Annals of Medical Laboratory Science

The practice of Medical Laboratory Science Post-Act 857 era: Perceived role conflicts with ‘Laboratory Physicians’ and other scientists in Ghana

Dennis Adu-Gyasi — 2022-06-05

Medical Laboratory Science practice in Ghana faced several challenges at a period without regulation. In this era where the practice of the profession is regulated, turfs are being held to impede the development of medical laboratory professionals. In responding to the threat to the profession, the Medical Laboratory Science Professional Body in Ghana commissioned an expert
committee to review what pertains to international practice. The committee was to proffer direction to the implementors of health policies in Ghana. The outcome of the committee’s work was disseminated as a position paper which is presented to the scientific community to inform of the autonomy of the medical laboratory science profession post regulatory era in Ghana.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 1 - 10

Malaria epidemics detection and associated climatic factors in the Hauts Bassins Health Region of Burkina Faso

Jean Claude Romaric Pingdwind Ouédraogo — 2022-06-05

Background: Malaria is endemic in the Hauts Bassins Health Region, making it necessary to detect epidemics. Though malaria is a climatic sensitive disease, the association between malaria occurrence and climate is not well known in the Hauts Bassins Health Region. The study sought to detect malaria epidemics and assess the correlation of malaria cases with climate.
Methods: A secondary analysis of ecological data from the National Health Information System (NHIS) and the General Directorate of Meteorology of Burkina Faso was conducted. Mean, quartiles and cumulative sum methods were performed to set epidemic thresholds. Correlation between malaria and climatic factors in the health region was assessed using Spearman's test. A
Mann-Whitney test determined the association of malaria transmission seasons with climatic variables, at 5%. Kruskal-Wallis test evaluated the relationship between malaria and the years of the occurrence, at a 5% significance level.
Results: From 2013 to 2016, 2,521,789 malaria cases were reported in the region, with a mean incidence of 269 cases per 10,000 people. The annual incidence increased from 2,048 cases per 10,000 people in 2013 to 5,277 cases per 10,000 people in 2016. Regardless of the method used, cases were high in 2016, with few exceptions. There was a weak negative correlation between
malaria and minimum (r=-0,292; p-value=0.044) and maximum (r=-0,391; p-value=0.006) temperatures. The relationship between relative humidity and malaria was positive and weak (r=0,304; p-value=0.036). Lowest temperatures and highest relative humidity simultaneously drove malaria within-year variability during the high transmission season.
Conclusion: Malaria incidence increased unexpectedly in 2016. Malaria endemicity hides a within-year and year-to-year variability, partially driven by the temperature, relative humidity and rainfall.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 12 - 22

West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science Advisory Position Paper on Covid-19 Testing and Containment in Ecowas Region

Dennis Adu-Gyasi — 2022-06-05

Obviously, medical laboratory testing remains one of the tools successfully used in managing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic globally. Due to the novel nature of the virus responsible for COVID-19, many countries adopted their own approaches to mitigate the impact the pandemic was having on the respective countries. The West Africa Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science in contributing to managing the situation set up an ad-hoc committee to review and advise on acceptable diagnostics approaches that could be used in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee of experts reviewed the scientific and professional approaches that could be used to test for COVID-19 to identify cases for isolation, treatment, management, and subsequent control of transmission. Again, the committee made
recommendations of what method should be used depending on the objective one seeks to achieve not neglecting patient safety.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 23 - 30

Knowledge, attitude and uptake of tuberculosis screening services among gold miners in the Datuko sub-district in the Talensi District Ghana

Robert Ayine Amanobila — 2022-06-05

Background: In Ghana, uptake of tuberculosis (TB) screening services among miners is sub-optimal. The study assessed the knowledge, attitude and uptake of TB screening services among gold miners in the Datuko sub-district in Talensi district Ghana.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study design using a mixed-method approach among 384 adult mine workers. A questionnaire and key informant interview guides were the instruments for data collection and both descriptive and inferential analysis was done using SPSS version 22.00.
Results: About 94.5% of the respondents have heard of TB and the overall knowledge of the cause of TB was poor, as 66.1% of the participants said TB was caused by smoking. The majority of the participants (66.4%) had poor attitudes towards TB screening and a few of them (15.4%) had screened for TB. The composite score for knowledge and attitudes of the respondents towards TB screening was 1.61 and 1.41 respectively. There was an association between having heard of TB and recognizing the importance of TB screening service with a p-value of 0.001. There was also a connection between having heard of TB and uptake of screening service (p=0.001). The only factor that determined uptake of TB screening was the educational level of the respondents. The qualitative study among health staff revealed that awareness of TB was high among miners but they perceived those attitudes and use of the TB screening services were sub-optimal.
Conclusion: Both knowledge and attitudes of TB screening services among miners were poor which resulted in a sub-optimal uptake of TB screening services. Also, the educational level of the respondents predicted uptake of TB screening service. It is therefore important for policy makers to strengthen TB control activities through health promotional programmes.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 31 - 44

Clinical significance of body temperature in SARS-COV-2 positivity: A prospective study among travelers

Yussif Adams — 2022-06-05

Background: Globally, SARS-CoV-2 infections continue to rise with dire consequences on the social and economic activities in affected countries. This prospective cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the evidence of body temperature and the presence of COVID-19 diseases among travelers.
Methods: The study recruited 314 travelers who visited the Trust Specialist Hospital in Accra hospital. Body temperature readings, demographic information, and the RT-PCR test results of nasopharyngeal swabs were collected routinely from the travelers between March and August 2021. Descriptive statistics and measures of association were performed for the associations between the body temperature readings as an outcome variable verses age, sex, ORF1AB
gene, and NGene CT values. An alpha value (p<0.05) was considered statistically significant.
Results: There was an even distribution of body temperature readings among the SARS-CoV-2 infected patients however, 90.4% of them were asymptomatic with low/normal body temperature. The ORF1AB mean CT values indicated high infectivity at low/normal and high body temperatures of the patients (26.9 and 25.9 cycles respectively). About 70.1% recorded ORF1AB CT values less than 30 cycles.
Conclusion: The study demonstrates that asymptomatic SAR-CoV-2 infected individuals are equally infectious as those who present with symptoms, hence, temperature checks alone may be misleading. This study was restricted to the use of a rise in body temperature to define asymptomatic cases therefore does not seek to generalize.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 45 - 54

Dietary diversity and associated factors among pregnant women in urban Northern Ghana

Ambrose Atosona — 2022-06-05

Background: Though low dietary diversity during pregnancy results in low nutrient intake and adverse pregnancy outcomes, information on dietary diversity and its associated factors among pregnant women in Ghana particularly Northern Ghana is scanty. This study therefore assessed dietary diversity and associated socio-demographic characteristics among pregnant women in urban Northern Ghana.
Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study design was used, involving 273 pregnant women randomly selected from 8 health facilities in Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants were documented using a structured questionnaire. Dietary diversity of participants was assessed using a 24 hour dietary recall method and the dietary diversity score was calculated based on ten food groups. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify the factors associated with low dietary diversity.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 26.44 ±5.75 years with minimum and maximum ages of 16 and 44 years respectively. About 48% of the women had low dietary diversity. The mean dietary diversity score was 4.87 ± 2.04. Having no education at all [Odds Ratio (OR) = 5.5; 95% CI (2.09 –14.31); p = 0.001] and having only primary education [OR = 3.8; 95% CI (1.21 –12.09); p < 0.022] were significantly associated with low dietary diversity.
Conclusion: The study revealed that the prevalence of low dietary diversity is high among pregnant women in urban Northern Ghana. Improving the educational level of women is recommended to improve their dietary diversity.

Annals of Medical Laboratory Science (2022) 2(2), 55 - 62