Joseph Ezeogu

• MBBS,FWACP (Paed)
• Federal Medical Centre, Owerri

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among female children 9-14 years is critical to reducing the burden of HPV-related cancers in Nigeria. We assessed caregivers' perception and acceptance of HPV vaccination for their wards; using a structured, pretested, self-administered questionnaire in a face-to-face interview among caregivers...

Sociodemographic Risk Factors for Mental Health Disorders Among School Children in Umuahia, South-East Nigeria

Introduction: Neonatal jaundice (neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia), characterized by yellowish discoloration of the skin and sclera of newborn infants is caused by high serum bilirubin levels. Amongst infants, it is an important cause of preventable brain injury, mental handicap, physical disabilities and death; arising from poor understanding that lea...

Aim: Oxygen is a life-saving essential medicine that is crucial for the treatment of many common childhood conditions. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the role of oxygen in critically ill children, refusal of oxygen therapy by caregivers has been reported in developing countries. Materials and Methods: This multicentre cross-sectional study wa...

Tuberculous chylous ascites is a challenging manifestation of tuberculosis which involves the accumulation of chyle, a milky fluid containing lymph and dietary fats, within the peritoneal cavity. It is an uncommon condition even in sub-Saharan Africa where the burden of tuberculosis (TB) is very high. While tuberculosis primarily affects the lungs,...

Background: The Viral load (VL) test measures the number of copies of HIV RNA in one milliliter of blood and is the preferred antiretroviral therapy (ART) monitoring strategy. Viral suppression is defined as patients having ≤ 1000 copies of viral RNA/ml of blood. Methods/Materials: This study involved the retrospective review of viral load test res...

Background: Antibiotics are amongst the most frequently prescribed drugs for children in outpatient clinics but irrational prescribing can cause medication errors, antibiotic resistance and treatment failure. Examples of irrational prescribing includes poly-pharmacy, over use of injections, inappropriate use of antimicrobials and failure to prescri...

Introduction: Feedback is vital for clinical students to improve their learning, growth, and raise self-awareness of their clinical skills. It also provides an important vista for faculty members to appraise their teaching practices for quality assurance process. Therefore, it is vital to assess the students' perspectives of feedback on teaching qu...

Introduction: Traditional bullying (face to face bullying, that occurs within or around the school premises) among secondary school students is a persistent global public health problem; with varying long lasting mental, physical and academic consequences, not only on the victims but also the bullies and bystanders. It is a common phenomenon that i...

Introduction low knowledge level of diarrhoea treatment, and appropriate use of oral rehydration therapy by caregivers, has been attributed to delay in commencing home management of diarrhoea. This delay in commencing home treatment; has led to preventable loss of lives arising from complications of diarrhoea, occasioned by lack of knowledge. Healt...

Abstract Background: The global burden of Mental Health Disorders (MHD) in children has continued to remain high. Despite this, it is unfortunate that the assessment of the mental health status of children is persistently ignored, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) such as Nigeria. It is also unfortunate that, knowledge of the bu...

Introduction Adolescent high blood pressure (HBP) can lead to several end-organ complications if it continues into adulthood. The 2017 AAP Guideline has lower blood pressure cut-off points and consequently leads to the identification of more people with high blood pressure. This study evaluated the impact of the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics...

Objective: Soil-transmitted helminth infections (STHI) coexist with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and they are widespread in environments where poverty is endemic. Helminths upregulate immunological stimulation while HIV’s effect is down-regulatory, depicted by the increased incidence of hypersensitivity drug reactions in advanced H...

Introduction: high blood pressure (HBP), once considered rare in adolescents is now a growing health problem. Usually asymptomatic in adolescents, if uncontrolled, can track into adulthood leading to various end-organ complications. In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a new Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for screening an...

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and use of hypertonic saline among doctors in the Southeast region of Nigeria. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted amongst 182 doctors in the paediatric departments of the six tertiary institutions in South Eastern Nigeria. Data to assess knowledge and use of hypertonic saline wer...

Objective: Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic infection caused by Cryptococcus and can result in cryptococcal meningitis, which is an AIDS-defining condition associated with high morbidity and mortality. Although a high prevalence of Cryptococcal antigenemia (CrAg) preceding cryptococcal disease has been reported in HIV-infected Nigerian adults, it...

Objectives: On account of increasing awareness of the need for Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and availability of requisite drugs, victims of rape are now presenting at health facilities including ours to access PEP for HIV. This study set to document the socio-demographic features of these victims and the event characteristic of the rape act. Met...

Five-chambered heart is extremely rare in children. We report a case of asymptomatic five chamber heart detected in infancy. The patient is 2-day-old and managed in a special care baby unit (SCBU) for neonatal sepsis. During routine follow-up at the age of 1 month, she was found to have an asymptomatic murmur. Echocardiograph reported five-chambere...

Hepatitis B infection impacts negatively on disease progression in HIV infected children thereby increasing morbidity and mortality. In spite of the foregoing, there is paucity of data on Hepatitis B co-infection in children living with HIV in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria.This study set out to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B Co- infection...