No abstract

BackgroundMalaria is still a burden to Ethiopia, especially among the productive ages of the society. Although insecticide-treated mosquito nets (INTs) are widely used by the rural community, malaria remains a leading public health issue. This study aimed to evaluate a 5-year trend, current prevalence and community knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards malaria and use of ITNs as a strategy for prevention of malaria among the rural setting of Welkait district, northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out on 403 households to identify the prevalence rate of malaria. Besides, a 5-year (2015-2019) retrospective data was analyzed. Random sampling technique was used to select representative households among the community. Well-structured questionnaire were used to collect KAP data about malaria and utilization of ITNs. Blood samples were collected and examined for identification of malaria parasites using standard microscopic procedure. SPSS version 22 was used for the analysis of the quantitative data. ResultsOf 36,219 outpatients examined, 7,309 (20.2%) malaria-positive cases were reported during 2015-2019. Overall prevalence of malaria continually declined from 2015-2019. Male slide-confirmed (61.4%, N = 4,485) were significantly higher than female (38.6%, N = 2,824) (p < 005). Nineteen (4.7%) confirmed malaria cases were screened during parasitological survey (12 cases of P. falciparum and 7 cases of P. vivax). Most 78.4% (316) and 84.1% (339) of the respondents knew malaria is a communicable and curable disease respectively and 75.6% (239) of them associated it with mosquito bit. From 82.4% (332) respondents who believed malaria is preventable, 81.0% (269) of respondents considered ITNs as the main prevention method. About 64% (257) of the respondents possessed ITNs, of these, 66.9% (172) consistently used ITNs during the peak season. Majority 83.6% (337) of the respondents had a positive attitude towards ITNs. ConclusionsAlthough the retrospective data showed a declining trend of malaria in the district, the current prevalence survey revealed significant increase in malaria infection in the locality. This was due to by unsustainable distribution and inconsistent use of ITNs among the population. We recommend the governments and stockholders to give emphasis on full coverage of ITNs and educate the community about ITNs usage.

In this work, the antibacterial activities of natural Ethiopian honey and iron (Fe)-/nickel (Ni)-doped ZnO nanoparticles against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were investigated. The test strains used were Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus ATCC25923) and Escherichia coli (E. coli ATCC25922). The co-precipitation method was used to prepare Fe- and Ni-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) study revealed that the prepared samples have hexagonal crystal structure with a preferred orientation along the (101) plane. The average crystal sizes for iron and nickel-doped NPs were 39.09[Formula: see text]nm and 34.30[Formula: see text]nm, respectively. The energy dispersive analysis of X-ray spectra (EDX) analyses confirmed the presence of Zn, O, Fe and Ni elements in the prepared NPs samples. A strong emission peak at 454[Formula: see text]nm was observed in the photoluminescence spectra of the NPs. In order to characterize the honey’s composition, variety of physico-chemical and optical approaches were used. The absorption spectra of the three samples of honey are comparable and exhibited a noticeable peak about 260[Formula: see text]nm. The FTIR analysis confirmed that the honey samples contained the expected functional groups. The agar well diffusion technique was used to investigate the antibacterial efficacy of Fe- and Ni-doped ZnO NPs as well as Ethiopian natural honey. The results show that against E. coli strains and S. aureus strains, respectively, Fe-doped and Ni-doped ZnO NPs had average inhibitory zones of 17.1[Formula: see text]mm, 15.7[Formula: see text]mm, 15.5[Formula: see text]mm and 14.7[Formula: see text]mm, respectively. Against the S. aureus strain, the natural honey displayed a maximal inhibition zone of 12.6[Formula: see text]mm and no inhibition zone at all for E. coli.

Background: Malaria is still a burden to Ethiopia, especially among the productive ages of the society. Although insecticide-treated mosquito nets (INTs) are widely practiced by the rural community, malaria remains a leading public health issue. This study aimed to evaluate a 5-year trend, current prevalence and community knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards malaria and use of ITNs as a strategy for prevention of malaria among the rural setting of Welkait district, northwest Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 403 households to identify the prevalence rate of malaria. Besides, a 5-year (2015-2019) retrospective data was analyzed. Random sampling technique was used to select representative households among the community members. Well-structured questionnaires were used to collect KAP data towards the utilization of ITNs against malaria infection. Blood samples were examined for identification of malaria parasites following standard procedure. SPSS version 22 was used for the analysis of quantitative data. Results: Of 36,219 outpatients examined, 7,309 (20.2%) malaria-positive cases were reported during 2015-2019. Overall prevalence of malaria was continually declined from 2015-2019. Male slide-confirmed (61.4%, N = 4,485) were significantly higher than female (38.6%, N = 2,824) (p < 005). Nineteen (4.7%) confirmed malaria cases were screened during parasitological survey (12 cases of P. falciparum and 7 cases of P. vivax). Most 78.4% (316) and 84.1% (339) of the respondents knew malaria is a communicable and curable disease respectively and 75.6% (239) of them associated it with mosquito bit. From 82.4% (332) respondents who believed malaria is preventable, 81.0% (269) of respondents considered ITNs as the main prevention method. About 64% (257) of the respondents possessed ITNs, of these, 66.9% (172) consistently used during peak season. Majority 83.6% (337) of the respondents have a positive attitude toward ITNs. Conclusion: Although the retrospective analysis showed a declining trend of malaria in the district, the current prevalence survey revealed a significant increase of malaria in the locality. This was contributed by unsustainable distribution and inconsistent use of ITNs among the population. We recommend the governments and stockholders to give emphasis on full coverage of ITNs and educate the community about ITNs usage.