Objectives-This study was part of the East African pesticides project. The general objective was to assess health hazards posed by handling, storage, and use of pesticides, on agricultural estates and small farms with a view to developing strategies for prevention and control of pesticide poisoning. The aim of this paper is to describe the prevalence of symptoms in this population, to relate levels of inhibition to reported symptoms and evaluate at which levels of inhibition symptoms become increased. Methods-Complete data were available for 256 exposed subjects and 152 controls from four regions in Kenya. A structured questionnaire on symptoms experienced at the time of interview was given to all subjects and controls. Information was also obtained on sex, age, main occupation, and level of education. Symptoms reported during the high exposure period, were initially clustered in broader symptom categories from reference literature on health eVects of pesticides that inhibit cholinesterase (organophosphate and carbamate). Prevalence ratios were estimated for symptoms with changes in cholinesterase activity in serum. Results-Symptom prevalence in exposed subjects was higher during the high exposure period than the low exposure period, although these diVerences were not significant. Interestingly, a clear and significant change in symptoms prevalence was found in the controls with a higher prevalence in the low exposure period. Analysis of the relation between cholinesterase inhibition and symptoms showed that prevalence ratios were significantly >1 for respiratory, eye, and central nervous system symptoms for workers with >30% inhibition. Similar results were found for analyses with the actual level of acetylcholinesterase activity. Conclusion-The results suggest the presence of a relation between exposure and acetylcholinesterase inhibition, acetylcholinesterase activity, and respiratory, eye, and central nervous system symptoms. Increased symptom prevalence was found at acetylcholinesterase activities generally considered to be non-adverse.

Background  Minimal influenza surveillance has been carried out in sub‐Saharan Africa to provide information on circulating influenza subtypes for the purpose of vaccine production and monitoring trends in virus spread and mutations. Objective  The aim of this study was to investigate a surveillance program in Kenya to isolate and characterize influenza viruses. Results  In the 2006–2007 influenza season, nine influenza A viruses were isolated. All were of H3N2 subtype with key amino acid (aa) changes indicating that they were more closely related to recent World Health Organization recommended vaccine strains than to older vaccine strains, and mirroring the evolution of circulating influenza A globally. Hemagglutination inhibition data showed that the 2006 Kenya isolates had titers identical to the 2005–2006 H3N2 vaccine strain but two‐ to threefold lower titers to the 2006–2007 vaccine strain, suggesting that the isolates were antigenic variants of the 2006–2007 vaccine strains. Analysis of aa substitutions of hemagglutinin‐1 (HA1) protein of the 2006 Kenyan viruses revealed unique genetic variations with several aa substitutions located at immunodominant epitopes of the HA1 protein. These mutations included the V112I change at site E, the K 173 E substitution at site D and N 278 K change at site C, mutations that may result in conformational change on the HA molecule to expose novel epitopes thus abrogating binding of pre‐existing antibodies at these sites. Conclusion  Characterization of these important genetic variations in influenza A viruses isolated from Kenya highlights the importance of continuing surveillance and characterization of emerging influenza drift variants in sub‐Saharan Africa.

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Background: Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age in developing countries with viruses contributing significantly to this problem. The recently identified parvovirus, Human Bocavirus (HBoV), has also been associated with ARI. Objective: To determine the frequency of HBoV in patients with ARI. Materials and Methods: Samples from 125 consenting patients with influenza like illness signs and symptoms were collected. DNA was extracted from these samples using the QIAamp DNA blood mini kit (Qiagen, Germany). Conventional PCR was carried out and the amplicons were examined in 2% agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. This was followed by sequencing of the HBoV positive samples. Results: Twenty one (16.8%) patients were found to have HBoV infection. Males (n = 61.9%) were mainly infected with HBoV. Local HBoV strains had 98.9%-100% similarities and were found to cluster together with other strains obtained elsewhere. Conclusion: These findings suggest that HBoV plays a role in respiratory tract infections in children in Kenya just like it has been found elsewhere. It also sheds light on multiple infections associated with HBoV infections in Kenya.