Adequate handling, efficient treatment and effective methods of biomedical waste play a vital role in the hospital infection control programme. Inadequate management of healthcare waste is a serious concern in many developing countries due to the risks posed to human health and environment. This study evaluates the biomedical waste generated at the Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba. Seven wards were selected within the health facilities to determine the quantities of waste. The result showed that total waste generated in seven consecutive days was 19.89 kg/week. The average waste generated in seven wards was 2.8 kg/week and average waste generated per day was 0.4 kg/day. The quantity of waste increased as the number of patients and visitors increased. There were non-availability of bags in all the bins used for waste collection, storage and the bins were not colour coded, neither was there segregation of waste in the seven units. The study equally showed that the waste collected from the hospital are subjected to open burning which may affect the health of the workers, patients, visitors and the residents. There should be proper management of healthcare waste which can be improved through employment and retraining of staff, provision of colour coded bins and at least an incinerator for waste treatment before final disposal.

Background: Diabetic foot ulcer is a common long term complication of diabetes and the most common cause of non-traumatic amputation and prolonged hospitalization. These increases disease burden and further worsen quality of life. Aim: This study evaluated exposure risk factors for foot ulcers among diabetics attending a secondary healthcare facility in Southwest Nigeria. Methods: A case control study of exposure risk factors for diabetes foot ulcer (DFU) at General Hospital Marina Lagos. Using a structured interviewer administered questionnaire, information on foot care education, 24-hour dietary recall, medical history, anthropometric indices and social habits of participants were obtained and analyzed. Results: There were 636 participants in this study (106 cases and 530 controls) with median age of 61.1±11.0 years in both study groups and mostly females, (75.5% in cases and 78.7% controls) with female to male ratio of 3:1. Majority, (83% in cases and 85% in controls) were in the low socioeconomic class and had lived with DM for more than 5years. Of the studied risk factors, lacking foot care education, diagnosis of visual impairment and hypertension, dietary intake of large proportion of carbohydrate meal at breakfast and dinner and obesity occured in significantly higher proportion of cases and controls and were associated with presence of DFU. (p<0.05) Conclusions: Lack of foot care education, diagnosis of visual impairment, hypertension and poor dietary habit are associated with presence of DFU. Addressing these factors from point of diagnosis will go a long way in stemming the burden of diabetes foot ulcer.

To date, camels still remain an important work animal as well as source of protein to humans in the Sudan and Sahel regions of Nigeria. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 camels slaughtered in Maiduguri central abattoir to determine the prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi using Card Agglutination Test (CATT) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques. Overall, 30 (20%) of the camels tested were seropositive while PCR targeting the 227 base pair of the Variable Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) gene of T. evansi detected the DNA of the parasite in 9 out of the 30seropositive camels. Higher infection was found among adult compared to the young camels using the two diagnostic techniques; 24.1% vs 19.0% and 10.3% vs 4.6%, for CATT and PCR techniques, respectively. However, the differences being not statistically significant (P > 0.05) for the two methods of diagnosis. Furthermore, significantly (P < 0.05)higher prevalence of infection was recorded among male compared to female camels using the serological method of diagnosis, while (P > 0.05) using the molecular method; 27.5% vs 13.6% for CATT and 10.1% vs 2.5% for PCR. Camels with PCV =24 %( mean: 19.8923 ± 4.0931) recorded significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence of 23.1% than those with PCV = 25% (mean 31.7294 ± 5.50584), where the prevalence was 17.6%.The results of this study showed that camel trypanosomosis is endemic in the study area.  Furtherstudiesto elucidate the epidemiology and socioeconomic impact of this disease in the northeast region of Nigeria are desirable. Keywords:Serology, PCR, Dromedary camel, T.evansi, Maiduguri