Epidemiological evaluation and public health: annual report, October 1976 - September 1977

aFrom: Dr. P. Kr€mer ocP/E"r/ oUAGA lo: Irfr. l,{arc I,s Bazin Date, A/g/n Programm.e Director subjectt etwual BEPORT ocfOBER 1976 -SEPTET,IBER 1977 EPIDEDII OIOGI CAI ]]VAIUATI OlT AND PUBITC H]].\ITH From October 1976 to Jrrne 1977, 28.+55 persons in 123 villages were examined, bringing the total examined since the beginning of the Programme to 69.579 in 290 viI1ages.0f these, some villages were exami- ned outsicle the Programme area. On the other handr data avai]-able on surveys done by Institutions other than OCP bring the amount of tlata to about B0.OO0 subjects in more than 300 vi11ages. Detailed surveys were conducted in 22 villages representing 5.924 people. Details of the activities carriert out between 0ctober 1976-Jrrne t977, as r.rell as on the total arnount of data coJ-lected by this unit are glven in the table. DS -lJD Tota]. IJD 1508 1508 Of which ophth.ex ]JD Total TOGO 5 5 7 10 1B 23 1B 21 974 934 7685 7685 9a97 9]93 7B 5A 45 61 1180 1868 861 1441 7764 1o217 854+ 12101 14 B+ t7 97 597 1115 768 27e6 2873 16688 1470 20O07 7 10 11 7' L4 45 e42 245e 799 79,q 695 2275 1568 BB57 25AO ]-LlL5 4 4 11 11 15 t5 52+ 52+ 1_406 1406 2205 2205 BEi{II{ 9 9 9 9 257l- 2574 2574 257i 74 4o ]-969 t57t 10182 ].2L5t TOTAUX 22 42 101 L27 2l-2 290 592+ 11917 418O 9251 21527 57622 28457 69539 No. of villages ITo. of excnl:rc.tions COUNTRY LIAt] UPPEII VOITA IVORY COAST 1{IGER GHANA t1 Nr.mbers j-n the upper left corner refer to the period under rerriew, those in the lower righ.,t ccrner to totals sincc thc begi:miqg of the Programne" DS = Detailed Sr.rrrey BS = Basic Swvey I I I Page 2 After the military and political events of the begl,nlng ofyear in the ccpital of Beninl the beginning of the epicle*iologlcal evaluation in that country, due to begin in february, had. to be pastponed and was laur:ched. in may, rt w111 be completed by the end of thi_s year or this in early 1977. r'rith the e:rceptio, of Benin, the flrst rouncl 1s now complete for the whole of the programne area. motherapeutic trials und.ertaken by Centre Iasso, o,n the aecount of OCI. These trials of surveys - After careful chdd.ng a.nd provislonal analysis, trre data were forwarded to y/IiO/He/for computer storage and analysls. Sone delays in the feedback mec]:anisms were experj_enced. due to tl.repart-tine availability only of the responslble statisticlan. - A malian physician Dr. oumar BA, received training i_n epidemio- logy and parasltology of onchocerci-asi-s in october/Novenber 1_976. - A part from routine evaluation, a certain nurnber of inclden_ ta1 research activi_ties l,yere carried out : - The deuonstratioir of the occu*ence of in utero transmission. Th-is stud.y was ca*ied iri Barvku Hospital, upper Region, Ghana. - Demonstration of the rare occur.rence of D. stre tocerca in soree villeges cxai:rined near the southern border of the pro_ gr&mms in Togo. I"[ost of the patients were also infected by o . voIvulus. The mj-crofj-lerrlae were easily distingulshable. - study of the relation between the amount of transmission as measured by the Ann,al Tra,smission potentiar oyer a nurmber of yee-rs vrith thc amo,,t of blindness and. severe eye lesi-ons. This study was d-one in ord.er to determine a tolerable amou,t or' transmissi-on. - A study i-n clinicar and epi-cc:iii-o1o651ca1 features of skin lesions, based on clinical desc.r:iption (uy o d.emlatologlst), photographic doc,nrentation, histology and parasitology. - The ophthalmologist contirmed his partieipation i.n the cr:e_ levamisol and trfetri_f onate. Due absence of a peruanent second L{uraz, Bobo-Dlou- concerned DECe to the heavy workload and the- ophthalmologist, his particlpa_ tion in slmllar trials in the Tanale chernotherapeutic researchCentre was not possible. ia Page 7 - A study concerning the relation between the amount of parasi.- tism of the anterior segrrent of the eye the risk of develop- ment of seYere eye lesions was initiated ' - The ophthalnologist participatec, further in a stud.y on the efficacy of noclulcctomy r:.nd.er thc conclitions of highly re- duced transmission. This stl'.dy was und.ertaken by a team of the Institut of fropical l,,{eclicine. i-Iamourg, Fed. Rep. of Gemany, Ierl bJ, Dr. B0ttner; in the Gaoua area", Upper Volta' - The Epidemiological Evaluation unit forwarded biological specimens to various scientific institutions for serological, histologi-caI and parasi-tological studies.