Sickle-Cell Disease in Nigerian Children: Parental Knowledge and Laboratory Results.

BACKGROUND: Sickle-cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited genetic disorder in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is associated with early mortality and lifelong morbidity. Early diagnosis is essential for instituting appropriate care and preventive therapy. OBJECTIVE: To compare parental knowledge or perception of their offspring's hemoglobin phenotype prior to testing and actual validated laboratory test results. METHODS: In a prospective community-based survey, we assessed parental knowledge of their children's hemoglobin phenotype and corroborated this with the results from a laboratory confirmatory test determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: We screened 10,126 children aged less than 5 years. A total of 163 (1.6%) parents indicated that their offspring had been previously tested and had knowledge of the child's hemoglobin genotype. However, 51 (31.2%) of 163 parents of children who had been previously tested did not know the result of their offspring's test, and 18 (35.3%) of these 51 children were found to have SCD. Of those who claimed previous knowledge, 25 (15.3%) of 163 reported incorrect results. Overall, we identified 272 (2.76%) new cases from 9,963 children who had not been previously tested. CONCLUSION: There is the need to promote public awareness about SCD and the benefit of early diagnosis, quality assurance in laboratory diagnosis and institution of sustainable patient care pathways.

Salmonella Bacteremia Among Children in Central and Northwest Nigeria, 2008-2015.

BACKGROUND: Etiologic agents of childhood bacteremia remain poorly defined in Nigeria. The absence of such data promotes indiscriminate use of antibiotics and delays implementation of appropriate preventive strategies. METHODS: We established diagnostic laboratories for bacteremia surveillance at regional sites in central and northwest Nigeria. Acutely ill children aged <5 years with clinically suspected bacteremia were evaluated at rural and urban clinical facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, central region and in Kano, northwest Nigeria. Blood was cultured using the automated Bactec incubator system. RESULTS: Between September 2008 and April 2015, we screened 10,133 children. Clinically significant bacteremia was detected in 609 of 4051 (15%) in the northwest and 457 of 6082 (7.5%) in the central region. Across both regions, Salmonella species account for 24%-59.8% of bacteremias and are the commonest cause of childhood bacteremia, with a predominance of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. The prevalence of resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and cotrimoxazole was 38.11%, with regional differences in susceptibility to different antibiotics but high prevalence of resistance to readily available oral antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: Salmonella Typhi is the leading cause of childhood bacteremia in central Nigeria. Expanded surveillance is planned to define the dynamics of transmission. The high prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains calls for improvement in environmental sanitation in the long term and vaccination in the short term.