Publications by authors named "Maurice O Ope"
Approximately 70,000-90,000 refugees are resettled to the United States each year, and during the next 5 years, 50,000 Congolese refugees are expected to arrive in the United States. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) performs refugee medical examinations overseas for the U.S.
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- qRT-PCR is a diagnostic tool increasingly used to detect lower respiratory infections by measuring viral load through cycle threshold (CT) values, which can complicate clinical interpretation.
- A study conducted in rural Kenya assessed CT values from naso/oropharyngeal swabs of patients with varying levels of respiratory illness and found that inpatients had significantly lower CT values compared to controls and outpatients for some viruses, particularly RSV and influenza.
- The results indicate that CT values from upper respiratory samples are linked to the severity of illness for certain respiratory viruses, suggesting potential for improved clinical assessments in similar cases.
Objective: To estimate the burden and age-specific rates of influenza-associated hospitalization in rural western Kenya.
Methods: All 3924 patients with respiratory illness (defined as acute cough, difficulty in breathing or pleuritic chest pain) who were hospitalized between June 2007 and May 2009 in any inpatient health facility in the Kenyan district of Bondo were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected and tested for influenza viruses using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Background: Risk factors for influenza hospitalization in Africa are unknown, including the role of HIV.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study of risk factors for hospitalized seasonal influenza among persons in rural western Kenya, a high HIV prevalence area, from March 2006-August 2008. Eligible cases were ≥five years old, admitted to health facilities with respiratory symptoms, and had nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab specimens that tested positive for influenza A or B by real-time reverse transcription-PCR.