Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
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Trop. Med. Int. Health · Sep 2012
Treatment outcomes for human African Trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: analysis of routine program data from the world's largest sleeping sickness control program.
To enable the human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) control program of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to generate data on treatment outcomes, an electronic database was developed. The database was piloted in two provinces, Bandundu and Kasai Oriental. In this study, we analysed routine data from the two provinces for the period 2006-2008. ⋯ High relapse rates in Kasai and poor compliance with post-treatment follow-up in both provinces are important problems that the HAT control program urgently needs to address. Moreover, in analogy to tuberculosis control programs, HAT control programs need to adopt a recording and reporting routine that includes reporting on treatment outcomes.
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Trop. Med. Int. Health · Sep 2012
Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein as predictors of blood culture positivity among hospitalised children with severe pneumonia in Mozambique.
To evaluate the benefits of using procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as pre-screening tools to predict blood culture positivity among Mozambican children with clinical severe pneumonia (CSP). ⋯ Among hospitalised children with CSP and absence of concurrent malaria, PCT pre-screening could help reduce the number of blood cultures and diagnosis costs by specifically targeting patients more likely to yield positive results.