Publications by authors named "Cynthia Ombok"
Quality improvements and reduction of disease risk for low-resource shared sanitation facilities require cleanliness assessment approaches that are both rigorous and practical. Using Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence testing, we assessed contamination on high-touch (HT) surfaces (inner door handles) at 32 shared toilet sites in Kisumu, Kenya. In public toilets, contamination was lowest after cleaning and disinfection (C&D) with 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined the association between serum aflatoxin B1-lysine adduct (AFB1-lys) levels in pregnant women and adverse pregnancy outcomes (low birthweight, miscarriage and stillbirth) through a nested matched case-control study of pregnant women enroled at ≤28 weeks' gestation in Mombasa, Kenya, from 2017 to 2019. Cases comprised women with an adverse birth outcome, defined as either delivery of a singleton infant weighing <2500 g, or a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, while controls were women who delivered a singleton live infant with a birthweight of ≥2500 g. Cases were matched to controls at a ratio of 1:2 based on maternal age at enrolment, gestational age at enrolment and study site.
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- A study of over 3 million camels in Kenya found that many have antibodies against MERS-CoV, although human infections in Africa are quite rare.
- Researchers followed 243 camels from 33 homesteads for two years, testing nasal swabs for the virus and documenting illnesses, primarily respiratory issues among the camels.
- Out of the camels tested, a small percentage showed positive results for MERS-CoV, and there was evidence of sporadic transmission to humans, particularly during outbreaks.
Urban informal settlements may be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to overcrowding and other socioeconomic challenges that make adoption and implementation of public health mitigation measures difficult. We conducted a seroprevalence survey in the Kibera informal settlement, Nairobi, Kenya, to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Members of randomly selected households from an existing population-based infectious disease surveillance (PBIDS) provided blood specimens between 27 November and 5 December 2020.
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- A study in Kenya assessed the effects of HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) on pregnancy outcomes among women, focusing on pregnancy loss, premature birth, and low birth weight.
- Out of 2113 pregnant women, 15% were HIV-positive on ART, with similar rates of pregnancy loss (5%) and prematurity (10%) compared to HIV-negative women, showing no significant adverse effects from treated HIV.
- Factors linked to being HIV-positive included older age, food insecurity, lower education, and other health issues, indicating that while treated HIV itself didn't worsen outcomes, associated factors may affect overall pregnancy health.