Malina Osman

Pyrosequencing analysis of microbial community and food-borne bacteria on restaurant cutting boards collected in Seri Kembangan, Malaysia, and their correlation with grades of food premises.

This study adopts the pyrosequencing technique to identify bacteria present on 26 kitchen cutting boards collected from different grades of food premises around Seri Kembangan, a city in Malaysia. Pyrosequencing generated 452,401 of total reads of OTUs with an average of 1.4×10(7) bacterial cells/cm(2). Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroides were identified as the most abundant phyla in the samples. Taxonomic richness was generally high with >1000 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) observed across all samples. The highest appearance frequencies (100%) were OTUs closely related to Enterobacter sp., Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas sp. and Pseudomonas putida. Several OTUs were identified most closely related to known food-borne pathogens, including Bacillus cereus, Cronobacter sakazaki, Cronobacter turisensis, Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, Hafnia alvei, Kurthia gibsonii, Salmonella bongori, Salmonella enterica, Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella tyhpi, Salmonella typhimurium and Yersinia enterocolitica ranging from 0.005% to 0.68% relative abundance. The condition and grade of the food premises on a three point cleanliness scale did not correlate with the bacterial abundance and type. Regardless of the status and grades, all food premises have the same likelihood to introduce food-borne bacteria from cutting boards to their foods and must always prioritize the correct food handling procedure in order to avoid unwanted outbreak of food-borne illnesses.

Assessing the Knowledge Level, Attitudes, Risky Behaviors and Preventive Practices on Sexually Transmitted Diseases among University Students as Future Healthcare Providers in the Central Zone of Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study was done to assess the knowledge, attitudes, risky behaviors and preventive practices related to sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) among health and non-health sciences university students as future healthcare providers in Malaysia. A total of 700 health and non-health sciences university students (255 male; 445 female) aged between 17 and 30 years were surveyed by using a self-administered questionnaire. The majority (86.6%) had heard of STDs, and 50.4% knew STDs could present without symptoms. HIV remains the best known STD (83.6%) by the students, while chlamydia (26%) and trichomoniasis (21.0%) were rarely known. Gender, age group, educational level and faculty type were strongly associated with knowledge level (p-values < 0.05). Most of them (88.8%) were aware that STD screening was important while use of condoms was protective (63.8%). The majority of them strongly felt that treatment should be sought immediately if they (85.5%) and their partners (87.4%) have symptoms. Among the sexually-active students, 66.7% and 18% had sexual intercourse with multiple partners and commercial sex workers, while 17.4% and 9.4% took alcohol and drugs before having sex, respectively. By logistic regression analysis, students aged 24–30 years old (an odds ratio (AOR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.377–0.859) and faculty type (AOR = 5.69, 95% CI = 4.019–8.057) were the significant predictors for the knowledge level. Knowledge on the non-HIV causes of STDs is still lacking, and the risky behavior practiced by the sexually-active students in this study is alarming. There is a need to revisit the existing STD education curriculum in both schools and universities so that appropriate intervention on STDs can be implemented.

Seroprevalence of Leptospiral Antibodies among Healthy Municipal Service Workers in Selangor

Introduction. Municipal service workers have been found to have an occupational risk of leptospirosis. Study among municipality workers shows high seropositivity of leptospiral antibodies detected among town cleaners and garbage collectors. Objective. Aims of this study were to determine seroprevalence of leptospiral antibodies and distribution of serovars detected in samples among municipal service workers. Methodology. Cross-sectional study involved 89 municipal service workers in Selangor. Blood samples were taken and serological test was done using MAT following standard procedures. Results. Seropositivity of leptospiral antibodies among municipal service workers was 34.8%. Serovars identified were strains of Sarawak, Copenhageni, Hardjobovis, Lai, Bataviae, Patoc, Celledoni, Hardjoprajitno, Tarrasovi, and Pomona. There were 31 workers with positive leptospiral antibodies. All of them were frequently exposed towards leptospirosis. Significant associations have been reported between seropositivity of leptospiral antibodies with job category () and worker’s nationality () among municipal service workers. Conclusion. High seropositivity of leptospiral antibodies detected among municipal service workers which was associated with job category and nationality of workers. The significant findings from this study suggest that health education programs and safe work practice should be considered to prevent leptospirosis among municipal service workers in future.

Candida isolates from pregnant women and their antifungal susceptibility in a Malaysian tertiary-care hospital.

Objective: Pregnant women are susceptible to vaginal colonization and infection by yeast. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of Candida spp in high vaginal swabs of pregnant women and their antifungal susceptibility. Methods: High vaginal swab samples received from Serdang Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia during 2011 initially had microscopic examination, Gram-staining and fungal culture. These were finally confirmed by growth in chromogenic medium (CHROMagarCandida; Difco BBL, USA) and commercial biochemical identification kit (API 20C AUX; bioMérieux, Lyon, France). Antifungal susceptibility was performed by E-test method. Results: Out of 1163 specimens 200 (17.2%) candida spp were confirmed from high vaginal swabs of pregnant women. Candida albicans (83.5%) is the most common species detected followed by Candida glabrata (16%) and Candida famata (0.05%). All C. albicans and C.famata isolates were susceptible to fluconazole while C.glabrata isolates were dose dependent susceptibility. First and second trimester, and diabetes were considered significant factors in patients for the vaginal candidiasis (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In pregnant women, C. albicans was the frequently isolated yeast from high vaginal swabs. Routine screening and treatment are important of pregnant women regardless of symptoms.

Low Levels of Knowledge, Attitudes and Preventive Practices on Leptospirosis among a Rural Community in Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia

Little is known on the knowledge, attitudes and preventive practices (KAP) of leptospirosis worldwide. This study embarked on assessing the KAP of leptospirosis among rural communities in Malaysia. A total of 444 participants (223 male; 221 female) aged between 18 and 81 years old were surveyed by using a self-administered questionnaire. A majority of participants had poor knowledge level (57.0%), unacceptable attitudes (90.3%) and unacceptable preventive practices (69.1%) on leptospirosis, and only 29.7% knew “rat-urine disease” as leptospirosis. Only 34.2% of the participants knew the bacteria could enter via wound lesions. Ethnicity and income were strongly associated with knowledge level and preventive practices, respectively (p-values < 0.05). As for attitudes, ethnicity, income and education type were significantly associated (p-values < 0.05). Only 36.5% of the participants were willing to see a doctor and did not mind if their house or surrounding area is dirty (59.7%). Surprisingly, only 32.9% had used rubber boots during floods. By logistic regression analysis, ethnicity was the only significant predictor for both knowledge level (an odds ratio (AOR) = 0.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.222–0.680) and preventive practices (AOR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.204–2.734). Ethnicity (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.239–0.665), income (AOR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.041–2.385) and education type (AOR = 3.69, 95% CI = 1.237–10.986) were strong predictors for attitudes. Among the KAP variables, attitude (AOR = 4.357, 95% CI = 2.613–7.264) was the only predictor for the preventive practices by logistic regression analysis. The KAP elements on leptospirosis are still lacking and poor health seeking behavior and attitudes are of our utmost concern. Thus, effective strategies should be planned to impart knowledge, and develop proactive approaches and good preventive modules on leptospirosis to this leptospirosis-prone community.

A qualitative exploration of the misconceptions, knowledge gaps and constructs of leptospirosis among rural and urban communities in Malaysia

This qualitative study aimed to explore the misconceptions, knowledge gaps and constructs of leptospirosis among 72 respondents from rural and urban districts in two states of Malaysia. We conducted focus group discussions and data were examined using thematic analyses. The layman term of ‘rat urine disease’ contributed the most to the misconceptions regarding leptospirosis. There were gaps in the knowledge among urban and rural respondents in the two states, with the majority of subjects demonstrating a poor understanding of the disease. Construction of knowledge about leptospirosis relied mostly on the information provided by mass and social media; reading materials; word-of-mouth publicity; observations; experiences; and knowledge sharing among families, friends, and communities. The study findings may provide the foundation for the development of educational materials that may reduce the gaps in knowledge, and thereby improve health literacy and enhance preventive health behaviours for avoiding leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis Health Intervention Module Effect on Knowledge, Attitude, Belief, and Practice among Wet Market Workers in Northeastern Malaysia: An Intervention Study

Leptospirosis is an infectious disease which can be prevented by increasing awareness and promoting preventive health behaviours among high risk groups including wet market workers. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Leptospirosis Health Intervention Program (LHIP) in improving knowledge, attitude, belief and practice towards leptospirosis among wet market workers in Kelantan. This intervention study was conducted in two main wet markets in Kelantan involving 116 participants in each control and intervention groups. The health education intervention was based on Leptospirosis Health Intervention Module. The knowledge, attitude, belief and practice scores were measured before and six weeks after the intervention to examine the effect of the program. The results showed that knowledge (p < 0.001), attitude (p = 0.001), belief (p < 0.001) and practice (p < 0.001) scores changes were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group. The adjusted mean differences were 12.93 (95% CI: 8.47, 17.39) for knowledge, 5.55 (95% CI: 2.28, 8.81) for attitude, 7.21 (95% CI: 3.43, 10.99) for belief and 7.35 (95% CI: 3.64, 11.05) for practice scores. Leptospirosis Health Intervention Program was an effective health educational tools to improve awareness and preventive behaviours among risk groups such as wet market workers.

Extremely low prevalence of intestinal cryptosporidiosis and hygienic practices among hospitalized children with malignancies in Malaysia: a preliminary observation

Intestinal cryptosporidiosis has been reported to be associated with high morbidity and mortality among cancer patients. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis and to elucidate contributing factors that might influence its transmission in our children with cancer. A prospective cross-sectional study among 110 patients hospitalized for chemotherapy and 100 healthy children (used as controls) between November 2009 and January 2011 at Institute of Paediatrics, Malaysia. Stools were screened for Cryptosporidium by using RIDA-quick Cryptosporidium (RBiopharm, Germany) and underwent formalin-ether concentration method and stained with modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain as a gold standard. Questionnaires on personal hygiene practices and risk factors, and medical records from 105 children were analyzed. All stool samples were negative for Cryptosporidium. Washing hands before and after taking meals and after using the toilet were practised in 85/105 (80.9%) and 79/105 (75.2%), respectively. History of previous hospitalization was observed in 35/105 (33.3%), contact with animals 31/105 (29.5%), swimming in the pools 26/105 (24.8%) and admission to day care centres in 17/105 (16.2%). History of drinking unfiltered tap water and recent travel were seen in 3/105 (2.9%) and 1/105 (0.9%), respectively. Intestinal cryptosporidiosis is very rare among children with cancer and good personal hygiene practices remain the best preventive approach.