Etiology of encephalitis syndrome among hospitalized children and adults in Takeo, Cambodia, 1999-2000.
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Whether or not Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is an important causative agent of acute encephalitis in Cambodia remains unclear. This study was carried out to determine the cause of encephalitis syndrome among children and adults admitted to Takeo Provincial Hospital from October 1999 to September 2000. Ninety-nine cases were included in the study: 52 pediatric cases (12 were fatal) and 47 adult cases (10 were fatal). A causative agent such as human herpesvirus (HHV-3 or HHV-4), Cryptococcus neoformans, or Mycobacterium tuberculosis had been identified in 8 of the 11 adults who had human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). An infectious agent was identified in 35 (40%) of 88 HIV-1-seronegative patients (60% of the causes remains unidentified). These comprised 11 bacterial infections, 1 fungal infection, and 23 viral infections. The viral infections were 1 fatal HHV-4 infection, 5 dengue virus infections (2 fatal), 1 coinfection with flavivirus and alphavirus, and 16 presumptive infections JEV (no virus detected), one case of which was fatal. Infection with JEV, the principal cause identified in the 99 encephalitis syndromes, concerned 16 (31%) of 52 children. (+info)
Antibodies to Nipah-like virus in bats (Pteropus lylei), Cambodia.
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Serum specimens from fruit bats were obtained at restaurants in Cambodia. We detected antibodies cross-reactive to Nipah virus by enzyme immunoassay in 11 (11.5%) of 96 Lyle's flying foxes (Pteropus lylei). Our study suggests that viruses closely related to Nipah or Hendra viruses are more widespread in Southeast Asia than previously documented. (+info)
Status of intestinal parasites infection among primary school children in Kampongcham, Cambodia.
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A survey was made to find the extent of intestinal parasite infection in Kampongcham, Cambodia in February 2002. A total of 251 fecal specimens were collected from Tonlebat primary school children and examined by formalin-ether sedimentation technique. The overall infection rate of intestinal parasite was 54.2% (males, 57.3%; females, 50.8%). The infection rate of intestinal helminths by the species were as follows: Ascaris lumbricoides 26.3%, Echinostoma sp. 15.6%, hookworm 6.4%, Opisthorchis sp. 4.0%, Rhabditis sp. 2.4%, and Trichuris trichiura 0.4%. The infection rate of intestinal protozoa were as follows: E. coli 7.6%, G. lamblia 3.2%, I. butschlii 3.2%, and E. histolytica 0.8%. More than two different kinds of parasites were found in 16.7% of the stool samples. All the children infected were treated with albendazole, praziquantel and metronidazole according to parasite species. The results showed that intestinal parasites are highly endemic in this area. (+info)
Psychiatric effects of traumatic brain injury events in Cambodian survivors of mass violence.
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BACKGROUND: The prevalence of brain injury and its effects in populations exposed to war violence has not been studied in recent years. AIMS: To examine the association between traumatic brain injury events and psychiatric symptoms of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Cambodian survivors of mass violence. METHOD: The population comprised a multi-stage random sample of Cambodian refugees living in a Thai refugee camp. The main results analysed the relationship between six categories of trauma events and psychiatric symptoms of depression and PTSD during two time periods. RESULTS: Almost 15 000 trauma events were reported (n=13 481, Pol Pot period; n=1249, past year). Traumatic brain injury was most common in the highly educated and in individuals with the highest levels of cumulative trauma. Of all trauma categories, traumatic brain injury revealed the strongest association with symptoms of depression, and a weaker association with PTSD. Brain injury represented 4% of the total number of traumatic events for both time periods, contributing 20% of the total symptom score for depression and 8% of that for PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical identification and treatment of traumatic brain injuries in highly traumatised populations must be maintained in order to develop a new public health model for their treatment. (+info)
Efficacy and safety of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (Artekin) in Cambodian children and adults with uncomplicated falciparum malaria.
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The safety and efficacy of a novel combination of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and piperaquine, Artekin (Holleykin Pharmaceuticals), were assessed in 106 patients (76 children and 30 adults) with uncomplicated falciparum malaria from 2 remote areas in Cambodia. Age-based doses were given at 0, 8, 24, and 32 h. Mean total DHA and piperaquine doses were 9.1 and 73.9 mg/kg, respectively, for children and 6.6 and 52.9 mg/kg for adults. All patients became aparasitemic within 72 h. Excluding the results for 1 child who died on day 4, there was a 96.9% 28-day cure rate (98.6% in children and 92.3% in adults). Patients who had recrudescent infection received low doses of Artekin. Side effects were reported by 22 patients (21%) but did not necessitate premature cessation of therapy. Although Artekin is a promising and inexpensive option for antimalarial therapy, further efficacy and pharmacokinetic studies are needed, especially for its use in children. (+info)
pfcrt polymorphism and chloroquine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum strains isolated in Cambodia.
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Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance was first detected in Cambodia in the early sixties. Treatment with chloroquine was abandoned 20 years ago. In vitro chloroquine sensitivity monitoring indicates that all eastern Cambodian isolates were sensitive to chloroquine, whereas most isolates collected from western provinces displayed reduced susceptibility to chloroquine. This indicates that the rate of chloroquine resistance remains high and stable in this region in the absence of chloroquine pressure. Characterization of codons 72 to 78 and 218 to 220 of pfcrt revealed six distinct haplotypes, four of which had never been described. The frequency of each haplotype depended on the geographical origin of the samples. The CVIETIF//ISS haplotype was detected in 92% of western Cambodian isolates and in 11% of isolates collected from the eastern province, where CVMNKIF//ISA and CVIDTIF//ISS predominate. The detection of an intermediate haplotype from a susceptible area with 76T/220A, suggests that acquisition of chloroquine resistance might be a stepwise process, during which accumulation of point mutations modulates the response to chloroquine. The association of the K76T mutation with chloroquine resistance was not clear. The mutation was detected in resistant and susceptible samples, suggesting that additional factors are involved in chloroquine resistance. By contrast, the pfcrt D/N75E mutation was strongly associated with the in vitro chloroquine resistance in Cambodian isolates. The N86 allelic form of pfmdr1 was detected in all isolates, consistent with a poor association with resistance to chloroquine. This indicates that in vitro resistance to chloroquine was associated with accumulation of point mutations in pfcrt. (+info)
Cambodia is recovering from approximately 30 years of civil war that resulted in the breakdown of the country's public health infrastructure. In 1999, the Ministry of Health initiated a measles-control program with the goal of reducing the annual incidence of measles to <10,000 cases in 2005 by strengthening measles surveillance, improving routine vaccination coverage, implementing supplementary measles immunization activities (SIAs), and providing vitamin A during outbreak investigations and SIAs. This report summarizes measles-vaccination activities and their impact in reducing reported measles cases from 13,827 in 1999 to 1,234 in 2002 and suggests options for future measles-control efforts in postconflict situations. (+info)
Improving government health services through contract management: a case from Cambodia.
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Most government health facilities in Cambodia perform poorly, due to lack of funds, inadequate management and inefficient use of resources, but mostly due to poor motivation of staff. This paper describes contracting as a possible tool for Ministries of Health to improve health service delivery more rapidly than the more traditional reform approaches. In Cambodia, the Ministry of Health started an experiment with contracting in eight districts, covering 1 million people. Health care management in five districts was sub-contracted to private sector operators, and their results were compared with three control districts. Both internal and external reviews showed that after 3 years of implementation, the utilization of health services in the contracted districts improved significantly, in comparison with the control districts. There was adequate competition in awarding the contracts. A Ministry of Health Project Co-ordinating Unit measured the performance of the contractors, and contributed pro-actively. There was no evidence of rent-seeking practices by either the contracting agency or the contractors. This paper describes in more detail the successes and failures in one of the contracted districts, where HealthNet International applied the contracting approach. Despite significantly increased official user fees, constituting 16% of recurrent costs, the utilization of services was equally increased. Patients thought the fees were reasonable because they were still lower than the fees demanded if government health workers charged informally. They also thought that the services were of better quality than in the unregulated private sector. Another important result was that combining strict monitoring with performance-based incentives demonstrates a decrease in total family health expenditure of some 40% from US dollars 18 to US dollars 11 per capita per year. Innovative and decisive management proved to be essential, which is more likely to be achieved by a contracted manager than by regular government managers with life-long employment. This paper discusses how the contractor addressed the deeply rooted problems of informal private activities of government health workers. The NGO district management experimented with two management systems: first by individual contracts with health workers, and secondly by sub-contracting directly with the health centre chiefs and hospital directors. A reason for concern is that poli-pharmacy and excessive use of injectables continued. Also, the participation of the central level of the Ministry of Health was positive in the contracting process, but the role and participation of the provincial level of the Ministry was more tentative. (+info)