Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection rate and mortality among Nigerian health care workers appear to be on the increase. Aside from health workers, it has caused millions of infections and deaths worldwide.  This study determined the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices of nursing and midwifery students towards COVID-19 in a North-Eastern Nigerian state.Methods: A total of 156 respondents were involved in this institutional-based cross-sectional study, conducted after the lockdown period. A total of 17 questions were used to assess the KAP with knowledge appraised with 12 questions, attitudes with 2 questions, and practices with 3 questions.Results: The majority of the students (53.80%) possessed a good level of knowledge regarding COVID-19, while 40.4% had fair knowledge regarding COVID-19 with only 5.80% having poor knowledge of COVID-19. The mean knowledge of COVID-19 in this study was 9.40±1.353 with an overall 78% correct answer rate. A vast majority of the respondent (82.7% and 98.1%) had strong confidence in Nigeria and believed that the pandemic will soon be over, respectively. Only a few avoided large gatherings of people (30.8%) with the vast majority reporting to have worn a mask when going out (84.6%) and washing their hands with running water and soap frequently as recommended (73.1%). In multiple logistic regression analyses, the COVID-19 knowledge score (OR: 0.39-0.40, 95%CI: 0.26 – 0.62, P<0.05) was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of negative preventive practices towards COVID-19.Conclusions: The participants in this study showed good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good practices toward COVID-19. There is still a need to strategize and implement periodic educational interventions and training on infection control practices among healthcare workers including students.

COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China a few months ago (December 2019) and had since become a major challenging public health problem for not only China but also many countries around the world. It was on March 11, 2020, characterized by WHO as a pandemic. The pandemic so far has killed more than 526,465 people and infected more than 11,046,917 people around the world as of 05 July 2020. Nigeria currently has 28,167 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 11,462 (40%) discharged, 16,071 (57%) currently receiving treatment at designated facilities across the country and unfortunately 634 (3%) deaths as at the time of writing this manuscript. As far as the authors are aware, there are little or no work carried out on the implications of COVID-19 on dental practices in Nigeria. Recently, COVID-19 was identified in saliva of infected patients and so transmission via aerosols and splatter generated during dental procedures is sure. To limit exposure, there was a need to avoid scheduling patients except for emergency dental care during this outbreak. This limitation on activities of the dental sector has a very huge impact on the economy of the sector as it has already resulted in serious monetary implications for dental practices worldwide. While dental practices in the high-income countries are getting help from their respective Government, those in the middle and low-income countries like Nigeria have been left to wallow in bankruptcy without support. The authors highly recommend that the Government of these neglected countries, step up and support dental practices that are on the brink of closing down due to the low turnout of patients to their practice during this outbreak.

Fluorosis affects both children’s oral health and quality of life because even the mildest form of tooth discoloration is considered cosmetically unacceptable and is a cause of psychological concern for those affected. This study aims to assess the prevalence of dental fluorosis and determine its associated risk factors among adolescents in the Zing community. This study is a quantitative crosssectional survey. The study participants were 300 children residing in Zing community and studying in one of the secondary schools selected for this study using a systematic random sampling technique. A questionnaire was designed and pretested to record information about demographic characteristics and risk factors for dental fluorosis. The children were also asked about their source of water consumption and their main source of drinking water recorded. The Dean Fluorosis Index (1934) was used to determine the grade of the severity of dental fluorosis. A Chi-square analysis test was used to test for possible associations. The prevalence of dental fluorosis was calculated as 52.0% and it varied significantly with age. A severe form of dental fluorosis (21.7%) was the most common grade of severity of dental fluorosis. Mild dental fluorosis had the lowest prevalence of 6.0%. The correlation between the occurrence of dental fluorosis and the duration of residence was found to be highly statistically significant (p≤0.001). The prevalence of dental caries in this study was 12.7%. No correlation was found between dental fluorosis and caries status. The prevalence of dental fluorosis was significantly high among the secondary school students of the Zing community in Taraba State. There is thus a need for health education and community awareness for preventing fluorosis and for early intervention to reduce the consequences on dental and periodontal health status.