The co-existence of viral hepatitis caused by HBV and HCV become common causes of severe liver complication and immunological impairment among HIV infected individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV and their correlation with CD4 and liver enzyme levels among HAART naïve HIV positive individuals.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, as high as 2/3 of tuberculosis patients are HIV/AIDS co-infected and tuberculosis is the most common cause of death among HIV/AIDS patients worldwide. Tuberculosis and HIV co-infections are associated with special diagnostic and therapeutic challenges and constitute an immense burden on healthcare systems of heavily infected countries like Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and their immunologic profiles among HIV positive patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among adult HIV-positive patients attending HIV/AIDS clinic of Gondar University Hospital. Clinical and laboratory investigations including chest x-ray and acid fast staining were used to identify tuberculosis cases. Blood samples were collected to determine CD4+ lymphocyte count. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic characteristics of study subjects. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Results: A total of 400 HIV positive study participants were enrolled. Thirty (7.5%, 95%CI: 5.2-10.6%) of the study participants were found to have pulmonary tuberculosis. In multivariate analysis, only CD4+ lymphocyte count (AOR = 2.9; 95% CI: 1.002-8.368) was found to be independently associated with tuberculosis-HIV co-infection. Individuals who had advanced WHO clinical stage were also statistically significant for co-infection. The mean CD4+ lymphocyte count of HIV mono-infected participants were 296 ± 192 Cells/mm3 and tuberculosis-HIV co-infected patients had mean CD4+ lymphocyte count of 199 ± 149 Cells/mm3 with p value of 0.007. Conclusions: We found high prevalence of tuberculosis-HIV co-infection. Lower CD4+ lymphocyte count was found to be the only predicting factor for co-infection. Early detection of co-infection is very necessary to prolong their ART initiation time and by then strengthening their immune status.

The type and pattern of organisms that cause ocular infection changes over time. Moreover, the causative organisms have developed increased drug resistance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalent bacterial agents of eye discharge and their drug susceptibility patterns to commonly used antimicrobial agents.

Background: Ear infection is a common problem for both children and adults especially in developing countries. However in Ethiopia particularly in the study area, there is no recent data that shows the magnitude of the problem. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial isolates and their drug susceptibility patterns from patients who had ear infection. Method: A retrospective study was conducted from September, 2009 to August, 2012 at Gondar University Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. Ear discharge samples were cultured on MacConkey agar, blood agar and chocolate agar plates. A standard biochemical procedure was used for full identification of bacterial isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done on Mueller-Hinton agar by using disk diffusion method. Data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20 software and P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: A total of 228 ear discharge samples were tested for bacterial isolation and 204 (89.5%) cases were found to have bacterial isolates. From the total bacterial isolates, 115 (56.4%) were gram negative bacteria and the predominant isolate was proteus species (27.5%). Of individuals who had ear infection, 185 (90.7%) had single bacterial infection while 19 (9.3%) had mixed infections. Under five children were more affected by ear infection. The prevalence of ear infection was significantly high in males (63.7 vs 36.3%) (P = 0.017). Of all bacterial isolates, 192 (94.1%) had multiple antibiotic resistant pattern. Non Lactose Fermenter Gram Negative Rods (46.0%), Klebsella species (47.7%) and Pseudomonas species (48.5%) were resistant against the commonly used antibiotics. Conclusion: The prevalence of ear infection was very high in the study area. Majority of the bacterial isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Hence antibiotics susceptibility test is mandatory before prescribing any antibiotics.

In spite of advances in control of infections, wound infections have not completely controlled due to many reasons. The widespread uses of antibiotics, together with the length of time over which they have been available have led to major problems of resistant organisms contributing to morbidity and mortality. This study was aimed to assess bacterial isolates and their drug susceptibility patterns from patients with pus and/or wound discharge. A retrospective study was conducted at Gondar University Hospital from all individuals who provide pus and/or wound discharge sample from September, 2009 to August, 2012. Socio-demographic and laboratory results were collected from the University Hospital Microbiology Laboratory unit registration books by using a standard data collection format. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 628 study subjects were included in the study with bacterial isolation rate of 441 (70.2%). Of all, 344 (54.8%) were males. Two hundred eighty two (63.9%) of the isolates were gram positive and 159 (36.1%) were gram negative. About 331/ 441 (75.0%) of the total isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (32.9%), Coagulase Negative staphylococci (14.7%), Streptococcus spp. (11.6%), Escherichia coli (9.5%), Klebsiella spp. (6.3%). The result showed that 66.2% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline, followed 59.8% for ampicillin, 59.1% for cotrimoxazole, 51.7% for penicillin; least resistant being 6.3% for gentamycin. High prevalence of bacterial isolates were found; S. aureus being the dominant. Most of the isolates were resistant to many of the antibiotics tested where all isolates of Pseudomonas spp. being resistant to two or more antibiotics. Antibiotic susceptibility test is necessary for effective control of wound infections.

Introduction: Cancer is alarmingly increased in developing countries like Ethiopia, where multidrug resistant bacterial infection is rampant. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial profile, antimicrobial resistance pattern, and associated factors among cancer patients attending University of Gondar Hospital. Methods: A consecutive 216 cancer patients were recruited from February to April, 2017. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Culture and antibiotic resistance were done following standard microbiological procedures. Result: The overall prevalence of bacterial infection was 19.4%. The predominant bacterial isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (28.6%), followed by coagulase negative staphylococci (26.2%) and Escherichia coli (21.4%). Multidrug resistance was detected in 46.5% bacterial isolates. Methicillin resistance was detected in 25% of S. aureus and in 45.5% of coagulase negative staphylococci. Fluoroquinolone resistance was detected in 33.3% of E. coli isolates. Cancer patients with solid tumor, started cancer therapy, and being symptomatic had higher odds of culture positivity. Conclusion: The overall burden of bacterial infection among cancer patients is considerably high. The findings of this study inform baseline information for policymakers and call for additional studies with large isolates in different cancer treatment centers in the region and in the country to better understand the bacterial isolate and resistance pattern.