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BackgroundEarly tuberculosis (TB) case finding and adequate chemotherapy are essential for interrupting disease transmission and preventing complications due to delayed care seeking. This study was undertaken in order to provide insights into the magnitude and determinants of patient delay.MethodsThe study was conducted in rural Seru district, employing a population based unmatched case-control study design. The WHO standardized TB screening tool was used to identify presumptive TB cases among the district population ages > 15 years. Presumptive TB cases who sought care in a health facility more than 14 days after the onset of symptoms were considered cases while those who sought care within the first 14 days were classified as controls. A structured interview questionnaire was used to capture socio demographic characteristics and health care service utilization related data from the study participants. A multiple binary logistic regression model was used to identify any factor associated with patient care seeking delay.ResultA total of 9,782 individuals were screened, of which 980 (10%, 95% CI; 9.4-10.5%) presumptive TB cases were identified. From these cases 358 (76%, 95% CI; 75.6%-76.4%) sought care within the first 14 days of the onset of symptoms with a median patient delay of 15 days, IQR (5-30 days). The most common TB suggestive symptom mentioned by the participants was night sweat 754 (76.4%) while the least common was a history of contact with a confirmed TB case in the past one year 207 (21.1%). Individuals in the 45-54 age range had lower odds of delay (AOR 0.31, 95%CI 0.15, 0.61) as compared to those 15-24 years old. First TB treatment episode (AOR16.2, 95% CI 9.94, 26.26) and limited access to either traditional or modern modes of transportation (AOR 2.62, 95% CI 1.25, 5.49) were independently associated with patient care delay.ConclusionIncreasing community awareness about the risks of delayed care seeking and the importance of accessing health services close to the community can help decrease patient care delay.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains to be the most heavily affected region by malnutrition, accounting for 23.8% share of the global burden. Undernutrition weakens the immune system, increases the susceptibility to infections, and may worsen the impact on various kinds of diseases. Our aim was to assess undernutrition and its associated factors among AIDS-infected adult patients from Asella, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was employed from June to July 2018. A total number of 519 patients were selected for the proposed work. Data was entered into EpiData, checked, coded, and analyzed using SPSS version 21 software. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the prevalence of undernutrition among patients. Bivariate and multivariate regressions were used to determine the relationship between undernutrition and its associated factors among the study participants. The results of our study showed that the overall prevalence of undernutrition was 18.3%; out of which 12.7% were mildly and 5.6% were moderately to severely undernourished, respectively. Monthly income (AOR: 3.589, 95% CI (1.469-8.768)), whole grain feeding (AOR: 2.979, 95% CI (1.252-7.088)), opportunistic infections in the last six months (AOR: 3.683, 95% CI (3.075-4.411)), clinical stage (AOR: 2.998, 95% CI (1.269-7.083)), and insufficient quality of food (AOR: 3.149, 95% CI (1.339-7.406)) were found to be significantly associated with undernutrition in this study. Therefore, HIV treatment facility should be supported with nutritional assessment, supplementation, counseling, care, and support to patients that may possibly alleviate this predicament.

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Background: Helicobacter pylori infection is the most common chronic bacterial infection and there were approximately 4.4 billion individuals with H pylori infection worldwide. Among those, hundreds of millions of people develop peptic ulcer disease during their lifetime and still tens of millions might progress to gastric cancer. Hence, early information is very important to prevent upper gastrointestinal complications. Consequently, the current study aimed to assess the magnitude and associated risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection among adult dyspeptic patients attending Bokoji hospital, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study involving 348 adult dyspeptic patients attending Bokoji hospital was carried out from July 16 to October 31, 2019. About 50 mg of fresh stool and 60 µl of capillary blood were collected from each dyspeptic patient and analyzed for detection of Helicobacter pylori antigens, presence of intestinal parasites and ABO blood grouping respectively. Data were entered using Epi Info 7 and Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 21 and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The overall magnitude of Helicobacter pylori infection was 47.7%. The magnitude of H. pylori infection was almost two times higher in patients who do not have a habit of handwashing after toilet visit than those who wash their hand's habit of handwashing after visiting toilet (AOR 2.241, 95% CI (1.410, 3.563) and alcohol drinking habit (AOR 1.796, 95% CI (1.087, 2.968). Conclusions: The magnitude of H. pylori was high in the study area and associated with handwashing habits after toilet use and alcohol drinking habits. Therefore, the community could be educated on the handwashing habit to minimize H. pylori infections.