Adherence to antiretroviral treatment among children and adolescents in Tanzania: Comparison between pill count and viral load outcomes in a rural context of Mwanza region.

Background And Objectives: Adherence to antiretroviral treatment is a key challenge for paediatric HIV care. Among children and adolescents living with HIV, lower levels of adherence have been reported compared to adults. Individual, caregiver-, health services-related and sociocultural factors were shown to impact on these outcomes.

Mini-FLOTAC, an innovative direct diagnostic technique for intestinal parasitic infections: experience from the field.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminths and intestinal protozoa infection are widespread in developing countries, yet an accurate diagnosis is rarely performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recently developed mini-FLOTAC method and to compare with currently more widely used techniques for the diagnosis of intestinal parasitic infections in different settings.

Methodology/principal Findings: The study was carried out in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, and in Bukumbi, Tanzania.

Mini-FLOTAC and Kato-Katz: helminth eggs watching on the shore of Lake Victoria.

Background: One of the challenges for monitoring helminth control programmes based on preventive chemotherapy is the lack of a copro-parasitological gold-standard method that combines good sensitivity with quantitative performance, low cost, and easy-to-learn technique.The aim of our study was to evaluate and compare, the WHO recommended quantitative diagnostic technique (Kato-Katz) and the Mini-FLOTAC.

Methods: Mini-FLOTAC is an innovative method based on floatation of helminths eggs with two different solutions (FS2 and FS7) using a close system (Fill-FLOTAC) with 5% fixative.