the seismic source. The results also indicate that the curvature effect of the internal deformation is pretty large, and larger than that on the Earth surface. The results indicate that the dislocation theory for a sphere is necessary in computing internal co-seismic deformations.