ObjectiveSeasonal variations affect the health system’s functioning, including tuberculosis (TB) services, but there is little evidence about seasonal variations in TB case notification in tropical countries, including Ethiopia. This study sought to fill this gap in knowledge using TB data reported from 10 zones, 5 each from Amhara and Oromia regions.MethodsNotified TB cases for 2010–2016 were analyzed using SPSS version 20. We calculated the quarterly and annual average TB case notification rates and the proportion of seasonal amplitudes. We applied Winters’ multiplicative method of exponential smoothing to break down the original time series into seasonal, trend, and irregular components and to build a suitable model for forecasting.ResultsA total of 205,575 TB cases were identified (47.8% from Amhara, 52.2% from Oromia), with a male-to-female ratio of 1.2:1. The means of 8,200 (24%), 7,992 (23%), 8,849 (26%), and 9,222 (27%) TB cases were reported during July-September, October-December, January-March, and April-June, respectively. The seasonal component of our model indicated a peak in April-June and a trough in October-December. The seasonal amplitude in Amhara region is 10% greater than that of Oromia (p < 0.05).ConclusionsTB is shown to be a seasonal disease in Ethiopia, with a peak in quarter four and a low in quarter two of the fiscal year. The peak TB case notification rate corresponds with the end of the dry season in the two agrarian regions of Ethiopia. TB prevention and control interventions, such as efforts to increase community TB awareness about TB transmission and contact tracing, should consider seasonal variation. Regional variations in TB seasonality may require consideration of geographic-specific TB case-finding strategies. The mechanisms underlying the seasonal variation of TB are complex, and further study is needed.

This study in the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia assessed the outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) treatment among children younger than 15 years. Retrospective data were collected on treatment outcomes and their determinants for children with TB for the cohorts of 2012-2014 enrolled in 40 hospitals and 137 health centers. Chi-square tests, t-tests, and logistic regression were used for the analysis. Of 2,557 children registered, 1,218 (47.6%) had clinically diagnosed pulmonary TB, 1,100 (43%) had extrapulmonary TB, and 277 (8.9%) had bacteriologically confirmed TB. Among all cases, 2,503 (97.9%) were newly diagnosed and 178 (7%) were HIV positive. Two-thirds of the children received directly observed treatment (DOT) in health centers and the remaining one-third, in hospitals. The treatment success rate (TSR) was 92.2%, and the death rate was 2.8%. The childhood TSR was high compared with those reported in focal studies in Ethiopia, but no national TSR report for children exists for comparison. Multivariate analysis showed that being older-5-9 years (adjusted odds ratio [

ObjectiveTo determine the yield of tuberculosis (TB) and the prevalence of Human Immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) among key populations in the selected hotspot towns of Ethiopia. MethodsWe undertook a cross-sectional implementation research during August 2017-January 2018. Trained TB focal persons and health extension workers (HEWs) identified female sex workers (FSWs), health care workers (HCWs), prison inmates, homeless, internally displaced people (IDPs), internal migratory workers (IMWs) and residents in missionary charities as key and vulnerable popuaiton. They carried out health education on the importance of TB screening and HIV testing prior to recruitment of the study participants. Symptomatic TB screening and HIV testing was done. The yield of TB was computed per 100,000 background key population. ResultsA total of 1878 vulnerable people were screened, out of which 726 (38.7%) presumptive TB cases and 87 (4.6%) TB cases were identified. The yield of TB was 1519 (95% CI: 1218.1-1869.9). The highest proportion (19.5%) and yield of TB case (6,3)) was among HCWs. The prevalence of HIV infection was 6%, 67 out of 1,111 tested. IMWs and FSWs represented 49.3% (33) and 28.4% (13) of the HIV infections, respectively. There was a statistically significant association of active TB cases with previous history of TB (

Background Severe acute malnutrition is the most prevalent reason for admission to a pediatric unit, and it is a leading cause of mortality in many countries, including Ethiopia, at 25% to 30%, where it affects both developed and developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess treatment outcomes and associated factors among children aged 6–59 months with severe acute malnutrition. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from medical records of patients enrolled in the therapeutic feeding center from January 2016 to March 2019. There were 385 samples collected at 3 public referral hospitals in Addis Ababa, which were selected by simple random sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the available individual folders and registers. The data analysis was performed using binary and multivariable logistic regression models. The odds ratio with 95% CI was used to identify predictor variables. Variables that have a p-value <0.05 were considered significant. Results Children who had tuberculosis were 79% less likely to recover than those who had no tuberculosis. In this study, deaths accounted for 9.1%, recovered were 72.2%, and defaulters accounted for 11.6% with a mean length of stay of 18.6 (CI: 16.9, 20.2) days and an average weight gain of 7.2 g/kg/day (CI: 5.7, 8.2). Conclusion Treating comorbidities on time can help children to recover early and reduce readmission. Integration of severe acute malnutrition screening into all service delivery points can help early identification and treatment. In the meantime, treating them with ready-to-use therapeutic feeding has a significant change in recovery.

The experiment was conducted at Bako agricultural research center to evaluate the effect of EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw supplemented with concentrate mix on feed intake, milk yield and composition of crossbred dairy cows. Four cows of same milk yield, body weight, stage of lactation, but differing parities were arranged in 4x4 Latin square design. The animals were provided with natural grass hay (T1), untreated finger millet straw (T2), EM2 treated finger millet straw (T3) and urea treated finger millet straw (T4) diet ad libitum and all treatments were supplemented with concentrate mix. Results of chemical analysis of the treated finger millet straw showed that the treated straw had good nutritive value. The daily dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) intakes were significantly (P<0.001) different among the treatments with the highest intake observed for cows fed EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw (T3 and T4). Milk yields varied significantly among the dietary treatments with the lower mean milk yield recorded for cows in T1 and T2 as compared to those in T3 and T4. This study indicated that EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw diet increased the net return. Feeding EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw with concentrate mix was found to be an effective approach to maximize the utilization of locally available feed resources for relatively high animal productivity during the dry season for small scale dairy keepers in rural areas. Therefore, the result demonstrated that EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw had better feeding value as compared to untreated finger millet straw and natural grass hay for lactating crossbred dairy cows.