Dengue fever (DF), one of the most important emerging arboviral diseases, is transmitted through the bite of container breeding mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. A household entomological survey was conducted in Dhaka from August through October 2000 to inspect water-holding containers in indoor, outdoor, and rooftop locations for Aedes larvae. The objective of this study was to determine mosquito productivity of each container type and to identify some risk factors of households infested with Aedes larvae. Of 9,222 households inspected, 1,306 (14.2%) were positive for Aedes larvae. Of 38,777 wet containers examined, 2,272 (5.8%) were infested with Aedes larvae. Containers used to hold water, such as earthen jars, tanks, and drums were the most common containers for larval breeding. Tires in outdoor and rooftop locations of the households were also important for larval breeding. Although present in abundance, buckets were of less importance. Factors such as independent household, presence of a water storage system in the house, and fully/partly shaded outdoors were found to be significantly associated with household infestation of Aedes larvae. Identification and subsequent elimination of the most productive containers in a given area may potentially reduce mosquito density to below a level at which dengue transmission may be halted.

S E T T I N G :Both depression and tuberculosis (TB) are global public health problems that have a substantial impact on human health. However, depressive state among TB patients has not been well investigated in the Philippines. O B J E C T I V E : To assess depressive state among pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients and to identify factors associated with depressive state in Manila, the Philippines. D E S I G N : A cross-sectional survey of PTB patients was conducted at 10 public health centres and two nongovernment organisation clinics providing DOTS in District I, Tondo, Manila. Face-to-face interviews with 561 PTB patients using a structured questionnaire were conducted. R E S U LT S : Depressive state was observed in 16.8% of the participants. Logistic regression analysis indicated that body mass index < 18.5 kg/m 2 , marital status of cohabitation compared with married, four or more symptoms, four or more adverse drug reactions, grade 3 or higher on the Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale and low perceived confidant social support were significantly associated with depressive state.

Socioeconomic status including SHS exposure and low perceived social support, in addition to clinical factors, may be associated with poor HRQOL. Further study would be needed to assess our findings.

We performed a proof-of-concept study using the Xpert MTB/RIF test for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from fecal samples. The overall sensitivity was 85.7% (95% CI; 73.8 – 93.6%) and the specificity was 100% (95% CI; 86.2–100).