Etete J Peters

• FWACP, FRCP Edin.
• Professor (Full) at University of Uyo

BACKGROUND: Oral health is of great importance during pregnancy because the hormonal changes during pregnancy affect oral and dental health.

How far have we rolled back malaria on the African continent nine years down? The burden of malaria among pregnant women in a semi-urban community of northern Nigeria Abstract Jombo GTA, Mbaawuaga EM, Ayegba AS, Enenebeaku MNO, Okwori EE, Peters EJ, Akpan S, Odey F Gyuse AN Malaria has continued to constitute a serious public health issue in Nigeri...

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the compliance with directly-observed therapy short course (DOTS)-regimen and recovery from pulmonary tuberculosis among clients of infectious Diseases Hospital, Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive design was used for the study and a total of 100 pulmonary tuberculosis patients who came for m...

Background and objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. Older people and those with poorly controlled co-morbidities have higher risk of mortality. This study was conducted to highlight the clinical features, challenges of management and outcome for the patients we have seen in our centre over the past one year. Metho...

Background: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that affects all age groups. Infected asymptomatic children can transmit the disease to vulnerable adults with co-morbidities resulting in severe disease in the latter. There are few reports of COVID-19 in children in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and in Nigeria in particular.Aim...

Background: Bronchiectasis is characterized by chronic symptoms and impaired physical activity. Anxiety and depression usually complicate chronic illness. Thus, underdiagnosis of psychological distress in bronchiectasis may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of physical illness on psy...

Background: Bronchiectasis is often considered an orphan disease in developed societies. This may not be the case with low-income countries. Currently there is a paucity of data on the pattern and presentation of this condition in Nigeria. Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the frequency and pattern of presentation of bronchiectas...

Background: Epidemiological studies indicate that exposure to air pollution caused by gas flaring may have an association with an increased risk of adverse respiratory effects. This study investigates the effects of gas flaring on the lung health of Ibeno community residents, Akwa Ibom State focusing on respiratory symptoms and lung function indice...

Background: The endemic nature of poliomyelitis in Nigeria was a source of concern to many given the global efforts aimed at eradicating the scourge. In this study, the factors that influenced the eradication of this malady in South-South Nigeria (Akwa Ibom and Cross River State) were investigated. Four null hypotheses, drawn on these factors (incl...

Background: Obstetric fistula is a condition that results from obstructed labour, which occurs when the baby cannot pass through the mother’s birth canal because it either does not come head first or is too large for her pelvis. Prompt medical intervention, often including Caesarean section, permits a safe delivery for both mother and child. Despit...

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute viral infection caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although COVID-19 is predominantly a respiratory infection, the clinical manifestations of the disease can be variable, ranging from asymptomatic infection to critical illness. The disease was first rep...

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized by varying clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic disease, mild upper respiratory illness, severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Patients with COVID-19 who have comorbidities are at risk of having a more severe disease course, longer duration of hospital...

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a highly prevalent disorder, associated with decreased quality of life and increased cardiovascular morbidity. An intimate relationship exists between obesity and the development of OSAS and type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to measure the risk for OSAS and determine its clinical corr...

Burning of biomass is widely used by the rural poor for energy generation. Long term exposure to biomass smoke is believed to affect lung function and cause respiratory symptoms. Women with long term occupational exposure to burning firewood were recruited from a rural fishing community in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on...

Introduction: The HIV/AIDS pandemic still ranks one of the foremost causes of death in developing world. The present prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 5.0% for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Nigerian figure is 3.01%. The rate of infection of a previously non-infected individual in this sub-region is set at 160,000 individuals daily. With such a high prevalence...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The morbidity and mortality pattern in persons with Diabetes mellitus(DM) is not well documented in Uyo. This study therefore set out to determine the morbidity and mortality pattern amongst patients with Diabetes Mellitus at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital Uyo, Nigeria over four consecutive years (June 2004 to Ju...

The objective of the study was to assess the public health burden of hypertension in the rural communities in southeastern Nigeria (Niger Delta region of Nigeria). The study was a cross-sectional study in three rural communities in the Cross River and Akwa Ibom States of Nigeria. Demographic, anthropometric information, prior history of hypertensio...

Correct knowledge of current antimalarial drugs available for malaria treatment by Nigerians has a significant impact on the overall success of the ongoing national malaria control programme. This is as a result of a large segment of the communities, who more often than not, rely on self medications or as care givers influence the choice drugs for...

The modern treatment guideline of bronchial asthma recognize that combination of long acting beta2-agonists and inhaled glucocorticoids, enables better control of inflammation and symptoms of asthma than inhaled glucocorticoids only. These guidelines recommended that patients are educated to adjust their medication to their asthma severity using ph...

Background: The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that is responsible for most of the excess cardiovascular morbidity amongst persons with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM). The metabolic syndrome increases the risk for coronary heart disease and stroke by three-fold with a marked increase in cardiovascular mortality. Objectives: This stu...

Older people are at increasing risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The use of condoms which can protect both partners from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV during vaginal and anal sex is mostly neglected by them. In fact, postmenopausal women may not see the need for condom use when they are no longer at ri...

A prospective observational study was carried out to describe the pattern of pulmonary complications in hospitalized patients with Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) infection at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar between January 2005 to December 2006. One hundred and twenty-four patients which consists 60 males and 64 females, a...

Objective To ascertain the socio-cultural factors influencing the rate of utilization of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) in a malaria endemic city of Makurdi, north central Nigeria.Methods The study was cross-sectional in nature using systematic sampling method to identify households. Both quantitative and qualitative data was generated from ad...

This study was carried out to obtain normal lung function values for women in south eastern Nigeria with a view to establishing prediction equations for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume at the first second (FEV(1)) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Lung function values were measured in 600 apparently healthy Nigerian women...

The continued persistence of malaria in Africa appears to be largely due to socio-cultural factors which very often, are at variance with the standard control methods. The study was therefore designed to ascertain the socio-cultural factors affecting the control of malaria in an endemic city- Makurdi, north central Nigeria. The study was cross-sect...

Few types of blood exposures have been assessed in relation to incident HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa, despite evidence that penile-vaginal sex cannot account for the epidemic in the region. To investigate correlates of incident HIV infection in Calabar, Nigeria, we surveyed clients at voluntary HIV counselling and testing centres. Participat...

Aim: To establish the incidence of symptomatic genital Mycoplasma infections among antenatal women in Jos, Nigeria. Methods: High vaginal and Endocervical swabs (HVS/ECS) samples were obtained consecutively from 283 antenatal women that volunteered to enroll in the study. Samples were processed using standard laboratory procedures for the isolation...

[corrected] The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the outcome of directly observed therapy short course (DOTS) application in a Nigerian rural community. A retrospective study of all the records of DOTS at the centre from January 2001 to December 2005 was compiled and features such as: age, gender, drugs used, and outcome of tre...

Hypertension and diabetes mellitus relate to one another aetiologically and prognostically. Studies show that hypertension occurs frequently in diabetics than non-diabetics. Data on the prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance in hypertensive Nigerians are scanty This study assesses the magnitude of this problem in adult Nigerians with primary hype...

A five year retrospective study was carried out at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital to assess the impact of airway maintenance in the management outcome of tetanus patient treated in the hospital between January 2000 and December 2004. A total of 87 patients consisting of 61 males and 26 females formed the subjects of the study. Informat...

In sub-Saharan Africa, traditional healers play a major role in providing for the needs of people, particularly in rural areas where western health care is unavailable. Despite a paucity of reliable figures to determine the prevalence of traditional medicine usage, it is estimated that some 70% of sub-Saharan Africans access traditional healers. Th...

The study was to assess t he haematolog ical parameters [Haemoglobin (Hb) , packed cel l vo lume (PCV), total white b lood cel ls (TWBC) , dif ferent ia l White Blood Cel ls (WBC) , plate let count a nd erythrocyte sedimentat io n rate (ESR) ] of conf irmed thir ty-one (31) HIV pat ients before and af ter being t reated wit h a herba l preparat ion...

A study of the causes of nasal obstruction in Calabar, Nigeria from 1998 to 2002 was undertaken. Within the period under review 6985 patients were seen in the ENT clinic. The number of patients with nasal obstruction was 470 (6.7%), comprising 248 (52.8%) males and 222 (47.2%) females. Their ages ranged from 36 hours to 88 years with a mean of 21.6...

The aim of the study is to determine the pattern of tuberculosis as seen in Calabar over 10 years (1994-2003). A ten-year retrospective study (1994-2003) was carried out to evaluate the pattern of tuberculosis among subjects in Calabar, Nigeria. A total of 6,737 cases of confirmed pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis seen during the period of...

Chronic inhalation of dust impairs lung function and may cause respiratory symptoms. However, knowledge about the type of dust that can cause these problems is uncertain. Very little attention has been paid to the health of workers chronically exposed to dust raised by street sweeping without precautionary measures. Therefore, a study of lung funct...

The effect of chronic exposure to dust from local woods such as ebony, achi, and iroko on lung function of timber market workers in Calabar - Nigeria, was studied. Forced vital capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in one second, (FEV1), Forced Expiratory Volume as a percentage of forced vital capacity (FEV1 %), and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PE...

A 3-year (1997-1999) prospective study was carried out to evaluate the possible role of traditional healers (THs) in the spread of HIV/AIDS in south eastern Nigeria. Their patients' knowledge of HIV infection was also ascertained during the review period. Four contiguous states in south eastern Nigeria with high prevalent rates of HIV infection wer...

Amoebic liver abscess still poses a serious clinical problem in tropical countries. Here we describe three complicated cases to illustrate the magnitude this disease condition could assume in the tropics. Limited access to health facilities as well as poverty and ignorance result in patients presenting late, often with complications, which compound...

A retrospective study of cases of adult Bacterial meningitis managed at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Calabar over a 5 –Year period (1993-97) was carried out to determine the Clinical presentation, morbidity and the management outcomes during the survey period. A total of 68 patients whose case records were found intact were selected...

We measured and compared ventilatory function indices: forced vital capacity (FVC); forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%) and peak expiratory flowrate (PEFR) of 442 granite dust-exposed Nigerian children (221 males and 221 females) aged 6-16years to those of 472 (238 males and 234 females) aged, weight and sex-matched Nigerian children not...

A 10 year review of leprosy patients seen at Leprosy Hospital Ekpene Obom in South Eastern Nigeria (1988-1997) was carried out to evaluate the effect of early identification and treatment of leprosy patients in the limitation of deformities among them. A total of 2,597 patients comprising 1,714 (66%) males and 883 (34.0%) females formed subjects fo...

To determine the lung function status of some Nigerian men and women chronically exposed to fish drying using burning firewood. Case control study. Ibaka, Utaewa and Ikanga fishing settlements. 183 males and 192 females engaged in fishing, aged 20 to 45 years who have been exposed for a minimum of five years as cases. The control group comprised se...

To evaluate the effect of late diagnosis and other factors on outcome of paediatric bacterial meningitis (BM) and recommend appropriate intervention. Case series. University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria. 62 consecutive BM patients aged two months to 16 years admitted between 1991 and 1994. Mortality rate. Diagnostic difficulties e...

Retinoids have proven chemopreventive efficacy in both preclinical and clinical studies. This trial was designed to confirm the finding of an earlier uncontrolled trial that the synthetic retinoid etretinate had major activity in reversing squamous metaplasia found in the bronchial epithelium of chronic smokers. We prospectively evaluated 152 smoke...

PURPOSERetinoids have proven chemopreventive efficacy in both preclinical and clinical studies. This trial was designed to confirm the finding of an earlier uncontrolled trial that the synthetic retinoid etretinate had major activity in reversing squamous metaplasia found in the bronchial epithelium of chronic smokers.PATIENTS AND METHODS We prospe...

We performed flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FFB) on 106 heavy cigarette smokers. Six bronchial biopsy specimens, obtained from the carina and five major bronchi, were screened for squamous metaplasia. Individual biopsy specimens were sectioned into 4-microns sections, and a metaplasia index (MI), or percentage of sections containing squamous met...

Bronchial micronuclei, small fragments of extra-nuclear DNA formed during cell division, provide a non-specific but quantifiable marker of DNA damage. Micronuclei have been used to assess carcinogen exposure and as an intermediate endpoint in chemoprevention trials. As part of an ongoing chemoprevention trial, heavy smokers underwent screening bron...

Exercise testing was performed on 37 patients with resectable lung lesions who were deemed inoperable because of any of the following risk factors: (1) FEV1 less than or equal to 40 percent of predicted; (2) radionuclide calculated postlobectomy FEV1 less than or equal to 33 percent of predicted; or (3) arterial PCO2 greater than or equal to 45 mm...

A 64-year-old woman with ovarian carcinoma that had been treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation presented with a maculopapular rash on the extremities and miliary infiltrates evident on chest roentgenogram. Transbronchial biopsy specimens revealed caseating granulomas, and cultures grew Mycobacterium terrae....

In the bronchial epithelium, smoking initiates a multistep process that first appears histologically as premalignant squamous metaplasia/dysplasia, a biological predecessor of squamous-cell lung cancer. Reflecting chromosomal damage from a carcinogenic insult, micronuclei may reveal earlier events in the carcinogenic sequence. We prospectively eval...