Background: Protozoan infections remain a major public health concern in Ethiopia, which causes malnutrition, protein and iron deficiencies, increment of health costs, hospitalization and long-term deleterious effects. In Tigrai, particularly, in the study area, there are limited literatures on the prevalence of protozoa and associated factors among diarrheic outpatients. Thus, aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of protozoan infections among diarrheic outpatients in Eastern Tigrai. Methods: Health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern Tigrai, Ethiopia from April to October 2019 among diarrheic outpatient in health facilities of Adigrat. Four hundred one eighteen study participants were included consecutively. The stool samples were examined via direct wet mount following formal-ether concentration technique. Both interviewer based and self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect demographic data and factors associated with protozoan infections. Data were analyzed and computed using BM SPSS statistics version 22.0. P-value=0.05 at 95% confidence interval declared statistically significant. Results: Out of 418 diarrheic outpatients, the overall prevalence of protozoan infection was 59.3% (248/418). A higher percentage of intestinal protozoan infection was recorded for females 130 (31.1%). Using well water as a source of drinking, poor hand washing habits before eating, not home latrine, dirty and untrimmed fingernails were the most important risk factors identified. E. histolytica complex and Giardia duodenalis were the most predominant protozoan infections detected among diarrheic outpatients. Conclusion: The present study showed that diarrheic outpatients in the study area were heavily infected with protozoan parasitic infection. E. histolytica complex and Giardia duodenalis were the most predominant protozoans detected among diarrheic outpatients. Using well water as a source of drinking, poor handwashing habit before eating, not having home latrine, dirty and untrimmed fingernails were most important risk factors identified. So, cooperative action and health education on preventive measure are needed to reduce protozoan infections in Tigrai, particularly in the study area. The present study showed that diarrheic outpatients in the study area were heavily infected with protozoan parasitic infection.

Background Unsafe food becomes a global public health and economic threat to humans. The health status, personal hygiene, knowledge, and practice of food handlers have crucial impact on food contamination. Hence, this study is aimed at assessing the knowledge, practice, and prevalence of Salmonella, Shigella, and intestinal parasites among food handlers in Eastern Tigrai prison centers, Northern Ethiopia. Methods An institutional-based cross-sectional study was carried out from April to September 2019 among food handlers in Eastern Tigrai prison centers, Northern Ethiopia. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics, the knowledge, and the practice of the study participants. Direct wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques were applied to identify intestinal parasites. Culture and biochemical tests were used to isolate the Salmonella and the Shigella species. Additionally, antimicrobial susceptibility tests to selected antibiotics were performed using Kirby-Baur disk diffusion method. We used SPSS version 23 software for statistical analysis. Results Thirty-seven (62.7%, 37/59) of the participants had harbored one or more intestinal parasites. The protozoan Entamoeba histolytica/dispar was detected among 23.7% (14/59) of the study participants who provided stool specimen. Besides, 6.8% (4/59) of the samples were positive for either Salmonella or Shigella species. The Salmonella isolates (n = 2) were sensitive to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriaxone, and Clarithromycin but resistant to Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, and Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Similarly, the two Shigella isolates were susceptible to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin, and Ceftriaxone but showed resistance to Amoxicillin, Tetracycline, and Chloramphenicol. Further, 60.6% (40/66) of the participants had good level of knowledge, and 51.5% (34/66) had good level of practice on foodborne diseases and on food safety. Conclusions We conclude that foodborne pathogens are significant health problems in the study areas. Regular health education and training programs among the food handlers are demanded to tackle foodborne diseases at the prison centers.

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis causes alterations of lipid metabolism and it is associated with hypocholesterolemia and severe hypertriglyceridemia. Hepatic dysfunction and life-threatening hepatitis are associated with visceral leishmaniasis. Kidney damage is frequently associated with increased morbidity and mortality in visceral leishmaniasis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the alterations of clinical chemistry parameters among visceral leishmaniasis patients attending Kahsay Abera and Mearg hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 100 visceral leishmaniasis patients and 100 healthy controls without visceral leishmaniasis were selected by using convenient sampling techniques. Data were entered and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. Results: Results were showed that the mean value of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, and triglyceride was significantly higher in visceral leishmaniasis patients than in apparently healthy controls, but the mean value of serum urea and total cholesterol was significantly lower in visceral leishmaniasis patients than healthy controls. Conclusion: The finding of this study concluded that visceral leishmaniasis causes significant alterations of clinical chemistry tests like liver and lipid profile tests compared to healthy controls.

Background Locally established clinical laboratory reference intervals (RIs) are required to interpret laboratory test results for screening, diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was establishing reference interval of clinical chemistry parameters among apparently healthy adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years in Mekelle, Tigrai, northern part of Ethiopia. Methods Community based cross sectional study was employed from December 2018 to March 2019 in Mekelle city among 172 males and 172 females based on Multi stage sampling technique. Blood samples were tested for Fasting blood sugar (FBS), alanine aminino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin (ALB), direct and indirect bilirubin (BIL.D and BIL.T) using 25 Bio system clinical chemistry analyzer. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23 software and based on the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI)/ International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) C 28-A3 Guideline which defines the reference interval as the 95% central range of 2.5 th and 97.5 th percentiles. Mann Whitney U test, descriptive statistics and box and whisker were statistical tools used for analysis.

Background: Hematological abnormalities are common in visceral leishmaniasis patients, which is one of the main public health problems worldwide. The most common hematological abnormalities are anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the hematological alteration among visceral leishmaniasis patients attending Western Tigrai, Ethiopia, 2019. Method: Hospital based comparative cross sectional study was conducted from November 2018 to March 2019 in Western Tigrai, Ethiopia. A total of 100 Visceral Leishmaniasis patients and 100 control groups were included in this study. Blood was collected and analyzed by mindray BC-5800 hematology analyzer. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical package for social science version 23. Student independent t-test was used for data analysis. P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant at 95% confidence level. Result: From the total 100 visceral leishmaniasis patients the following abnormalities were reported: 96(96%) anemia, 95(95%) leucopenia, 92(92%) neutropenia, 73(73%) Lymphopenia, 45(45%) eosinopenia and 97(97%) had thrombocytopenia. Red blood cell, hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell indices and platelet were significantly lower (p<0.05) in visceral leishmaniasis patients compared with the control groups. Similarly the total White blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte, eosinophil and basophil count were significantly lower (p<0.05) in visceral leishmaniasis patients compared with the control groups. Conclusion: The major changes in peripheral blood of patient with visceral leishmaniasis are reduced number of red blood cells, reduction in leukocytes and decreased platelet count. Visceral leishmaniasis patients presented with anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. So this finding indicates that visceral leishmaniasis causes alterations of hematological parameters. Key words: Amastigote, Anemia, Hematological Parameters, Promastigote, Visceral leishmaniasis, Ethiopia .