Efficacy of a new self-supporting low-profile bednet for personal protection against Anopheles farauti (Diptera : Culicidae) in a village in Papua New Guinea

A new United States (U.S.) self-supporting low-profile bednet was designed by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in collaboration with Breakthrough Technologies. The bednet incorporated permethrin-impregnated screening into a frame that erected automatically when removed from its bag. The new U.S. bednet was compared with the current Australian Defense Force (ADF) mosquito bednet at Buka Island, North Solomons Province, Papua New Guinea, in March 1999. At the time of the test, Anopheles farauti Laveran was the most abundant biting mosquito. Both bednet types provided > 97.8% protection compared with an unprotected collector. The untreated U.S. Army prototype bednet provided better protection than the untreated ADF bednet against mosquitoes entering the bednet during the night.

Prevalence, intensity and risk factors for soil-transmitted helminth infection in a South Indian fishing village

A study of the prevalence, intensity and risk factors for soil-transmitted helminth infection was undertaken among school children aged 5-9 years attending a primary school in the fishing village in Peda Jalaripet, Visakhapatnam, South India. One hundred and eighty nine (92.6%) of 204 children were infected with one or more soil transmitted helminth parasites. The predominant parasite was Ascaris lumbricoides (prevalence of 91%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (72%) and hookworm (54%). Study of age-specific prevalence and intensity of infection revealed that the prevalence and intensity of A. lumbricoides infection was higher among younger children than older children. While aggregation of parasite infection was observed, hookworm infection was more highly aggregated than either A. lumbricoides or T. trichiura. Multivariate analysis identified parental occupation, child's age and mother's education as the potential risk factors contributing to the high intensity of A. lumbricoides infection. Children from fishing families with low levels of education of the mother had the highest intensity of A. lumbricoides infection. As the outcome of chemotherapy programs to control soil transmitted helminth infection is dependant on the dynamics of their transmission, there is a need for further studies to better define the role of specific factors that determine their prevalence, intensity and aggregation in different epidemiological settings. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Focused beam reflectance technique for in situ particle sizing in wastewater treatment settling tanks

Due to the complexities involved with measuring activated sludge floc size distributions, this parameter has largely been ignored by wastewater researchers and practitioners. One of the major reasons has been that instruments able to measure particle size distributions were complex, expensive and only provided off-line measurements. The Focused Beam Reflectance Method (FBRM) is one of the rare techniques able to measure the particle size distribution in situ. This paper introduces the technique for monitoring wastewater treatment systems and compares its performance with other sizing techniques. The issue of the optimal focal point is discussed, and similar conclusions as found in the literature for other particulate systems are drawn. The study also demonstrates the capabilities of the FBRM in evaluating the performance of settling tanks. Interestingly, the floc size distributions did not vary with position inside the settling tank flocculator. This was an unexpected finding, and seriously questioned the need for a flocculator in the settling tank. It is conjectured that the invariable size distributions were caused by the unique combination of high solids concentration, low shear and zeolite dosing. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.

Evaluation of the healthy village program in Kapit district, Sarawak, Malaysia

Sarawak, Malaysia has a large population of ethnic minorities who live in longhouses in remote rural areas where poverty, non-communicable diseases, accidents and injuries, environmental hazards and communicable diseases all contribute to a lower quality of life than is possible to achieve in these regions. To address these issues and improve the quality of life for longhouse people, the Kapit Divisional Health Office implemented the World Health Organization's Healthy Village programme in 2000. An evaluation was undertaken in 2003 to determine physical and behavioural changes resulting from the programme. The main changes evaluated were those involving smoking habits, exercise habits, health screening, fire safety, environmental improvements and food preparation and hygiene. A qualitative evaluation was conducted using participant observation and key-informant interviews, focus groups and observation. Results indicate that the programme is inspiring changes in various behavioural and physical characteristics of the study population. It is clear that the Healthy Village programme is a widely accepted way of improving health outcomes in longhouses, and that it is succeeding in making beneficial health changes.