Background: The survival of children with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionately low compared to high-income countries. In Malawi, many of these children are diagnosed in advanced stages. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical to survival of children with BL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Burkitt lymphoma (BL) accounts for 90% of pediatric lymphomas in sub-Saharan Africa. Plasmodium falciparum malaria is considered an etiological factor of BL. We describe the geographic distribution of pediatric BL in Malawi and association with P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Right heart abnormalities and pulmonary hypertension (PH) may be secondary to chronic lung disease. Chronic lung disease is common in children with HIV. In the BREATHE trial ( NCT02426112), azithromycin (AZM) reduced the risk of acute respiratory exacerbations in children aged 6-19 years with HIV-associated chronic lung disease (HCLD) taking antiretroviral therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Maternal influenza vaccination protects infants against influenza virus infection. Impaired transplacental transfer of influenza antibodies may reduce this protection.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of influenza vaccine-naïve pregnant women recruited at delivery from Blantyre (urban, low malaria transmission) and Chikwawa (rural, high malaria transmission) in Southern Malawi.
Data on the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) in adults from low-income, high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence African settings are scarce. We conducted adult SARI surveillance in Blantyre, Malawi. From January 2011 to December 2013, individuals aged ≥ 15 years with SARI (both inpatients and outpatients) were enrolled at a large teaching hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is widely recognised as the next major challenge to global health. However, in many LMICs, infectious diseases are still prevalent resulting in a "double burden" of disease. With increased life expectancy and longevity with HIV, older adults may particularly be at risk of this double burden.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We used data from 4 years of pediatric severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Blantyre, Malawi, to identify factors associated with clinical severity and coviral clustering.
Methods: From January 2011 to December 2014, 2363 children aged 3 months to 14 years presenting to the hospital with SARI were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were tested for influenza virus and other respiratory viruses.