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Measles IgG antibody levels were estimated in sera from 685 Tanzanian children, 374 (54.6%) boys and 311 (45.4%) girls aged 18 months to 5 years, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The children were screened for HIV-1 and 2 antibodies using ELISA, and reactive sera were confirmed by Western blot. Nutritional status was assessed by anthropometry. Overall measles vaccination coverage was 98.8%. Measles antibody activity was not detected in 41 (6.0%) children, and ten (1.5%) had antibody levels below 200 mIU/ml, the cut-off level considered to be protective. The non-reactive samples were from one unvaccinated child, one child with unknown vaccination status and 39 vaccinated children. Measles IgG antibody levels were higher in girls (3452.1 mIU/ml) than in boys (2928.2 mIU/ml) (p=0.02). Higher mean levels were found in children with a history of low birthweight (2.5 kg) (p=0.03). There were no significant differences in measles antibody levels with regard to variations in nutritional status. No correlation (r2=0.002) was found between antibody levels and time elapsed since vaccination. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, children who were HIVseropositive (n=9) were more likely to have non-protective antibody levels 200 mIU/ml (OR =5.85; 95% CI: 1.37-24.93). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An ethnomedical survey in Coast, Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Tanga regions of Tanzania has resulted in the identification of 36 plant species belonging to 21 plant families that are used traditionally for the treatment of Candida infections. Twenty-one plants constituting 58.3% of all collected plants are used to treat of oral candidiasis (Utando) one of the important signs of HIV/AIDS. The knowledge of traditional healers for the treatment of Candida infections has been highly supported by the literature in that 13 (36.1%) out of the 36 plants identified have been proven to be active against Candida albicans and/or other species of Candida. Also, some of the plants were reported to be active against other species of fungi including Cryptococcus neoformans, one of the important pathogenic fungi in HIV/AIDS. It can be seen that ethnomedical information from traditional healers provides a solid lead towards development of new drugs than random screening. The task that remains is to screen extracts prepared from these plants and perform a bioassay-guided fractionation of the active extracts so as to isolate the active compounds from these plants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mumghamba EGS, Pitiphat W, Matee MIN, Simon E, Merchant AT: The usefulness of using Ramfjord teeth in predicting periodontal status of a Tanzanian adult population. J Clin Periodontol 2004; 31: 16–18. © Blackwell Munksgaard, 2004. The only partial mouth index that has been validated against full-mouth examinations in the East African population is the CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs). Since the Ramfjord index can potentially shorten the examination time by almost half, we evaluated Ramfjord teeth in predicting full-mouth periodontal status of an adult population in Tanzania. Pocket depth was measured for 192 consecutive patients aged from 15 to 77 years (36 years old on average); 86 (45%) females referred to the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania between January 1997 and December 1999, and the mean pocket depth for full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was calculated. The correlation between the mean pocket depth calculated from the full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was 0.96. The β coefficient for the mean pocket depth measured by Ramfjord teeth to predict the full-mouth mean was 0.94, and was not affected by adjustment for age, missing teeth or sex. This overall high agreement between Ramjford teeth and full-mouth periodontal pocket situation confirms the epidemiological validity of Ramfjord's dental sample in our setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]