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Biomedical subjects

A de Muynck

Publications and source records attributed to A de Muynck.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Illness incidence and health seeking behaviour among street children in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan - a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: This is the first study in Pakistan to elicit street children's perceptions of health and the barriers to service utilization. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out during September and October 2000. The data were collected in twin-cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad through individual, semi-structured street-based interviews; with 40 school age participants; in addition, three focus group discussions were also completed. The sampling was convenience based. This strategy was applied because of the non-existence of a sampling frame for the street-based children owing to the absence of any census or other reports, and also the difficulty of tracking very mobile street children. RESULTS: Results indicate that these youth were highly susceptible to many adverse health outcomes. The common ailments were injuries, respiratory and skin infections. Along with low self-perceived severity of medical problems, self-medication was preferred and medical pluralism existed. Their perceived constraints to services included long waiting time, monetary, negative attitude of service providers and their inferior status. CONCLUSIONS: In developing user-friendly services, it is important to be sensitive to street children's needs and requirements. Eliminating these barriers and the integration of health services among public and private resources are imperative for the regular and sustainable provision of health care to this vulnerable, under-served group of children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Operational validation of the direct agglutination test for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis.

The validity of the direct agglutination test (DAT) for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was studied with a standardized field kit on 148 clinically suspected persons and 176 healthy controls recruited between 1993 and 1994 from an endemic area in Gedaref State, Sudan. A sensitivity of 95.9% and a specificity of 99.4% were found at a 1: 8,000 cut-off titer when parasitologically confirmed cases were compared with healthy controls. While corroborating previously reported sensitivity and specificity estimates of this serodiagnostic test, this study examined the bias generated by commonly used test validation procedures. The fundamental methodologic problem in VL test validation is the absence of a reliable gold standard. Moreover, any operational guideline on DAT use has to consider the critical dependency of the predictive values of the test on VL prevalence rates. The DAT diagnostic cut-off titer depends upon many external factors, among which the prevalence of disease in the area and the case mix seem the most important.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1984

Kaposi's sarcoma in Zaire.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) was recognized in 1948 in Zaire, where it has probably always been endemic. In 1957 a relative frequency of KS of 9% of all biopsied cancers was found. There are fluctuations in incidence within the country, with a higher incidence in the east, where it was estimated in 1960 at about 5-10 cases per 100 000 per year in males, with a relative frequency of 14% of all malignant male tumours and a M/F ratio higher than 10/1. More recently KS accounted for roughly 17% in males and 2% in females of all malignant biopsied tumours in north-east Zaire (1969-1983). In 2 years (1982-1983), 26 male and 5 female KS cases were histologically confirmed in an area of eastern Zaire with a population of roughly 300 000 people. It has been suggested, on the basis of this high incidence of KS and of the recent identification of African AIDS cases, that the hypothetical transmissible agent in AIDS might originate from Central Africa. The frequency of KS in African AIDS cases was low (16%) as compared to that in the USA. The M/F ratio of AIDS was 6/4 and that of AIDS-associated KS 1/1. AIDS-associated cases occurred in young adults and were generalized and fulminating. African KS occurs at a younger modal age than in Caucasians, which is the combined result of increasing incidence with age and of the high proportion of young people in the population in Africa but not of a higher risk for younger male adults, as in AIDS.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Human immunodeficiency virus infection and human African trypanosomiasis: a case-control study in Côte d'Ivoire.

To assess the association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, a cross-sectional case-control study was conducted on 301 HAT patients recruited in the main foci of the country. For each HAT patient, 3 controls, matched for sex, age and residence, were selected. Data relating to socio-demographic factors and potential risk factors for Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and HIV infections were obtained, and serum samples were collected for HIV-1 and HIV-2 tests. A positive test consisted of enzyme immunoassay reactive to HIV-1, HIV-2 or both and confirmed by a synthetic peptide test or Western blot. Data were analyzed using conditional logistic regression with EGRET software. No statistically significant difference was found between the prevalence of HIV infection in HAT patients and controls (4.3% and 3.5% respectively; crude odds ratio (OR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.65-2.50). In multivariate analysis, allowance for 5 covariates did not change the association between the 2 infections (adjusted OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.64-2.52). Although this study had limited statistical power, no significant association was found between HIV infection and T.b. gambiense infection in rural Côte d'Ivoire. Studies are needed to determine whether HIV infection influences the clinical course of HAT, a question not addressed in the present study.

Adolescent↗