Effectiveness and safety of azithromycin 1.5% eye drops for mass treatment of active trachoma in a highly endemic district in Cameroon.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of azithromycin 1.5% eye drops under field conditions to reduce active trachoma in a highly endemic district in Cameroon. This is a follow-up of an initial report published in 2010.

Knowledge, attitude and practices of snakebite management amongst health workers in Cameroon: Need for continuous training and capacity building.

Background: Snakebite has only recently been recognized as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO. Knowledge regarding snakebites and its care is poor both at the population level, and at the health care staff level. The goal of this study was to describe the level of knowledge and clinical practice regarding snakebite among health care staff from Cameroon.

Hepatitis A and B among newly arrived refugees: Vaccinate all, or test first for immunity?

Aim: When screening newly arrived refugees, physicians must decide whether to vaccinate against hepatitis A and B at first encounter, thereby minimising missed opportunity, or to test for immunity and vaccinate only the susceptible, minimising unnecessary intervention. Better knowledge of hepatitis A and B immunity in refugee populations from different parts of the world is needed.

Method: Overseas and domestic medical records of refugees from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East who entered Marion County (Indiana) between 1 September 2016 and 31 December 2017 were reviewed.

Recognizing Culturally Related Findings on Refugee Physical Examinations.

On physical examination, refugees from countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East often present with findings that are unfamiliar to primary health care providers in the West. Previous traditional practices that may have left their mark include scarification and burning of the skin, excision of body parts, and subcutaneous insertion of foreign material. The descriptions detailed here introduce providers to some of the signs that result from body modification practices commonly encountered on physical examination of refugees.

The limits of medical interventions for the elimination of preventable blindness.

Background: Health authorities are working toward the global elimination of trachoma by the year 2020 with actions focused on the World Health Organization SAFE strategy (surgery of trichiasis, antibiotics, face washing and environmental changes) with emphasis on hygienist approaches for education.

Objectives: The present survey was performed to assess the sustainability of the SAFE strategy 3 years after trachoma was eliminated from 6 villages.

Methods: In February 2013 a rapid trachoma assessment was conducted in 6 villages of Kolofata's district, Extreme north Region, Cameroon, where trachoma was eliminated in 2010.

Obstacles to surgical services in a rural Cameroonian district hospital.

Background: There are significant obstacles to the delivery of surgical care in low income countries. Few studies have defined or characterized these constraints. The present study aimed to identify financial and demographic factors limiting the utilization of surgical services in rural Cameroon.

Clinical and microbiological assessment of trachoma in the kolofata health district, far north region, cameroon.

Background And Aims: Trachoma is a sight-threatening process triggered by the infection of the conjunctiva with Chlamydiae. Blindness associated with trachoma was reported in Sahelian areas of Cameroon. However, data on the prevalence of this neglected infection in the Far North Region are not available.

Contributions to the Improvement of Living Conditions among Neglected Populations with Trachoma.

Objective: Trachoma (Chlamydia-triggered blinding infection) provoked irreversible visual impairment in about 8 million people in 2011, and the prevalence among children with dirty faces is more than three fold that among children with clean faces. In 250 villages with a high prevalence of trachoma (Kolofata district, Far North Region, Cameroon), the lack of water for facial cleanliness was reported during trachoma awareness campaigns. The objective of this study was to determine if the lack of water was linked with the absence of means to dig wells.

Causes and circumstances of death in a district hospital in northern Cameroon, 1993-2009.

Introduction: In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) sound planning is required as interest increases in the decentralization of healthcare financing and the implementation of a sector-wide approach to health care. For this, improved knowledge of national morbidity and mortality is essential. Data from remote areas of SSA are needed to ensure that public health priority-setting and actions reflect the situation in all regions, not just those easily accessed and readily researched.

Elimination of active trachoma after two topical mass treatments with azithromycin 1.5% eye drops.

Background: Following an epidemiological study carried out in 2006 showing a high prevalence of blinding trachoma in the Far North Region of Cameroon, a trachoma elimination programme using the SAFE strategy was initiated: three yearly trachoma mass treatments were to be performed.

Methodology/principal Findings: The entire district population (120,000 persons) was treated with azithromycin 1.5% eye drops in February 2008 and January 2009.

Advanced abdominal pregnancy: case report and review of 163 cases reported since 1946.

Context: Though relatively rare, advanced abdominal pregnancy (AAP) can have dramatic and catastrophic consequences for the foetus and the mother. Difficult to diagnose pre-operatively, AAP presents special challenges to the physician working in remote areas with limited resources for diagnosis and management.

Case Report: A case of AAP received in our hospital in Kolofata, Cameroon, is presented and followed by a review of 163 other cases reported from 13 countries since 1946.

Snakebite in northern Cameroon: 134 victims of bites by the saw-scaled or carpet viper, Echis ocellatus.

Echis ocellatus is one of the most deadly snakes known to humans, yet the procurement of antivenom for the treatment of these snakebites in Africa has become increasingly difficult and expensive. There is no consensus for the management of victims, and little is known of actual recent experiences with these cases in ordinary health care settings in Africa. All cases of snakebite reliably identified as bites of E.

Perceptions of malaria transmission, presentation and management in northern Cameroon.

During early 2001, 1197 adult health service users in a poor rural district of northern Cameroon were interviewed in order to discover prevalent beliefs about malaria. The survey included questions about the name of the disease, its cause and transmission, signs and symptoms, cure, and local importance as a cause of sickness and death. Interviewees showed good understanding of the signs and symptoms of malaria, its importance, and its association with the rains.