Biomedical subjects

Tsehaynesh Messele

Publications and source records attributed to Tsehaynesh Messele.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Low absolute CD4 counts in Ethiopians.

The CD4+ T-lymphocyte count is a widely used marker of HIV disease progression. The marker also plays a crucial role in determining therapeutic interventions in HIV infections, especially with the initiation and monitoring of antiretroviral therapy and prophylactic treatment for opportunistic infections. In general, immunological studies done thus far on adult Ethiopians revealed that, healthy HIV-negative Ethiopians exhibit significantly decreased values for absolute CD4 counts than other populations. However, it remains to be illucidated whether Ethiopian AIDS patients develop opportunistic infections at much lower CD4 values than AIDS patients from Western countries, and whether Ethiopian HIV infected patients progress to AIDS more rapidly. Thus, establishing locally appropriate standard CD4 values is important in order to implement certain prophylactic or therapeutic interventions in our setting. Most of these studies are reported on international journals, which are hardly accessible to the Ethiopian medical/scientific community. The aim of this mini-review is, therefore, to provide the local scientific community and clinicians with the available information.

Bias↗

PubMed2002

Evaluation of rapid assays for screening and confirming HIV-1 infection in Ethiopia.

To evaluate a simple and rapid testing strategy to diagnose HIV infection in Ethiopia, we subjected a panel of 688 sera with known HIV serologic status (confirmed by ELISA/WB or double ELISA) to 3 rapid assays: Determine HIV-1/2, Capillus HIV-1/2 and Serocard HIV. Samples were obtained from participants in a cohort study on HIV-infection (72%), from tuberculosis patients (18%) and from participants in surveillance studies among police recruits and commercial sex workers (10%). The panel consisted of 249 HIV-1 positive samples, of which 68 were HIV-1 subtype C and 1 HIV-1 subtype A, and 439 HIV-1 negative samples. Determine and Capillus were 100% sensitive and 99.8% specific, Serocard was 100% sensitive and specific. On retrospective evaluation, both parallel (samples tested simultaneously by two rapid assays) and serial (samples tested by two consecutive rapid assays) testing algorithms were 100% sensitive and specific when compared to ELISA/WB or double ELISA testing strategy. In conclusion rapid assays have high sensitivity and specificity. HIV serodiagnosis based on rapid assays may therefore be a valuable alternative in voluntary counselling and testing centres and in facilities where sophisticated laboratories are not available.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Overdiagnosis of amoebiasis in the absence of Entamoeba histolytica among patients presenting with diarrhoea in Wonji and Akaki, Ethiopia.

To confirm the high reported incidence of intestinal amoebiasis among study participants at 2 cohort sites in Ethiopia where an HIV/AIDS study is taking place, stool samples of 232 patients with complaints of diarrhoea were examined for the presence of Entamoeba histolytica and E. dispar DNA between April and December 2001. By microscopy, 91 (39%) of the study participants were reported to harbour Entamoeba trophozoites and/or four-nucleated cysts. Using specific E. histolytica and E. dispar DNA amplification and detection, none of the study participants were found to be infected with E. histolytica and only 21 (9%) with E. dispar. The consequences of the overdiagnosis of E. histolytica are briefly discussed.

Adolescent↗