Infections: Bridging Clinical Observations and Epidemiological Insights.

Purpose: is the main etiologic agent implicated in primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It is also known as the brain-eating amoeba because of the severe brain inflammation following infection, with a survival rate of about 5%. This review aims to identify infections and evaluate patients' progression.

Advancing Sustainable HIV Services Through Integration in Primary Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Perspective on Practical Recommendations.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear a disproportionate burden of the global HIV epidemic. Integrating HIV services into primary healthcare is a crucial strategy to accelerate progress towards ending the epidemic. However, several challenges hinder effective integration, including underfunding, human resource shortages, infrastructure limitations, weak health systems, and sociocultural factors.

Evidence of human exposure and associated risk factors to Rift Valley fever in selected districts of Central and Western Zambia.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an important viral zoonotic disease that not only affects ruminants but causes serious morbidity and mortality in humans. In humans, its symptoms range from mild flu-like signs to a severe form such as retinal damage, meningoencephalitis to haemorrhagic fever. In this study, 202 human serum samples were collected from central and western parts of Zambia and tested for RVF-specific antibodies using a commercially available ELISA kit.

Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of the Invaplex Vaccine Co-Administered with the dmLT Adjuvant in Dutch and Zambian Adults: Study Protocol for a Multi-Center, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Dose-Escalation Phase Ia/b Clinical Trial.

Background: Shigella infections remain endemic in places with poor sanitation and are a leading cause of diarrheal mortality globally, as well as a major contributor to gut enteropathy and stunting. There are currently no licensed vaccines for shigellosis but it has been estimated that an effective vaccine could avert 590,000 deaths over a 20-year period. A challenge to effective Shigella vaccine development has been the low immunogenicity and protective efficacy of candidate Shigella vaccines in infants and young children.

Biological and Social Predictors of HIV-1 RNA Viral Suppression in ART Treated PWLH in Sub-Saharan Africa.

HIV remains a significant health issue, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. There are 39 million people living with HIV (PLWH) globally. Treatment with ART improves patient outcomes by suppressing the HIV RNA viral load.

Building resilience against cholera: lessons from the implementation of integrated community strategy for cholera control in Zambia.

Cholera has remained a persistent public health challenge in Zambia since the country's first reported outbreak in 1977. The recent outbreak, which began in October 2023 and is ongoing as of June 2024, is the most severe in Zambia's history and part of the larger 2022-2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak, which has affected multiple countries in the region. This article describes the implementation of the integrated community strategy for cholera control (ICSCC) in three districts of the Copperbelt Province during this outbreak.

An assessment of the progress made in the implementation of the regional framework for cholera prevention and control in the WHO African region.

High-burden cholera outbreaks, spreading beyond the traditional cholera-endemic countries, have been reported since 2021 in the WHO African region. Member states in the region have committed to the global goal of cholera elimination by 2030. To track progress towards this goal, WHO-African countries adopted a regional cholera prevention and control framework in 2018.

A comparison of CXR-CAD software to radiologists in identifying COVID-19 in individuals evaluated for Sars CoV-2 infection in Malawi and Zambia.

AI based software, including computer aided detection software for chest radiographs (CXR-CAD), was developed during the pandemic to improve COVID-19 case finding and triage. In high burden TB countries, the use of highly portable CXR and computer aided detection software has been adopted more broadly to improve the screening and triage of individuals for TB, but there is little evidence in these settings regarding COVID-19 CAD performance. We performed a multicenter, retrospective cross-over study evaluating CXRs from individuals at risk for COVID-19.

Prevalence of mortality caused by injuries at Livingstone University Hospital, Zambia. A retrospective cross-sectional study.

Background: Trauma is a major global public health issue, with an annual death toll of approximately 5 million, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries. Zambia bears a significant burden of trauma-related mortalities, contributing to 7% of all annual deaths and 1 in 5 premature deaths in the country. Despite the significant burden of trauma in our country, few studies have been conducted, with most focusing on high-population centers, and there is a lack of epidemiological data on trauma-related deaths in our region.

Increased Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Vibrio cholerae in the Capital and Provincial Areas of Zambia, January 2023-February 2024.

Zambia experienced the largest cholera epidemic in the country's history in 2023-2024; however, the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Vibrio cholerae during the epidemic is unknown. A total of 2,384 stool samples were collected from suspected cholera cases in Eastern, Lusaka, and Luapula provinces in Zambia from January 2023 to March 2024. Among them, 549 (23.

High unmet needs for cervical cancer screening among women living with HIV in six African countries: A population-based study.

Background: Cisgender women living with HIV (WLWH) are disproportionately impacted by cervical cancer. Nevertheless, disparities in uptake and implementation of cervical cancer services persist in sub-Saharan Africa, where population-level estimates of screening coverage remain scarce.

Methods: We pooled data from nationally representative Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (2015-2019).

A Friendlier "Kinda" Social System: Male Kinda Baboons Invest in Long-Term Social Bonds With Females.

Objectives: Certain group-living mammals-including many primates-exhibit affiliative relationships between sexes that persist past copulation. Relationships between females and males in baboons (Papio sp.) are particularly well-characterized.

Urine kidney injury molecule-1 predicts subclinical kidney disease among persons living with HIV initiating tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-based ART in Zambia.

Introduction: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases the life expectancy of persons living with HIV (PLWH), but not without potentially serious adverse effects. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) can cause nephrotoxicity, manifesting as acute kidney injury (AKI) that may persist after treatment discontinuation. Kidney injury biomarkers such as kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), retinol-binding protein-4 (RBP-4), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) can aid early diagnosis and predict TDF-associated nephrotoxicity.

Social vulnerability index associated with higher COVID-19 seroprevalence in Nigeria.

Social vulnerability has been shown to be a strong predictor of disparities in health outcomes. A common approach to estimating social vulnerability is using a composite index, such as the social vulnerability index (SVI), which combines multiple factors corresponding to key social determinants of health. Lawal and Osayomi created an SVI to explore key social determinants of health-related COVID-19 infection among the Nigerian population.

Socio-economic and demographic determinants of undernutrition among 6-59 months old children living in Malawian stunting hotspots: a cross-sectional community study.

Background: Malnutrition is a global burden, with 171 million under-five children stunted and 45% of child deaths linked to it. Despite high undernutrition such as stunting in Mchinji, Mangochi, and Mzimba, no study has focused on all three hot spots. This study examined socio-economic and demographic determinants of undernutrition among children aged 6-59 months, offering insights to guide targeted interventions in these areas.

Microbial Characterization of a Zambian Honey Vinegar.

Forest Fruits Organic Honey Vinegar (FFOHV) is a spontaneously fermented (yeast) and acetified (Acetic Acid Bacteria-AAB) Miombo Woodland honey vinegar developed in Zambia. Live vinegars containing live microbial cultures are marketed for their probiotic health benefits. The correlation between a well-developed gut microbiome and human health is well studied and fermented products such as live vinegar containing AAB contribute to a healthy gut microbiome.

Implementation outcomes of 1-3-7 focus investigation for malaria in a low transmission setting in Southern Province, Zambia: A mixed methods study.

Eleven countries have been certified as malaria free since 2016, but none of these are in subSaharan Africa where elimination challenges are unique. The 1-3-7 focus investigation approach is an implementation strategy that requires case reporting, case investigation/classification, and focal classification/response to be completed one, three, and seven days, respectively, after index case diagnosis. Real-time short-messaging-service reports are sent at each step to add accountability and data transparency.

Prospective Multi-Site Validation of AI to Detect Tuberculosis and Chest X-Ray Abnormalities.

Background: Using artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret chest X-rays (CXRs) could support accessible triage tests for active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in resource-constrained settings.

Methods: The performance of two cloud-based CXR AI systems - one to detect TB and the other to detect CXR abnormalities - in a population with a high TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) burden was evaluated. We recruited 1978 adults who had TB symptoms, were close contacts of known TB patients, or were newly diagnosed with HIV at three clinical sites.

Leveraging digital health systems maturity assessments to guide strategic priorities.

Background: Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face the daunting task of digitising, maturing and deciding where to invest in digital health systems.

Aim: Describing the facilitators and barriers to conducting digital health maturity assessments and how health leaders can prioritise the assessments.

Setting: eHealth leaders from 10 African countries, working or supporting Ministries of Health's digital health and participating in the eHealth Leaders' Forum from July 2023 to September 2023.

Revisiting Africa's Stroke Obstacles and Services (SOS).

Background: As one of the most common non-communicable diseases in Africa, Stroke ought to be dealt with properly with intensifying efforts to control its burden and to face obstacles in its management.

Methods And Results: In this follow-up study we reanalyzed stroke services and related obstacles in 17 African countries that were previously studied in 2021/22 in aspects related to manpower, acute stroke services, rehabilitation programs, number of stroke units/centers, telestroke services, awareness campaigns, and national and international stroke registries through a survey that was sent to stroke specialists and national stroke societies. Overall, there is an improvement in many fields yet many obstacles in the implementation of telestroke services, acute management, secondary prevention, post-discharge services, and follow-ups whether governmental, medical, or societal are prevalent.

DNA damage triggers the death of green sea turtle-derived cells at high temperature.

As temperatures rise due to increasingly severe global warming, the effect of high temperatures on wildlife, including green sea turtles, is one of the issues that must be addressed to ensure the conservation of biodiversity. In the current study, we found that green sea turtle cell death due to apoptosis occurred at 37 °C, which suppressed cell proliferation. We also found that high temperature-induced heat stress led to the accumulation of DNA damage in green sea turtle cells.

Situational assessment of physical rehabilitation services in Zambia: issues and challenges.

Purpose: The necessity to enhance physical rehabilitation services in Zambia has been recognised. To achieve this through expanding human resources for health in rehabilitation and increasing service coverage, it is essential to comprehensively understand the current issues and challenges in physical rehabilitation within the country. This paper aimed to conduct a situational assessment of physical rehabilitation services in Zambia.

Strong Association Between HIV Incidence and Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 in Zambia and South Africa: Prospective Data From the HPTN 071 (PopART) Trial.

Background: Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2) is an important cofactor for HIV acquisition and transmission. Associations between the infections are reexamined in longitudinal data from an HIV prevention trial.

Methods: The HPTN 071 (PopART) trial evaluated a combination prevention intervention in 21 urban communities in Zambia and South Africa.

Sexual Networks and Behavioral Characteristics of HIV-Positive Male Military Members, Female Sex Workers, and Male Civilians.

Military members and female sex workers (FSWs) may be more likely to acquire or transmit HIV. Mapping HIV transmission across these high-risk populations and identifying behaviors associated with sexual network clustering are needed for effective HIV prevention approaches. A cross-sectional study recruited participants newly diagnosed with HIV among militaries, civilians, and FSWs in Zambia, Senegal, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).