Zeleke Mekonnen

• Professor
• Managing Director at Jimma University

New approaches are urgently needed to enrich rare or low-abundant DNA in complex samples. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) inhabit heterogeneous environments, including the gastrointestinal tract of their host as adults and are excreted as eggs and larvae in faeces, complicating our understanding of their biology and the use of genetic tools for s...

Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, including those for essential medicines like paracetamol. This study aimed to assess the resilience and adaptability of Ethiopia's paracetamol supply chain during the pandemic. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining semi-structured interv...

Background Oromia regional state experiencing cholera outbreaks in a protracted pattern despite various interventions at local and regional levels. This study aimed to examine the implementation of Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities for cholera outbreak control in the region. Methods We conducted a quantitative and quali...

Background: Patient caregivers are highly likely to be contaminated with antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in the hospital wards. Many of these microorganisms can cause food-borne infections, affecting admitted patients. Food quality, safety, and contributing factors in Ethiopian health institutions where food is served to in-patients are poor...

Background Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections occurring during pregnancy may pose adverse health consequences to the mother and the developing baby. This study aims to determine the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni and STHs, and their association with adverse birth outcomes among pregnant women in Jimma Town. Methods A...

Despite infection and sepsis being a major public health challenge, early detection and timely management are often hindered by several factors. These includes the similarity of clinical presentations between infectious and non-infectious conditisons, as well as limitations of current diagnostic methods such as lengthy turnaround times and low sens...

Background Shigellosis is an acute gastroenteritis infection and one of Ethiopia’s most common causes of morbidity and mortality, especially in children under five. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has spread quickly among Shigella species due to inappropriate antibiotic use, inadequacies of diagnostic facilities, and unhygienic conditions. This stud...

Background The development and implementation of COVID-19 vaccines have been a breakthrough in controlling the pandemic. However, the vaccination coverage in most low-income countries remains very low due to critical vaccine shortage and profound hesitancy. In this scoping review, we aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine uptake, acceptance, and hesitanc...

ackground: Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni) infection is a significant public health problem in Ethiopia, and has wide distribution in the country. The impact of the disease is particularly high on school-age children. Nationwide 385 endemic districts were identified, whereby control and elimination interventions are underway using schoolbased annu...

Background Manual screening of a Kato-Katz (KK) thick stool smear remains the current standard to monitor the impact of large-scale deworming programs against soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). To improve this diagnostic standard, we recently designed an artificial intelligence based digital pathology system (AI-DP) for digital image capture and an...

Diarrhea claims >500,000 lives annually among children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries. Mortality due to acute diarrhea (<7 days’ duration) is decreasing, but prolonged (7-13 days) and persistent (≥14 days of duration) diarrhea remains a massive challenge. Here, we use a case-control study to decipher if fecal gut microb...

This study aimed to retrospectively assess the cost-effectiveness of various COVID-19 vaccination strategies in Ethiopia. It involved healthcare workers (HCWs) and community participants; and was conducted through interviews and serological tests. Local SARS-CoV-2 variants and seroprevalence rates, as well as national COVID-19 reports and vaccinati...

Background We aimed to gain insights into the role of known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in codons 167, 198 and 200 of the ß-tubulin gene as markers for possible benzimidazole resistance in human soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura , Necator americanus and Ancylostsoma duodenale ). Methods Firstly,...

Objectives Lockdowns and border closures impacted medicine availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the availability of essential, generic medicines for chronic diseases at public pharmaceutical supply agencies in Ethiopia. Design Comparative cross-sectional study. Setting The availability of essential, generic medici...

Giardia duodenalis is a common pathogenic intestinal protozoan parasite with high prevalence in developing countries, especially among children. The distribution of giardia assemblages among humans and their clinical relevance remains controversial. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and assemblage of Giardia among children under 5 years...

Background Due to abundant pathogen diversity and mounting antimicrobial resistance, sepsis is more common in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). However, there is a lack of consistent reports regarding the prevalence of adult sepsis in the region. Therefore, this study aimed to determine pooled estimates of sepsis prevalence and associated mortality among a...

Objective This study aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT) as a screening tool for SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Methods This study was conducted at six referral hospitals in Oromia Region, Ethiopia. One thousand seven hund...

Background: Manual screening of a Kato-Katz (KK) thick stool smear remains the current standard to monitor the impact of large-scale deworming programs against soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). To improve this diagnostic standard, we recently designed an artificial intelligence based digital pathology system (AI-DP) for digital image capture and a...

Background: Shigellosis is the most common cause of epidemic dysentery found worldwide, particularly in developing countries, where it causes infant diarrhea and mortality. The prevalence of Shigella species resistant to commonly used antimicrobial drugs has steadily increased. The purpose of this review is to describe the prevalence and antimicro...

Background: Shigella and parasitic infections are common public health problems throughout the world. Shigellosis is an acute gastroenteritis infection and one of Ethiopia's most common causes of morbidity and mortality, especially in children under five. High resistance rates to commonly used antibiotic agents have been documented in different lo...

Background COVID-19 pandemic posed a major impact on the availability and affordability of essential medicines. This study aimed to assess the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply availability of non-communicable chronic disease (NCD) medicines and paracetamol products in Ethiopia. Methods A mixed methods study was conducted to...

Background Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programs currently lack evidence-based recommendations for cost-efficient survey designs for monitoring and evaluation. Here, we present a framework to provide evidence-based recommendations, using a case study of therapeutic drug efficacy monitoring based on the examination of helminth eggs in sto...

Fasciolosis is regarded as a major challenge to livestock productivity worldwide, but the burden of disease in humans has only started to receive some attention in the past three decades. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of human and animal fasciolosis and its determinant factors in the Gilgel Gibe and Butajira Health and Demog...

Background Schistosoma mansoni is endemic in all regions of Ethiopia. School-age children are highly vulnerable to schistosomiasis-related morbidities. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of S. mansoni and morbidities among schoolchildren in schistosomiasis hotspot areas of Jimma Town. Methods Cross-sectional study was conducted among sch...

Background In many low- and middle-income countries, the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has challenged efforts to ensure access to and availability of quality maternal, newborn, and child health (MCH) services and essential MCH commodities. Objectives This study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the availability of maternal and child...

Background COVID-19 pandemic caused by extended variants of SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 350 million people, resulting in over 5.5 million deaths globally. However, the actual burden of the pandemic in Africa, particularly among children, remains largely unknown. We aimed to assess the seroepidemiological changes of SARS-CoV-2 infection after...

The identification of gastrointestinal helminth infections of humans and livestock almost exclusively relies on the detection of eggs or larvae in faeces, followed by manual counting and morphological characterisation to differentiate species using microscopy-based techniques. However, molecular approaches based on the detection and quantification...

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programs currently lack evidence-based recommendations for cost-efficient survey designs for monitoring and evaluation. Here, we present a framework to provide evidence-based recommendations, using a case study of therapeutic drug efficacy monitoring based on the examination of helminth eggs in st...

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published target product profiles (TPPs) for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) to inform and accelerate the development of diagnostics tools necessary to achieve targets in the decade ahead. These TPPs describe the minimal and ideal requirements for various diagnostic needs related to NTD specific use-c...

Abstract Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that disproportionately affects the poorest people in tropical and subtropical countries. It is a major parasitic disease causing considerable morbidity in Ethiopia. Despite significant control efforts, schistosomiasis transmission is still widespread in many rural areas of the country. The a...

Introduction Urogenital schistosomiasis is one of public health problems in lowland areas of Ethiopia. The disease is caused by Schistosoma haematobium. Freshwater Bulinus snails are intermediate hosts for the parasite transmission. The aim of the study was to assess intermediate host snails of urogenital schistosomiasis, human water contact behavi...

Background Distribution of schistosomiasis is more focal due to spatial heterogeneities in intermediate host snail dynamics and water contact behavior of humans. This makes the search for new transmission foci of schistosomiasis and its connection with malacologically receptive water bodies essential for effective control of its transmission. This...

Currently, national governments of onchocerciasis endemic African countries are working towards the elimination of the disease using mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin as a primary strategy. Attainment of this goal requires implementation of prolonged high MDA coverage in all endemic areas, and vigilant monitoring and evaluation of the...

Background Urogenital schistosomiasis has been known to be endemic in several lowland areas of Ethiopia. It is caused by Schistosoma haematobium and causes considerable public health problems to schoolchildren. Ethiopia, after mapping the distribution of the disease (2013 to 2015), launched school-based mass deworming program to treat schoolchildre...

The neglected tropical disease trichuriasis is caused by the whipworm Trichuris trichiura,a soil-transmitted helminth that has infected humans for millennia. Today, T. trichiura infects as many as 500 million people, predominantly in communities with poor sanitary infrastructure enabling sustained faecal-oral transmission. Using whole-genome sequen...

The world has faced multiple waves of COVID-19 outbreaks, with more than 300 million cases and 5.5 million deaths officially reported globally as of Jan 8, 2022. Within the first year of the pandemic, there was hope that it would soon be under control, yet the pandemic sustains to be the world's priority health agenda. This brief communication prov...

Background Large-scale deworming programs have been successful in reducing the burden of disease due to soil-transmitted helminth (STH; Ascaris lumbricloides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworm) infections, but re-infection in absence of other measures is unavoidable. We assessed the role of nail contamination as a source of infection with the goal t...

Background With the World Health Organization’s (WHO) publication of the 2021–2030 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) roadmap, the current gap in global diagnostics became painfully apparent. Improving existing diagnostic standards with state-of-the-art technology and artificial intelligence has the potential to close this gap. Methodology/Princip...

Knowledge on the duration of Cryptosporidium oocyst shedding, and how shedding may be affected by subtypes and clinical parameters, is limited. Reduced transmission may be a secondary benefit of cryptosporidiosis treatment in high-prevalence areas. We conducted a prospective clinical case series in children of <5 years presenting with diarrhea to a...

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has a critical global impact, mostly affecting low- and middle-income countries. A major knowledge gap exists in understanding the transmission pathway of the gut colonisation with AMR bacteria between healthy humans and their animals in addition to the presence of those AMR bacteria in the surrounding...

Background Cryptosporidiosis is a major cause of diarrhoea in young children in low-and-middle-income countries. New interventions should be informed by evidence pertaining to risk factors and their relative importance. Inconsistencies in the literature may to some extent be explained by choice of methodology, furthermore, most previous risk factor...

This study aimed to determine the physicochemical quality of groundwater and its potential health risk for drinking in Oromia, Ethiopia. The groundwater samples were collected from 17 sampling stations in the dry and wet season in the Sebeta zone, Oromia, from March to August 2020. Metals and physicochemical parameters, and selected heavy metals, s...

The world has come a long way in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by averting the initially feared humanitarian crisis and by producing effective vaccines in a record time. Paradoxically, more new daily cases are being reported today than when there was not any effective vaccine around. The success against the pandemic so far is dented by in...

Background It remains largely unknown where and how infections with soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris, Trichuris, Necator and Ancylostoma) occur. We therefore aimed to identify possible sources of infection by assessing the environmental contamination in an STH-endemic area. Methods We first performed a series of laboratory experiments des...

Background There is a lack of comprehensive national data on prevalence, geographical distribution of different species, and temporal trends in soil-helminthiasis (STHs). Therefore, this study aimed to provide a summary and location of the available data on STHs infection among preschool and school-age children in Ethiopia. Methods The search was...

Community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTi) is the primary strategy employed to control and eliminate human onchocerciasis in Ethiopia. After long-term mass distribution for onchocerciasis, ivermectin is expected to have additional benefits beyond the envisioned targets by reducing the burden of other co-endemic parasitic infections as to S...

Cystic echinococcosis (CE), also called hydatid disease (HD) is a parasitic disease caused by larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus and is considered as a food-borne zoonotic, neglected tropical disease (NTD). Backyard slaughtering and inadequate veterinary services are major risk factors for high prevalence of the disease in developing countr...

Background We previously demonstrated that serology holds promise as an alternative diagnostic tool to copromicroscopy to monitor and evaluate deworming programs targeting soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). Here we explored the dynamics of anti-Ascaris antibodies (Ab) and evaluated the Ab-isotype of choice to assess the longitudinal exposure to Asc...

Introduction. Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is a common cause of neurodevelopmental delays and sensorineural hearing loss of infants, yet the prevalence of cCMV and the associated factors in Ethiopia are not studied. Hence, this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of cCMV in Southern Ethiopia. Methodology. A mother-newborn...

Background Lipoproteins are complexes of lipids and proteins that are essential for the transport of cholesterol, triglycerides, and fat-soluble vitamins. The linkage between chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus and HIV infection increases the complication of the diseases and worsens the clinical outcome of the patients. Purpose To assess and c...

Introduction: prenatal development could be considered normal or abnormal. Abnormal development occurs because of interference of normal development from genetic disorders, environmental factors, and multifactorial inheritances during the critical period of embryogenesis. The present study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence and patterns of bir...

Cystic echinococcosis (CE), also called hydatid disease (HD) is a parasitic disease caused by larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus and is considered as a food-borne zoonotic, neglected tropical disease (NTD). Backyard slaughtering and inadequate veterinary services are major risk factors for high prevalence of the disease in developing countries...

Background Strongyloidiasis is the most neglected of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The aim of this commentary is to describe the possible reasons why strongyloidiasis is so overlooked in Ethiopia, and shed light on better ways of control and elimination of the disease. Main body This commentary highlights three points why strongyloidiasi...

Background Comprehensive nationwide data on prevalence and distribution of intestinal parasites (IPIs) among pregnant women are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide pooled prevalence estimate, prevalence in different regions and species-specific IPIs among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Methods The search was carried out in Medline...

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the seroprevalence and associated factors of cytomegalovirus (CMV) among pregnant women in Southern Ethiopia. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The study was conducted in Hawassa University comprehensive and specialised hospital. Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia. Participants A total of 600 consecutiv...

The neglected tropical disease trichuriasis is caused by the whipworm Trichuris trichiura, a soil-transmitted helminth that has infected humans for millennia. Today, T. trichiura infects as many as 500 million people, predominantly in communities with poor sanitary infrastructure enabling sustained faecal-oral transmission. Using whole-genome seque...

Background Albendazole (ALB) is administered annually to millions of children through global deworming programs targeting soil-transmitted helminths (STHs: Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms, Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale). However, due to the lack of large individual patient datasets collected using standardized...

Background The treatment coverage of control programs providing benzimidazole (BZ) drugs to eliminate the morbidity caused by soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) is unprecedently high. This high drug pressure may result in the development of BZ resistance in STHs and so there is an urgent need for surveillance systems detecting molecular markers asso...

Background: Pregnancy is a key step for human's reproduction and continuity of generation. Pregnant women are among at risk groups for the infection of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). STHs are highly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries due to the deprived environmental sanitation and personal hygiene. Eating soil (geophagia) is also co...

Background: Pregnancy is a key step for human's reproduction and continuity of generation. Pregnant women are among at risk groups for the infection of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). STHs are highly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries due to the deprived environmental sanitation and personal hygiene. Eating soil (geophagia) is also c...

Background Curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae), and Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis) can lead to adverse pregnancy. There are limited data on the prevalence and correlate of STI in Ethiopia, yet pregnant women are not screened for cu...

The scientific community identified non stool-based biomarkers as the way forward to support soil-transmitted helminth (STH; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and the hookworms Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus) and schistosome (S. mansoni and S. haematobium) deworming programs. This support is needed in making the decision of wh...

Introduction Inappropriate antibiotic use is a major public health concern and driver of antibiotic resistance. Excessive exposure to antibiotics results in the emergence and spread of drug-resistant microorganisms. This study aimed to measure the volume of antibiotic consumption at the outpatient settings in a tertiary-care teaching hospital in Et...

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is a leading non-genetic cause of sensorineural hearing. Alethia CMV assay is proved to be accurate, simple and appears suitable for CMV testing using neonatal saliva. However, long storage of swab samples is not validated across different time periods and storage temperature. This study verifies the effe...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during pregnancy is a major cause of congenital infection worldwide. Congenital CMV (cCMV) infection can result in significant morbidity, mortality, or long-term sequelae, including sensorineural hearing loss. Although the increase of awareness and international guidelines on the management of cCMV is observed across...

Introduction Despite unrelenting efforts to contain its spread, COVID-19 is still causing unprecedented global crises. Ethiopia reported its first case on 13 March 2020 but has an accelerated case load and geographical distribution recently. In this article, we described the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Oromia Region, the largest and most populous r...

Introduction Curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae), and Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis) can lead to adverse pregnancy and birth outcome. There are limited data on the prevalence and correlate of STI in Ethiopia, yet pregnant women are...

Introduction: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common infection during pregnancy that poses the risk of congenital CMV infections (cCMV) worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the seroprevalence and associated factors of CMV among pregnant women in Southern Ethiopia. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on consecutive women attend...

Introduction Human embryo is well protected in the uterus by the embryonic membrane, although teratogens may cause developmental disruptions after maternal exposure to them during early pregnancy. Most of the risk factors contributing to the development of congenital anomalies are uncertain; however, genetic factors, environmental factors and multi...

Schizophrenic psychoses are the result of a multifactorial process in which not only environmental influences but also genetic factors play an important role. These factors are based on a complex mode of inheritance that involves a large number of genetic variants. In the last three decades, biological psychiatric research has focused closely on mo...

Background Cryptosporidiosis is a common cause of diarrhoea in young children (aged younger than 24 months) in low-resource settings but is currently challenging to diagnose. Light-emitting diode fluorescence microscopy with auramine-phenol staining (LED-AP), recommended for tuberculosis testing, can also detect Cryptosporidium species. A lateral-f...

Background Antiretroviral therapy has decreased human immunodeficiency virus related mortality. However, the incidence of diabetes mellitus is increasing among people living with human immunodeficiency virus and adds complexity to the standards of care. Objective The study was aimed to determine the glycemic control and delivery of clinical care a...

Background: Despite unrelenting global efforts to contain its spread, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still causing unprecedented crises globally with no proven vaccine or cure so far. Ethiopia reported its first case on 13 March 2020 but has an accelerated increase in caseload and geographic distribution since recently. We now describe the...

Background Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) is one of the child health programs and it provides an integrated approach and focuses on the well-being of the whole child. Globally, nearly nine million children pass away every year with preventable and treatable conditions. IMNCI program is provided by the health facil...

Infections with intestinal worms, such as Ascaris lumbricoides, affect hundreds of millions of people in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Through large-scale deworming programs, World Health Organization aims to reduce moderate-to-heavy intensity infections below 1%. Current diagnosis and monitoring of these control programs are s...

Background Efforts to control soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections have intensified over the past decade. Field-survey data on STH prevalence, infection intensity and drug efficacy is necessary to guide the implementation of control programs and should be of the best possible quality. Methodology During four clinical trials designed to evalu...