Evaluating the Validity of the Responses to Illness Severity Quantification Score to Discriminate Illness Severity and Level of Care Transitions in Hospitalized Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition.

Objective: To evaluate the validity of the Responses to Illness Severity Quantification (RISQ) score to discriminate illness severity and transitions between levels of care during hospitalization.

Study Design: A prospective observational study conducted in Maiduguri, Nigeria, enrolled inpatients aged 1-59 months with severe acute malnutrition. The primary outcome was the RISQ score associated with the patient state.

Development and an initial validation of the Responses to Illness Severity Quantification (RISQ) score for severely malnourished children.

Aim: To develop and perform an initial validation of a score to measure the severity of illness in hospitalised children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Methods: A prospective study enrolled SAM children aged 6-59 months hospitalised in Borno State, Nigeria. Candidate items associated with inpatient mortality were combined and evaluated as candidate scores.

Prevalence and Pattern of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Associated Nephropathy among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Children at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

The kidney is an important target organ in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and a variety of renal disorders could occur throughout the course of the disease. HIV- associated nephropathy (HIVAN) is the most common form of kidney disease resulting directly from HIV infection. The true prevalence of HIVAN among infected African children is unknown largely due to lack of surveillance and reporting.

Transplacental transfer of macromolecules: proving the efficiency of placental transfer of maternal measles antibodies in mother: infant pairs.

Background: Smaller substances <600 Daltons (Da) can transit human placenta while larger ones >1000 Da may not. This may not be consistent because maternal measles antibodies (MMA) are large immunoglobulin G molecules with molecular weight of 150,000 Da, could cross the placenta in mother-infant pairs.

Aim: The objective was to assess the efficiency of placental transfer of MMA in mother-infant pairs at birth.

Reinvigorating health systems and community-based services to improve maternal health outcomes: case study from northern Nigeria.

Background: Maternal health outcomes in Nigeria, the most populous African nation, are among the worst in the world, and urgent efforts to improve the situation are critical as the deadline (2015) for achieving the Millennium Development Goals draws near.

Objective: To evaluate the results of an integrated maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) program to improve maternal health outcomes in Northern Nigeria.

Design: The intervention model integrated critical health system and community-based improvements aimed at encouraging sustainable MNCH behavior change.

The effects of maternal haemoglobin as an indicator of maternal nutritional status on, maternal measles antibodies of mother-infant pairs at birth.

Background: Maternal measles antibodies (MMA) are actively transferred through the placenta from mother to foetus. A relationship could exist between MMA of mother-infant pairs and maternal nutritional indicator (haemoglobin).

Objectives: This study reviewed the effects of maternal haemoglobin (Hb) on MMA of mother-infant pairs at birth.

Awareness, use, and unmet need for family planning in rural northern Nigeria.

Access to quality reproductive health and family planning services remain poor in Nigeria. We present results on family planning awareness and use from a survey of 3,080 women (age 15-49 years) in Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, and Zamfara States. About 43.

Performance based financing and uptake of maternal and child health services in yobe sate, northern Nigeria.

Reported maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes in Nigeria are amongst the worst in the world, with Nigeria second only to India in the number of maternal deaths. At the national level, maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) are estimated at 630 deaths per 100,000 live births (LBs) but vary from as low as 370 deaths per 100,000 LBs in the southern states to over 1,000 deaths per 100,000 LBs in the northern states. We report findings from a performance based financing (PBF) pilot study in Yobe State, northern Nigeria aimed at improving MCH outcomes as part of efforts to find strategies aimed at accelerating attainment of Millennium Development Goals for MCH.

Passive measles immunity in a Nigerian tertiary health care facility: the influence of human immunodeficiency virus infection on measles antibody levels in mother-infant pairs at birth.

Background: Infants are protected from measles infection by maternal measles antibodies (MMA). The level of these MMA at birth in newborn children depends on the levels in their mother and the extent of placental transfer. We investigated maternal HIV infection as a predictor of levels of MMA in mother-infant pairs in Maiduguri.

Tetanus following tongue bite from repeated convulsions: a case report.

This report details a case of generalized tetanus with the added complication of tongue bite following the repeated convulsions of a six-year-old unimmunized girl. It highlights the fact that tongue bite is an unusual portal of the entry of tetanus and emphasizes the need for proper oral care of an unconscious patient and the importance of the immunization of children.

Recurrent generalized tetanus: a case report.

We describe recurrent generalized tetanus in a four-year-old unimmunized boy following recurrent suppurative otitis media (SOM) within an 11-month period. There are not many published reports on recurrent tetanus. We highlight the importance of both primary immunizations and the need for active immunization before discharge as the infection does not confer a lifelong immunity.

Clinical staging of HIV infection as a surrogate for CD4 count in HIV-infected children.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a major cause of infant and childhood mortality and morbidity; without treatment about 50% of them will succumb to HIV/AIDS before the age of two years.

Objective: to evaluate the usefulness of clinical manifestations of HIV infection as a surrogate for CD4 counts in antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected children.

Methods: newly diagnosed HIV-infected children, antiretroviral-naive attending a paediatric infectious diseases unit were enrolled.

Study of hepatic functions and prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigenaemia in Nigerian children with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Background: HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infected patients have a significantly increased risk of dying from liver disease especially after starting treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy. We aim to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigenaemia in HIV-infected children and their significance in relation to hepatic functions.

Method: Two hundred and eighty four HIV-infected children aged between 4 mouths to 15 years attending the Paediatric infectious disease clinic of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Maiduguri, Nigeria from September 2007 to December 2007 were the subject for this study.