Alternative Water Transport and Storage Containers: Assessing Sustained Use of the PackHO in Rural Haiti.

The PackHO water backpack carrier was developed to provide safe storage and relieve stress of head-loading during water transport with traditional containers such as buckets and jerry cans. We conducted an evaluation to assess both self-reported and observed use over a 6-month period between November 2014 and May 2015. A total of 866 packs were distributed to 618 households in six communities in rural Haiti, and 431 and 441 households were surveyed at midline and end line, respectively.

Effects of community-based sales of micronutrient powders on morbidity episodes in preschool children in Western Kenya.

Background: Although the use of micronutrient powders (MNPs) is considered the preferred approach for childhood anemia control, concerns about iron-related morbidity from clinical trials have challenged programmatic scale-up.

Objective: We aimed to measure the effects of community-based sales of MNPs on diarrhea-, fever-, cough-, and malaria-morbidity episodes in children 6-35 mo of age.

Design: We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in rural Western Kenya where 60 villages were randomly assigned to either intervention or control groups.

A qualitative evaluation of hand drying practices among Kenyans.

Background: Recommended disease prevention behaviors of hand washing, hygienic hand drying, and covering one's mouth and nose in a hygienic manner when coughing and sneezing appear to be simple behaviors but continue to be a challenge to successfully promote and sustain worldwide. We conducted a qualitative inquiry to better understand current hand drying behaviors associated with activities of daily living, and mouth and nose covering practices, among Kenyans.

Methods And Findings: We conducted 7 focus group discussions; 30 in-depth interviews; 10 structured household observations; and 75 structured observations in public venues in the urban area of Kisumu; rural communities surrounding Kisumu; and a peri-urban area outside Nairobi, Kenya.

A recurrent, multistate outbreak of salmonella serotype agona infections associated with dry, unsweetened cereal consumption, United States, 2008.

An outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Agona infections associated with nationwide distribution of cereal from Company X was identified in April 2008. This outbreak was detected using PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, which coincided with Company X's voluntary recall of unsweetened puffed rice and wheat cereals after routine product sampling yielded Salmonella Agona. A case patient was defined as being infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Agona, with illness onset from 1 January through 1 July 2008.

Evaluation of the role of school children in the promotion of point-of-use water treatment and handwashing in schools and households--Nyanza Province, Western Kenya, 2007.

We installed drinking water and handwashing stations in 17 rural schools and trained teachers to promote water treatment and hygiene to pupils. We gave schools flocculent-disinfectant powder and hypochlorite solution for water treatment. We conducted a baseline water handling survey of pupils' parents from 17 schools and tested stored water for chlorine.

Factors associated with E. coli contamination of household drinking water among tsunami and earthquake survivors, Indonesia.

The December 2004 tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia, destroyed drinking water infrastructure, placing over 500,000 displaced persons at increased risk of waterborne disease. In June 2005, we assessed the relationship of water handling behaviors to household water quality in three districts: Aceh Besar, Simeulue, and Nias. We surveyed 1,127 households from 21 communities and tested stored drinking water.

Description of Babesia duncani n.sp. (Apicomplexa: Babesiidae) from humans and its differentiation from other piroplasms.

The morphologic, ultrastructural and genotypic characteristics of Babesia duncani n.sp. are described based on the characterization of two isolates (WA1, CA5) obtained from infected human patients in Washington and California.