Assessment of knowledge, practice, and status of food handlers toward Salmonella, Shigella, and intestinal parasites: A cross-sectional study in Tigrai prison centers, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Unsafe food becomes a global public health and economic threat to humans. The health status, personal hygiene, knowledge, and practice of food handlers have crucial impact on food contamination. Hence, this study is aimed at assessing the knowledge, practice, and prevalence of Salmonella, Shigella, and intestinal parasites among food handlers in Eastern Tigrai prison centers, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was carried out from April to September 2019 among food handlers in Eastern Tigrai prison centers, Northern Ethiopia. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics, the knowledge, and the practice of the study participants. Direct wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques were applied to identify intestinal parasites. Culture and biochemical tests were used to isolate the Salmonella and the Shigella species. Additionally, antimicrobial susceptibility tests to selected antibiotics were performed using Kirby-Baur disk diffusion method. We used SPSS version 23 software for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-seven (62.7%, 37/59) of the participants had harbored one or more intestinal parasites. The protozoan Entamoeba histolytica/dispar was detected among 23.7% (14/59) of the study participants who provided stool specimen. Besides, 6.8% (4/59) of the samples were positive for either Salmonella or Shigella species. The Salmonella isolates (n = 2) were sensitive to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriaxone, and Clarithromycin but resistant to Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, and Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Similarly, the two Shigella isolates were susceptible to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin, and Ceftriaxone but showed resistance to Amoxicillin, Tetracycline, and Chloramphenicol. Further, 60.6% (40/66) of the participants had good level of knowledge, and 51.5% (34/66) had good level of practice on foodborne diseases and on food safety. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that foodborne pathogens are significant health problems in the study areas. Regular health education and training programs among the food handlers are demanded to tackle foodborne diseases at the prison centers.

Assessment of community knowledge, practice, and determinants of malaria case households in the rural area of Raya Azebo district, Northern Ethiopia, 2017.

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia malaria is one of the leading causes of outpatient visits and admission. Still, it remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, practice, and determinant of malaria case households in rural areas of Raya Azebo district, Northern Ethiopia. METHOD: A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the selected villages of Raya Azebo district from January to June 2017. A multi-stage random sampling method was employed to select a total of 422 study households. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The household head was interviewed face to face. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the determinant of malaria cases households. RESULT: A total of 412 (97.6) of the respondents had ever heard about malaria. About 63% of households recognized the causes of malaria to be a mosquito bite. Around 173 (41%) of the study households had been treated for malaria within a year of data collection. This study also revealed that the presence of mosquito breeding sites near to home, bed bug infestation, outdoor sleep due to bed bugs and household with poor bed net practicing were significantly associated with malaria case households. CONCLUSION: Although the overall knowledge on malaria transmission, symptoms, and the preventive measure was relatively good, the rate of household insecticide-treated net coverage and utilization were reported low in the area. Therefore, the distribution of adequate bed net with community-based education is a key intervention to promote household insecticide-treated net utilization. In addition, an effective bed bug management strategy is necessary to overcome the outdoor sleeping habit of the community in the area.

Assessment of sanitary condition of services as implication for intestinal parasitic infections among prison inmates: institutional based cross-sectional study in eastern Tigrai zonal prison, northern Ethiopia, 2018.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the sanitary condition of services and its implication for intestinal parasitic infections among prison inmates in eastern Tigrai, northern Ethiopia. RESULTS: We have assessed the availability and sanitary condition of services at Adigrat prison. Frequent water cuts and unavailability of soap in the prison have challenged prisoners and food handlers to maintain their hygiene. The living rooms were overcrowded and poorly ventilated besides to unsatisfactory kitchen rooms. The prevalence of intestinal parasites among the participants was 40% (108/270). The dominant parasite was Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (60, 22.2%) followed by Giardia lamblia, 39 (14.4%). The mixed infections of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar and Giardia lamblia were detected among 17 (6.3%) of the participants. In multivariate analysis, participants who were feeding in groups were more likely to harbor intestinal parasites than those who were feeding alone (AOR: 2.1; CI 1.05-4.3). Intestinal parasites are significant health problems to the prisoners of Adigrat prison with poor sanitation of services. Therefore, provision of necessary facilities such as hand washing basins, soaps, disinfectants, disinfestations, and food utensils could significantly reduce the burden of intestinal parasites in the prison.