Rashid Ansumana, Anthony P. Malanoski, Alfred S. Bockarie, Abu James Sundufu, David Henry Jimmy, Umaru Bangura, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Baochuan Lin, David A. Stenger,
Abstract Background Spatial epidemiology is useful but difficult to apply in developing countries due to the low availability of digitized maps and address systems, accurate population distributions, and computational tools. A community-based mapping approach was used to demonstrate that participatory geographic information system (PGIS) techniques can provide information helpful for health and community development. Results The PGIS process allowed for the rapid determination of sectional (neighborhood) ...
Tópico(s): Urban Transport and Accessibility
2010 - BioMed Central | International Journal of Health Geographics
Kate A. Meehan, Andrea Bankoski, Edries Tejan, Rashid Ansumana, Umaru Bangura, David A. Stenger, Kathryn H. Jacobsen,
OBJECTIVE To identify the prevalence of hypertension among adults in Bo, Sierra Leone. DESIGN Hypertension data were extracted from outpatient clinic records. SETTING Mercy Hospital in urban Bo, Sierra Leone. PATIENTS All nonpregnant outpatients aged -15 years seen at the outpatient clinic in 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence of hypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mm Hg and/or a diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg. RESULTS Data from 3944 individuals were analyzed (mean ...
Tópico(s): Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
2011 - Ethnicity & Disease, Inc. | Ethnicity & Disease
Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, Hafsa Abdirahman, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Kate A. Meehan, David Henry Jimmy, Anthony P. Malanoski, Abu James Sundufu, David A. Stenger,
The factors that influence the selection of a healthcare provider once the decision to seek care has been made can be summarized using a triad of cost, location and reputation. The goal of this study was to identify which of these factors is the primary consideration when women in urban Bo, Sierra Leone, select a healthcare provider for themselves or their children. We interviewed 1091 mothers during a household census of two neighbourhoods of Bo in April 2010. Reputation was the top consideration ...
Tópico(s): Healthcare Policy and Management
2012 - Oxford University Press | International Health
David Henry Jimmy, Abu James Sundufu, Anthony P. Malanoski, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, Tomasz A. Łęski, Umaru Bangura, Alfred S. Bockarie, Edries Tejan, Baochuan Lin, David A. Stenger,
Tópico(s): Water Quality and Pollution Assessment
2012 - Springer Science+Business Media | Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Roger Hillson, Joel D. Alejandre, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Joseph M. Lamin, Anthony P. Malanoski, David A. Stenger,
This study demonstrates the use of bootstrap methods to estimate the total population of urban and periurban areas using satellite imagery and limited survey data. We conducted complete household surveys in 20 neighborhoods in the city of Bo, Sierra Leone, which collectively were home to 25,954 persons living in 1,979 residential structures. For five of those twenty sections, we quantized the rooftop areas of structures extracted from satellite images. We used bootstrap statistical methods to estimate ...
Tópico(s): Land Use and Ecosystem Services
2014 - Public Library of Science | PLoS ONE
Rashid Ansumana, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Tomasz A. Łęski, Andrea L. Covington, Umaru Bangura, Mary H. Hodges, Baochuan Lin, Alfred S. Bockarie, Joseph M. Lamin, Moses J. Bockarie, David A. Stenger,
Abstract We diagnosed 400 possible IgM-positive cases of chikungunya virus in Bo, Sierra Leone, during July 2012–January 2013 by using lateral flow immunoassays. Cases detected likely represent only a small fraction of total cases. Further laboratory testing is required to confirm this outbreak and characterize the virus.
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
2013 - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Emerging infectious diseases
Tomasz A. Łęski, Umaru Bangura, David Henry Jimmy, Rashid Ansumana, Stephen E. Lizewski, David A. Stenger, Chris R. Taitt, Gary J. Vora,
The tet(X) gene encodes a flavin-dependent monooxygenase that confers resistance to all clinically relevant tetracycline antibiotics including tigecycline. It has only previously been identified in environmental and non-human pathogenic bacteria. To investigate levels of multidrug resistance in Bo, Sierra Leone, a molecular epidemiological study was conducted using an antimicrobial resistance determinant microarray (ARDM), PCR and DNA sequencing. The study found that 21% of isolates from Mercy Hospital ( ...
Tópico(s): Vibrio bacteria research studies
2013 - Elsevier BV | International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Tomasz A. Łęski, Umaru Bangura, David Henry Jimmy, Rashid Ansumana, Stephen E. Lizewski, Robert W. Li, David A. Stenger, Chris R. Taitt, Gary J. Vora,
We describe the results of a molecular epidemiological survey of 15 carbapenemase-encoding genes from a recent collection of clinical isolates from Mercy Hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone. The most salient findings revealed that (i) 60% of the isolates harbored multiple carbapenemase genes; (ii) the blaDIM-1 gene, which has previously only been reported in The Netherlands, is also circulating in this environment; and (iii) blaOXA-51-like and blaOXA-58 genes, which were thought to reside exclusively in Acinetobacter ...
Tópico(s): Enterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research
2013 - American Society for Microbiology | Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Roger Hillson, Joel D. Alejandre, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Joseph M. Lamin, David A. Stenger,
There is a need for better estimators of population size in places that have undergone rapid growth and where collection of census data is difficult. We explored simulated estimates of urban population based on survey data from Bo, Sierra Leone, using two approaches: (1) stratified sampling from across 20 neighborhoods and (2) stratified single-stage cluster sampling of only four randomly-sampled neighborhoods. The stratification variables evaluated were (a) occupants per individual residence, (b) occupants ...
Tópico(s): Agricultural Innovations and Practices
2015 - Public Library of Science | PLoS ONE
Tomasz A. Łęski, Rashid Ansumana, Chris R. Taitt, Joseph M. Lamin, Umaru Bangura, Joseph Lahai, George Mbayo, M Kanneh, Ben Bawo, Alfred S. Bockarie, Matt Scullion, Cynthia L. Phillips, Cynthia P. Horner, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, David A. Stenger,
Laboratories associated with small hospitals often have limited expertise, personnel, and equipment to rapidly identify rare and emerging infectious diseases. We describe the successful use of the FilmArray system for rapid detection of Ebola virus directly from clinical samples in 6 out of 83 tested subjects in a small health care center in Sierra Leone.
Tópico(s): COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing
2015 - American Society for Microbiology | Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Shamika Ranasinghe, Rashid Ansumana, Joseph M. Lamin, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Jacob Buanie, David A. Stenger, Kathryn H. Jacobsen,
Most adults in West Africa treat acute febrile illnesses with local herbs, but the patterns of herbs used for malaria have not been recently described in Sierra Leone. We used a population-based cross-sectional approach to interview 810 randomly-sampled rural and urban adult residents of Bo, Sierra Leone, in December 2013 and January 2014 about their use of herbal remedies when they suspect they have malaria. In total, 55% of the participants reported taking one or more of seven herbs to treat symptoms ...
Tópico(s): Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies
2015 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Lila C. Fleming, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Joel D. Alejandre, Karen Owen, Umaru Bangura, David Henry Jimmy, Kevin M. Curtin, David A. Stenger, Kathryn H. Jacobsen,
To examine the diversity of the health-care providers in urban Bo, Sierra Leone, identify the types of health-care facilities preferred by women for fevers, and analyze the road network distances from homes to preferred health-care providers. A population-based random sampling method was used to recruit 2419 women from Bo. A geographic information system was used to measure the road distance from each woman’s home to her preferred provider. Preferred health-care providers for acute febrile illnesses ( ...
Tópico(s): HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses
2016 - Springer Science+Business Media | International Journal of Public Health
Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, Umaru Bangura, Michael Stockelman, Rashid Ansumana, William H. Cooper, David A. Stenger, Gary J. Vora,
The rising level of antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens is one of the most significant public health problems globally. While the antibiotic resistance of clinically important bacteria is closely tracked in many developed countries, the types and levels of resistance and multidrug resistance (MDR) among pathogens currently circulating in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa are virtually unknown. From December 2013 to April 2014, we collected 93 urine specimens from all outpatients ...
Tópico(s): Urinary Tract Infections Management
2016 - BioMed Central | BMC Infectious Diseases
Donald F. Dariano, Chris R. Taitt, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Umaru Bangura, Alfred S. Bockarie, Moses J. Bockarie, Joseph Lahai, Joseph M. Lamin, Tomasz A. Łęski, Chadwick Y. Yasuda, David A. Stenger, Rashid Ansumana,
Malaria remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in West Africa, but the contribution of other vector-borne infections (VBIs) to the burden of disease has been understudied. We used rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for three VBIs to test blood samples from 1,795 febrile residents of Bo City, Sierra Leone, over a 1-year period in 2012-2013. In total, 24% of the tests were positive for malaria, fewer than 5% were positive for markers of dengue virus infection, and 39% were positive for IgM ...
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
2017 - American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene | American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Rashid Ansumana, Donald F. Dariano, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Tomasz A. Łęski, Joseph M. Lamin, Joseph Lahai, Umaru Bangura, Alfred S. Bockarie, Chris R. Taitt, Chadwick Y. Yasuda, Moses J. Bockarie, David A. Stenger,
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among febrile individuals tested at Mercy Hospital Research Laboratory (MHRL) in Bo, Sierra Leone.A total of 860 febrile individuals ages 5 years and older were tested by MHRL between July 2012 and June 2013 with a Standard Diagnostics Bioline HBsAg rapid diagnostic test. The overall HBsAg prevalence rate was 13.7%, including a rate of 15.5% among males and 12.6% among females. The HBsAg rate did not differ ...
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
2018 - BioMed Central | BMC Research Notes
Roger Hillson, Austin Coates, Joel D. Alejandre, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Joseph M. Lamin, David A. Stenger,
This is the third paper in a 3-paper series evaluating alternative models for rapidly estimating neighborhood populations using limited survey data, augmented with aerial imagery. Bayesian methods were used to sample the large solution space of candidate regression models for estimating population density. We accurately estimated the population densities and counts of 20 neighborhoods in the city of Bo, Sierra Leone, using statistical measures derived from Landsat multi-band satellite imagery. The ...
Tópico(s): Remote-Sensing Image Classification
2019 - BioMed Central | International Journal of Health Geographics
Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, Abdulai G. Swaray, Umaru Bangura, Nathanael D. Reynolds, Andrew Holtz, Chadwick Y. Yasuda, Joseph Lahai, Joseph M. Lamin, Victoria Baio, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Rashid Ansumana, David A. Stenger,
Abstract Background Malaria continues to affect over 200 million individuals every year, especially children in Africa. Rapid and sensitive detection and identification of Plasmodium parasites is crucial for treating patients and monitoring of control efforts. Compared to traditional diagnostic methods such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), DNA based methods, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offer significantly higher sensitivity, definitive discrimination of Plasmodium species, ...
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Vectors
2020 - BioMed Central | Malaria Journal
Umaru Bangura, Jacob Buanie, Joyce Lamin, Christopher Davis, Gédéon Ngiala Bongo, Michael N Dawson, Rashid Ansumana, Dianah Sondufu, Emma C. Thomson, Foday Sahr, Elisabeth Fichet‐Calvet,
Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus LASV, which was first isolated in the rodent Mastomys natalensis in 1974 in Kenema, Sierra Leone. As little is known about the abundance and the presence of LASV in rodents living in the Bo area, we carried out a small mammal longitudinal population survey. A standardized trapping session was performed in various habitats and seasons in six villages over two years (2014–2016) and samples collected were tested for arenavirus IgG and ...
Tópico(s): Hepatitis B Virus Studies
2021 - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute | Biology
Shamika Ranasinghe, Rashid Ansumana, Joseph M. Lamin, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, Jacob Buanie, David A. Stenger, Kathryn H. Jacobsen,
The purpose of this study was to examine malaria testing practices and preferences in Bo, Sierra Leone, and to ascertain interest in and willingness to take a home-based rapid diagnostic test administered by a community health volunteer (CHV) or a trained family member rather than travelling to a clinical facility for laboratory-based testing. A population-based, cross-sectional survey of 667 randomly-sampled rural households and 157 urban households was conducted in December 2013 and January 2014. ...
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
2015 - BioMed Central | Malaria Journal
Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Hafsa Abdirahman, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Umaru Bangura, David Henry Jimmy, Anthony P. Malanoski, Abu James Sundufu, David A. Stenger,
As of April 2010, all maternity care at government healthcare facilities in Sierra Leone is provided at no cost to patients. In late 2010, we conducted a community health census of 18 sections of the city of Bo (selected via randomized cluster sampling from 68 total sections). Among the 3421 women with a history of pregnancy who participated in the study, older women most often reported having a history of both home and hospital deliveries, while younger women showed a preference for hospital births. ...
Tópico(s): Healthcare Systems and Reforms
2012 - Informa | Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica Scandinavica
Lila C. Fleming, Rashid Ansumana, Alfred S. Bockarie, Joel D. Alejandre, Umaru Bangura, David Henry Jimmy, Nigel Waters, Heibatollah Baghi, David A. Stenger, Kathryn H. Jacobsen,
Bypassing refers to a person's decision to seek care at a healthcare facility that is not the nearest one of its type to the person's home.This study examined inpatient care facility bypassing in urban Bo, Sierra Leone using data from 1,980 women with children 15 years of age and younger who were interviewed in 2010-2011. The locations of residential structures and hospitals were identified using a geographic information system (GIS), and the road distances from participating households to the nearest ...
Tópico(s): Global Health Care Issues
2016 - African Field Epidemiology Network | Pan African Medical Journal
Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, Umaru Bangura, Rashid Ansumana, David A. Stenger, Zheng Wang, Gary J. Vora,
Citrobacter freundii is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that is increasingly being recognized as a causative agent of hospital-acquired urinary tract infections and an important reservoir of antimicrobial resistance determinants. In this report, we describe the finished genome sequence of C. freundii strain SL151, a highly multidrug-resistant human urine isolate.
Tópico(s): Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
2016 - American Society for Microbiology | Genome Announcements
Shawn P. Mulvaney, Lisa A. Fitzgerald, Leila J. Hamdan, Bradley R. Ringeisen, Emily R. Petersen, Jaimee R. Compton, Nina L. McAuliff, Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, David A. Stenger, Christopher A. Myers, Erin Hansen, Michelle Ricketts, Chelsea Hoegberg, Kamonthip Homdayjanakul, Rashid Ansumana, Joseph M. Lamin, Umaru Bangura, Joseph Lahai, Victoria Baio, Direk Limmathurotsakul, Gumphol Wongsuvan, Viriya Hantrakun, Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, Anek Mungaomklang, Opass Putcharoen, Pratoomtong Yatoom, Kriengsak Kruthakool, Robert D. Hontz, Christopher N. Mores, Crystyan Siles, Amy C. Morrison, Mark Mayo, Bart J. Currie, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Kathleen Quinn, Jerold Blutman, Flavia Amariei, John R. Hannan,
Febrile illnesses are among the most common reasons for visits to hospitals and clinics worldwide. Since fevers can arise from a wide range of diseases, identifying the causative pathogen is essential not only for effective personal treatment but also for early detection of outbreaks. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) tasked a coalition of commercial, academic, and government researchers with moving diagnostic technology concepts from ideation to field use as rapidly as possible using scientifically ...
Tópico(s): Vector-borne infectious diseases
2018 - Elsevier BV | Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research
Tomasz A. Łęski, Michael Stockelman, Umaru Bangura, Daniel H. Chae, Rashid Ansumana, David A. Stenger, Gary J. Vora, Chris R. Taitt,
ABSTRACT A collection of 74 Enterobacteriaceae isolates found in Bo, Sierra Leone, were tested for quinolone antibiotic susceptibility and resistance mechanisms. The majority of isolates (62%) were resistant to quinolones, and 61% harbored chromosomal gyrA and/or parC mutations. Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes were ubiquitous, with qnrB and aac(6′)-Ib-cr being the most prevalent. Mutated LexA binding sites were found in all qnrB1 genes, and truncated qnrB pseudogenes were found in the ...
Tópico(s): Infections and bacterial resistance
2016 - American Society for Microbiology | Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Rebekah Wood, Umaru Bangura, Joachim Mariën, Moussa Douno, Elisabeth Fichet‐Calvet,
Lassa arenavirus (LASV) is the cause of Lassa Fever in humans in West Africa. The multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) is a reservoir host of LASV and the primary source of human infections. Humans are assumed to become infected due to contact with this animal or its excretions. Thus far, the available literature does not describe the sampling of feces as a means to detect LASV in M. natalensis populations. More evidence is needed to know if feces of naturally infected M. natalensis can be LASV- ...
Tópico(s): Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology
2021 - Elsevier BV | One Health
Adetunji Samuel Adesina, Akinlabi Oyeyiola, Adeoba Obadare, Joseph Igbokwe, Chukwuyem Abejegah, Patience Akhilomen, Umaru Bangura, Danny Asogun, Ekaete Tobin, Olufemi Ayodeji, Omolaja Osoniyi, Christopher Davis, Emma C. Thomson, Meike Pahlmann, Stephan Günther, Elisabeth Fichet‐Calvet, Ayodeji Olayemi,
We phylogenetically compared sequences of the zoonotic Lassa virus (LASV) obtained from Mastomys rodents in seven localities across the highly endemic Edo and Ondo States within Nigeria. Sequencing 1641 nt from the S segment of the virus genome, we resolved clades within lineage II that were either limited to Ebudin and Okhuesan in Edo state (2g-beta) or along Owo-Okeluse-Ifon in Ondo state (2g-gamma). We also found clades within Ekpoma, a relatively large cosmopolitan town in Edo state, that extended ...
Tópico(s): Hepatitis B Virus Studies
2023 - Taylor & Francis | Emerging Microbes & Infections
Tomasz A. Łęski, Rashid Ansumana, Anthony P. Malanoski, David Henry Jimmy, Umaru Bangura, Brian R. Barrows, Morie Alpha, Bashiru M. Koroma, Nina C. Long, Abu James Sundufu, Alfred S. Bockarie, Baochuan Lin, David A. Stenger,
Resource-limited tropical countries are home to numerous infectious pathogens of both human and zoonotic origin. A capability for early detection to allow rapid outbreak containment and prevent spread to non-endemic regions is severely impaired by inadequate diagnostic laboratory capacity, the absence of a "cold chain" and the lack of highly trained personnel. Building up detection capacity in these countries by direct replication of the systems existing in developed countries is not a feasible approach ...
Tópico(s): Influenza Virus Research Studies
2012 - BioMed Central | Health Research Policy and Systems
Rashid Ansumana, Donald F. Dariano, Kathryn H. Jacobsen, Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, Joseph M. Lamin, Joseph Lahai, Umaru Bangura, Alfred S. Bockarie, Chadwick Y. Yasuda, Moses J. Bockarie, David A. Stenger,
The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of HIV among febrile patients seeking care in Mercy Hospital, Bo, Sierra Leone, in 2012-2013.A total of 1207 febrile persons were tested for HIV with Determine™ and SD Bioline rapid diagnostic tests kits that detect the presence of HIV antibodies and HIV p24 antigens. The overall prevalence of HIV among the tested patients was 8.9%, which is considerably higher than the < 2% prevalence of HIV reported previously in the general population. While ...
Tópico(s): HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses
2017 - BioMed Central | BMC Research Notes
Chris R. Taitt, Tomasz A. Łęski, David A. Stenger, Gary J. Vora, Brent House, Matilda Nicklasson, Guillermo Pimentel, Daniel V. Zurawski, Benjamin C Kirkup, David W. Craft, Paige Waterman, Emil Lesho, Umaru Bangura, Rashid Ansumana,
The prevalence of multidrug-resistant infections in personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan has made it challenging for physicians to choose effective therapeutics in a timely fashion. To address the challenge of identifying the potential for drug resistance, we have developed the Antimicrobial Resistance Determinant Microarray (ARDM) to provide DNAbased analysis for over 250 resistance genes covering 12 classes of antibiotics. Over 70 drug-resistant bacteria from different geographic regions have ...
Tópico(s): Hepatitis B Virus Studies
2012 - SPIE | Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE
Tomasz A. Łęski, Chris R. Taitt, Sophie M. Colston, Umaru Bangura, Andrew Holtz, Chadwick Y. Yasuda, Nathanael D. Reynolds, Joseph Lahai, Joseph M. Lamin, Victoria Baio, Rashid Ansumana, David A. Stenger, Gary J. Vora,
In spite of promising medical, sociological, and engineering strategies and interventions to reduce the burden of disease, malaria remains a source of significant morbidity and mortality, especially among children in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, progress in the development and administration of chemotherapeutic agents is threatened by evolved resistance to most of the antimalarials currently in use, including artemisinins.This study analyzed the prevalence of mutations associated with antimalarial ...
Tópico(s): Computational Drug Discovery Methods
2022 - Frontiers Media | Frontiers in Microbiology