The hidden burden of measles in Ethiopia: how distance to hospital shapes the disease mortality rate.

Background: A sequence of annual measles epidemics has been observed from January 2013 to April 2017 in the South West Shoa Zone of the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. We aimed at estimating the burden of disease in the affected area, taking into account inequalities in access to health care due to travel distances from the nearest hospital.

Methods: We developed a dynamic transmission model calibrated on the time series of hospitalized measles cases.

Thermal Effect of a Woolen Cap in Low Birth Weight Infants During Kangaroo Care.

Background And Objectives: World Health Organization guidelines recommend covering the head during kangaroo mother care (KMC), but the effect of a cap on neonatal thermal control during KMC remains to be defined. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness and safety of a woolen cap in maintaining low birth weight infants (LBWIs) in normal thermal range during KMC.

Methods: Three hundred LBWI candidates for KMC in 3 African hospitals were randomly assigned to KMC with (CAP group) or without (NOCAP group) a woolen cap in a 1:1 ratio during the first week after birth.

Exhaled air temperature in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Background: Because they have similar functional and clinical profiles, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) survivors are often treated as asthmatic patients. In truth, very little is known about the possible biochemical and inflammatory mechanisms playing a part in BPD survivors' lungs. The aim of this study was to measure exhaled breath temperature in BPD survivors by comparison with asthmatic cases and healthy controls.