The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis is still causing a public health crisis. In low-income countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, tuberculosis has not been eradicated and the emergence of the multidrug-resistant form is observed in some countries. The objective of this study was to determine the risk factors that contribute to the emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the Nzanza Health Zone in the city of Matadi.
This case-control analytical study was conducted over a period from January to March 2020. It concerned all lung tuberculosis patients with positive microscopy with confirmed resistance to rifampicin and isoniazid, between the period from January to December 2019 and who freely consented to participate in the study. Data were collected based on interviews with study participants using a structured questionnaire and based on data from the Central Office of the Nzanza Health Zone. The data were analyzed using EPI INFO 7 and Excel software. The Chi-2 test was used to compare the observed proportions and the strength of the associations between the variables was assessed using the odds ratios (OR) with the significance threshold (p ˂ 0.05).
The results of this research found that two factors significantly put patients at risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: lack of knowledge of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis OR (3.636) CI 1,342-9,855) (p= 0.011) and alcohol consumption OR (3.61) (CI [1.29 - 10.07]) (p = 0.012).
Our study sufficiently demonstrates that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis still represents a major public health problem in some regions of the world and more particularly in the Nzanza Health Zone in the City of Matadi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis could be prevented by implementing community-based awareness strategies.
Schistosoma haematobium schistosomiasis or urogenital bilharziasis is a chronic parasitosis caused by Schistosoma haematobium.
Worldwide, at least 206.5 million people needed treatment in 2016. Preventive treatment, which should be repeated over a number of years, will reduce and prevent morbidity. Transmission of schistosomiasis has been confirmed in 78 countries. However, preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis, where people and communities are targeted for large-scale treatment, is only needed in 52 moderately endemic to high transmission countries. In addition, 112 million people are infected with Schistosoma haematobium, including 80 million in its morbid form, causing 150,000 deaths per year.
After our study and analysis, we found that out of a total of 50 samples, 8 were positive or 16% and 42 negative or 84%.
Thus, the frequency of Schistosoma haematobium eggs was estimated at 16% during our study.
Typhoid fever remains, today, a major public health problem worldwide with a universal estimate of 12 to 33 million annual cases. It is caused by a strictly human species, Salmonella typhi, discovered since 1880 by Eberth.Typhoid fever has long been the cause of human disasters across the world: in the 17th century, for example, 600 people died from this disease in James Towen in Virginia (USA).Indeed, the defective hygienic conditions of our immediate environment place S. typhi at the first rank of the main causes of food poisoning, typhoid fever is also the main disease of « dirty hands ».Formerly effective, most antibiotics have shown their limits: which leads researchers to turn to plants (traditional medicine) to assess their sensitivity to salmonella typhi.Costus afer has been used in certain regions as a medicinal decoction against hemorrhoids and liver diseases for a long time, we thought to test in vitro its activity against S. typhi.Of this research, 67% of the typhus strains tested were sensitive below 3%, the strains became resistant: 33% for greatly reduced concentrations.