Getachew Belay Kassahun

Background: Malaria poses a public health problem because it manifests anemia, renal and liver dysfunction, Jaundice, and dyslipidemia. Therefore, the study aimed to assess malaria parasitemia and its association with liver function parameters and lipid profile in Assosa town, Ethiopia from December 23/2021 to March 4/2022. Methods: Institution-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 302 study participants (151 study groups and 151comparison group) who were selected by consecutive sampling technique. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using structured questionnaires and entered using Epi Data version 4.6. Venous blood specimen was collected from all study individuals and tested for selected parameters by Cobas 311 automated clinical chemistry analyzer. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA were used to assess the association using STATA software version 14. Results: A total of 302 study participants comprising 212(70.2%) males were included. Majority (70.86%) of malaria patients were infected with P. falciparum (The parasitic densities were reported with 30.46%, 46.36%, and 23.18% for low, moderate, and high parasitemia, respectively. The mean value of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and serum bilirubin was significantly higher in malaria patients than in apparently healthy controls (p < 0.001). However, the mean value of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly lower in malaria patients than controls (P < 0.05). Conclusion and Recommendation: Liver function tests and lipid profile should be assessed for malaria infected individuals in order to prevent malaria complications.

Background: Despite being preventable and treatable, malaria continues to have a devastating impact on people’s health and livelihoods around the world. In Ethiopia, it is one of the three leading causes of hospital admission and mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the trend, burden, seasonal variations, and interventional assessment of malaria in Western Tigray, Ethiopia, from 2011 to 2019. Methods: A hospital‐based retrospective cross‐sectional study was carried out to determine trend, burden, seasonal variations, and interventional assessment of malaria in Kahsay Abera General Hospital, Western Tigray, North Ethiopia, from 2011 to 2019. All recorded microscopically confirmed malaria cases in the Health Management Information System of the hospital were carefully taken and analyzed. Also, malaria intervention activities applied in the area were assessed using a checklist, personal communication with hospital administrators, and observations. All data of malaria cases were entered and analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel and presented in tables and figures. Results: A total of 36,438 malaria cases with 50 (0.14%) hospital mortality and 2016 (5.5%) hospital admissions were recorded from 2011 to 2019. Plasmodium falciparum, with 22,621 cases (62.1%), was the predominant malaria species identified. The highest hospital malaria death was observed in the age group ≥ 15 years, with 38 cases (0.10%), and the highest hospital deaths occurred during October–December, with 21 cases (0.06%) of the total confirmed malaria cases. Although the fluctuating trend of malaria cases, with no shift in species, was statistically significant ( p = 0.001) over the study period, the trend in hospital mortality due to malaria was not statistically significant ( p = 0.62). Conclusions: Despite Ethiopia’s notable progress in malaria control, the disease remains a major health problem with fluctuating annual trends.

Locally established clinical laboratory reference intervals (RIs) are required to interpret laboratory test results for screening, diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was establishing reference interval of clinical chemistry parameters among apparently healthy adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years in Mekelle, Tigrai, northern part of Ethiopia. Community based cross sectional study was employed from December 2018 to March 2019 in Mekelle city among 172 males and 172 females based on Multi stage sampling technique. Blood samples were tested for Fasting blood sugar (FBS), alanine aminino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin (ALB), direct and indirect bilirubin (BIL.D and BIL.T) using 25 Bio system clinical chemistry analyzer. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23 software and based on the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI)/ International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) C 28-A3 Guideline which defines the reference interval as the 95% central range of 2.5^th and 97.5^th percentiles. Mann Whitney U test, descriptive statistics and box and whisker were statistical tools used for analysis. This study observed statistically significant differences between males and females in ALP, ALT, AST, Urea and Creatinine Reference intervals. The established reference intervals for males and females, respectively, were: ALP (U/L) 79.48–492.12 versus 63.56–253.34, ALT (U/L) 4.54–23.69 versus 5.1–20.03, AST 15.7–39.1 versus 13.3–28.5, Urea (mg/dL) 9.33–24.99 versus 7.43–23.11, and Creatinine (mg/dL) 0.393–0.957 versus 0.301–0.846. The combined RIs for Total Protein (g/dL) was 6.08–7.85, ALB (g/dL) 4.42–5.46, FBS(mg/dL) 65–110, BIL.D (mg/dL) 0.033–0.532, and BIL.T (mg/dL) 0.106–0.812. The result showed marked difference among sex and with the company derived values for selected clinical chemistry parameters. Thus, use of age and sex specific locally established reference intervals for clinical chemistry parameters is recommended.