Background Tuberculosis is a major public health problem caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, occurring predominantly in population with low socioeconomic status. It is the second most common cause of death from infectious diseases. Tuberculosis becomes a double burden among anemic patients. Anemia increases an individual’s susceptibility to infectious diseases including tuberculosis by reducing the immunity level. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether anemia is a risk factor for tuberculosis. Method Relevant published articles were searched in electronic databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library using the following MeSH terms: risk factor, predictors, tuberculosis, TB, Anaemia, Anemia, hemoglobin, Hgb, and Hb. Articles written in the English, observational studies conducted on the incidence/prevalence of tuberculosis among anemic patients, or papers examined anemia as risk factors for tuberculosis were included. From those studies meeting eligibility criteria, the first author’s name, publication year, study area, sample size and age of participants, study design, and effect measure of anemia for tuberculosis were extracted. The data were entered using Microsoft Excel and exported to Stata version 11 for analysis. The random-effects model was applied to estimate the pooled OR and HR, and 95% CI. The sources of heterogeneity were tested by Cochrane I-squared statistics. The publication bias was assessed using Egger’s test statistics. Results A total of 17 articles with a 215,294 study participants were included in the analysis. The odd of tuberculosis among anemic patients was 3.56 (95% CI 2.53–5.01) times higher than non-anemic patients. The cohort studies showed that the HR of tuberculosis was 2.01 (95% CI 1.70–2.37) times higher among anemic patients than non-anemic patients. The hazard of tuberculosis also increased with anemia severity (HR 1.37 (95% CI 0.92–2.05), 2.08 (95% CI 1.14–3.79), and 2.66 (95% CI 1.71–4.13) for mild, moderate, and severe anemia, respectively). Conclusion According to the current systematic review and meta-analysis, we can conclude that anemia was a risk factor for tuberculosis. Therefore, anemia screening, early diagnose, and treatment should be provoked in the community to reduce the burden of tuberculosis.

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Background: Knowledge of the ABO and RhD group distribution is essential for blood banks inventory and assuring quality blood transfusion services. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of ABO and RhD phenotype, allele, and genotype among blood donors at North Gondar District Blood Bank from 2010 to 2012, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: The data of the current study were obtained from registration logbooks of blood donors registered. The ABO and RhD grouping was done by using commercially available monoclonal antibodies (anti-A, anti-B and anti-D) by slide methods. Results with no agglutination by anti-D antibody were confirmed using anti-human globulin test. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The allele and genotype frequency of the donors was determined by Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium assumption. The difference between the observed and expected frequency was tested by online Chi-square calculator. P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Among 6471 blood donors, 82.1%, 94.1% and 55.4% were males, replacement donors and in the age group of 21-30 years, respectively. Blood group O (47.04%) and blood group AB (4.81%) were the dominant and least common, respectively. The distribution of the RhD negative blood group was 5.76%. The distribution of A, B and O alleles was 0.1714, 0.1433 and 0.6859, respectively. Moreover, the genotype frequency of AA, AO, BB, BO, AB and OO was 0.0294, 0.2350, 0.0205, 0.1966, 0.0491 and 0.4704, respectively. The genotype frequency of DD, Dd and dd was 0.5774, 0.3649 and 0.0576, respectively. The result showed that there was no statistically significant difference between observed and expected allele and genotype frequency (P-value >0.05). Conclusion: Blood group O and AB were the most and least prevalent, respectively. The allele and genotype frequency of the population was fulfilled the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium assumption. This finding might be useful for blood transfusion services.

Globally, malaria is the major public health disease caused by plasmodium species and transmitted by the bite of the female anopheles mosquito. Assessment of the trend of malaria prevalence is important in the control and prevention of the disease. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the six year trend of malaria prevalence at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, northwest Ethiopia, from 2014 to 2019. A retrospective laboratory registration logbook review study was conducted on the malaria blood film examination results at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. The data was collected by using a data extraction tool and entered into SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the socio-demographic characteristics of study participants and presented by graphs, tables and texts. The binary logistic regression was also used to test the association the trend of malaria prevalence and different factors like sex, age, year, and season. From a total of 17,500 malaria blood film examinations, 1341 (7.7%) were confirmed for malaria parasites. Of the confirmed malaria cases, 47.2%, 45.6% and 7.2% were P. vivax, P. falciparum and mixed infection, respectively. The proportion of P. vivax was the predominant species in the first three study years (2014–2016) and P. falciparum became the predominant species in the last three study years (2017–2019). The odds of malaria prevalence was lower by 68%, 60% and 69% in the year 2017, 2018 and 2019 compared to 2014, respectively. It was also 1.41 times higher in males than in females. Moreover, the odds of malaria prevalence were 1.60, 1.64, 2.45 and 1.82 times higher in the age group of < 5, 5–14, 15–24 and 25–54 years old compared to the older age groups (> 54 years old), respectively. Even there was a significant declining in prevalence trend; malaria is still a major public health problem. The study showed that there was high seasonal fluctuation from year to year. Moreover, males and the younger age groups were more affected than females and old age groups, respectively. Therefore, malaria prevention and control activities should be strengthened and require extra efforts by considering these variability.

Introduction: Acute transfusion reactions are adverse events occurring within 24 hrs of transfusion and cause simple-to-severe complications. They may vary with the blood component transfused and recipient factors. In Ethiopia, there is a limited evidence about the incidence and associated factors of transfusion reactions. Objective: To determine the proportion of acute transfusion reactions and associated factors among adult transfused patients. Methods: A total of 384 study participants were included in the study. Structured questionnaires were used for socio-demographic and past medical history data collection. Vital signs were measured as a baseline for every study participants and monitored and followed for 24 hrs. Laboratory tests like complete blood count, direct anti-human globulin test and urine hemoglobin were done as a baseline for suspected patients. Cross-match, blood grouping, and blood culture for patients and donors sample were also done for suspected patients. Descriptive statistics, bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression were analyzed using SPSS version 20. P-value of <0.05 in the multivariable model was considered as statistically significant. Results: Acute transfusion reactions were observed in 5.2% of patients. Of total cases of acute transfusion reaction, the majority developed allergic reactions (65%) and febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reaction (30%). It was significantly associated with transfusion history (AOR=3.4; 95% CI: 1.2-9.7), abortion history (AOR=5.0; 95% CI: 1.5-16.4), longer blood storage time (AOR=5.1; 95% CI: 1.7-15.2) and receiving three or more unit of blood (AOR= 4.1; 95% CI: 1.5-11.2). Conclusion: Acute transfusion reactions were observed in 5.2% of patients (allergic reactions (65%), febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reaction (30%) and alloimmunization (5%)). Patients with a history of transfusion, abortion, transfused with blood stored ≥14 days and multi-transfused patients should be closely monitored.