Publications by authors named "K Sturm-Ramirez"
Article Synopsis
- In Senegal, a study evaluated the effectiveness of mass drug administration (MDA) as a strategy to reduce malaria incidence, comparing it to the standard seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) methods.
- The trial was conducted in 60 villages, with one group receiving MDA treatment and the other receiving SMC, both delivered door-to-door.
- Results showed MDA significantly reduced malaria cases by 55% during the peak transmission season, indicating it may be a more effective intervention than standard care without serious side effects reported.
Urban malaria has become a challenge for most African countries due to urbanization, with increasing population sizes, overcrowding, and movement into cities from rural localities. The rapid expansion of cities with inappropriate water drainage systems, abundance of water storage habitats, coupled with recurrent flooding represents a concern for water-associated vector borne diseases, including malaria. This situation could threaten progress made towards malaria elimination in sub-Saharan countries, including Senegal, where urban malaria has presented as a threat to national elimination gains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Malaria is endemic in Senegal, with seasonal transmission, and the entire population is at risk. In recent years, high malaria incidence has been reported in urban and peri-urban areas of Senegal. An urban landscape analysis was conducted in three cities to identify the malaria transmission indicators and human behavior that may be driving the increasing malaria incidence occurring in urban environments.
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- The study aimed to assess real-time rRT-PCR results for detecting avian influenza A virus (AIV) in live bird markets in Dhaka, Bangladesh, focusing on workers' respiratory samples.
- Over the research period, they found that a small percentage of symptomatic workers tested positive for A(H5) and A(H9), while positive results were also noted among asymptomatic workers, particularly from arm swabs.
- The results highlighted that the presence of AIV RNA in the workers' specimens, without seroconversion evidence, indicates environmental contamination rather than active infection, stressing the need for careful result interpretation in areas with high viral loads.
Background: Pregnant women with their infants are considered at higher risk for influenza-associated complications, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends influenza vaccination during pregnancy to protect them, including their infants (0-6 months). There are limited data on the influenza burden among pregnant women and their infants (0-6 months), and there are no routine influenza vaccinations in Bangladesh.
Methods: Five annual cohorts (2013-2017) of pregnant women were enrolled from the eight sub-districts of Bangladesh before the influenza season (May-September); they were contacted weekly to identify new onset of influenza-like illness (ILI) (subjective or measured fever and cough) and acute respiratory illness (ARI) (at least two of these symptoms: cough, rhinorrhea, or difficulty in breathing) among their infants from birth to 6 months of age.