Malaria prevalence remains high in many African countries despite massive scaling-up of insecticide treated nets (ITN) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). This paper evaluates the protective effect of pyrethroid IRS and ITNs in relation to risk factors for malaria based on a study conducted in North-West Tanzania, where IRS has been conducted since 2007 and universal coverage of ITNs has been carried out recently. In 2011 community-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the two main malaria transmission periods that occur after the short and long rainy seasons. These included 5,152 and 4,325 children aged 0.5–14 years, respectively. Data on IRS and ITN coverage, household demographics and socio-economic status were collected using an adapted version of the Malaria Indicator Survey. Children were screened for malaria by rapid diagnostic test. In the second survey, haemoglobin density was measured and filter paper blood spots were collected to determine age-specific sero-prevalence in each community surveyed. Plasmodium falciparum infection prevalence in children 0.5–14 years old was 9.3% (95%CI:5.9–14.5) and 22.8% (95%CI:17.3–29.4) in the two surveys. Risk factors for infection after the short rains included households not being sprayed (OR = 0.39; 95%CI:0.20–0.75); low community net ownership (OR = 0.45; 95%CI:0.21–0.95); and low community SES (least poor vs. poorest tertile: OR = 0.13, 95%CI:0.05–0.34). Risk factors after the long rains included household poverty (per quintile increase: OR = 0.89; 95%CI:0.82–0.97) and community poverty (least poor vs. poorest tertile: OR = 0.26, 95%CI:0.15–0.44); household IRS or high community ITN ownership were not protective. Despite high IRS coverage and equitable LLIN distribution, poverty was an important risk factor for malaria suggesting it could be beneficial to target additional malaria control activities to poor households and communities. High malaria prevalence in some clusters and the limited protection given by pyrethroid IRS and LLINs suggest that it may be necessary to enhance established vector control activities and consider additional interventions.

Background: Syphilis testing, treatment, and partner notification (PN) are centrally coordinated in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Public health (PH) nurses (PHNs) contact almost all syphilis patients and either notify partners of syphilis exposure (PH-initiated PN) or support patients to notify their own partners (patient-initiated PN). In the context of an ongoing syphilis epidemic among gay, bisexual, and other men who report sex with men (gbMSM), we measured population-level yields and compared PN approaches to inform prevention and control efforts.Methods: All gbMSM diagnosed with infectious syphilis in 2016 in BC were included. We calculated indicators of engagement with PN among patients and PN outcomes among notifiable partners using a cascade-of-care framework. χ 2 Tests compared indicators between PN approaches. Results:Of the 759 syphilis diagnoses, 85.4% (648/759) were among gbMSM and 94.7% (614/648) were treated within 30 days of testing (mean [SD], 5.5 [5.2] days). Among patients, 87.7% (568/648) discussed PN with PHNs and 49.5% (281/568) named at least 1 notifiable partner, for a total of 1094 partners (mean [SD], 3.9 [5.5] partners/patient). Compared with PH-initiated PN, patient-initiated PN resulted in a greater proportion of partners notified (70.1% [573/817] vs. 89.8% [211/235]; P = 1.88 Â 10 −9 ), but there was no difference in the proportion of partners tested and/or treated (90.2% [517/573] vs. 86.7% [183/211]; P = 0.203), and diagnosed (12.8% [66/517] vs. 16.4% [30/183]; P > 0.271).Conclusions: Public health-and patient-initiated PN had similarly high yields of partners tested and/or treated, and diagnosed, demonstrating that gbMSM can contribute to syphilis PN when supported by resource-equipped PHNs.

Abstract Background The incidence of syphilis has been increasing worldwide in the last 20 years, disproportionately impacting those living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Alongside this increase, several jurisdictions have reported increasing incidences of syphilis-related complications, including ocular syphilis. We sought to characterize ocular syphilis cases in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods This case-control study compared ocular syphilis cases, matched (1:4) to syphilis controls, that were diagnosed in BC between January 2010 and December 2018. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify potential correlates of ocular syphilis, where variables were included in the final model if significant (P ≤ .05). Results During the study period, there were 6716 syphilis diagnoses, including 66 (0.98%) ocular syphilis cases. The median age of cases was 49.5 years (interquartile range 39–59). Most (87.8%) patients were male, where 54.6% identified as men who have sex with men. The most common ophthalmologic diagnosis was panuveitis (42.4%). Of ocular syphilis patients, 48.5% were living with HIV at the time of their syphilis diagnosis, compared to 26.4% of controls (P = .001). The proportion of syphilis cases with ocular syphilis increased from 0.48% in 2010 to 0.83% in 2018. The final multivariable model demonstrated correlates between ocular syphilis and early syphilis stage, including primary/secondary (odds ratio [OR] 4.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.86–13.24) and early latent (OR 4.29, 95% CI 1.62–11.34) stages, and HIV serostatus (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.14–4.09). Conclusions Ocular syphilis increased over the study period, both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of all syphilis cases, a finding consistent with other jurisdictions. These findings highlight the importance of vigilance for ocular syphilis, to avoid diagnostic and treatment delays.

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