Prevalence of epilepsy in the onchocerciasis endemic middle belt of Ghana after 27 years of mass drug administration with ivermectin
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Supporting information
Supporting information
Author(s)
Otabil, Kenneth Bentum
Ankrah, Blessing
Bart-Plange, Emmanuel John
Donkoh, Emmanuel Sam
Avarikame, Fiona Amoabil
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In onchocerciasis-endemic areas with high ongoing Onchocerca volvulus transmission, a high prevalence of epilepsy has been reported. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of epilepsy in the Bono Region of Ghana following 27 years of implementation of ivermectin mass drug administration (MDA). METHODS: Between October 2020 and August 2021, cross-sectional surveys were conducted in nine communities in the Tain District and Wenchi Municipality of the Bono Region of Ghana. In the first stage, a random door-to-door approach was used to screen the population for epilepsy using a pre-tested questionnaire. Persons suspected of having epilepsy were invited for a second-stage neurological examination for case verification. Community O. volvulus microfilarial infection status and Ov16 seropositivity were also determined. Ninety-five confidence intervals (95% CI) for prevalence values were calculated using the Wilson Score Interval. RESULTS: Of the 971 participants, 500 (51.5%) were females, and the median age (interquartile range) was 26 (15‒43) years. Fourteen participants (1.4%, 95% CI: 1.0‒2.0) were diagnosed as having epilepsy with generalized seizures being the most frequent seizure type (85.7%, 12/14). The overall microfilarial prevalence of O. volvulus was 10.3% (November 2020) and 9.9% (August 2021); the Ov16 seroprevalence was 22.2% (June 2021). Only 63.2% took ivermectin in the last round of MDA distribution in March 2021. CONCLUSIONS: The 1.4% prevalence of epilepsy in the Bono region is similar to the median epilepsy prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the persistent microfilarial prevalence and low ivermectin study coverage call for the Ghana Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme to step up its efforts to ensure that the gains achieved are consolidated and improved to achieve the elimination of onchocerciasis by 2030.
Date Issued
2023-08-17
Date Acceptance
2023-06-29
Citation
Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2023, 12 (1), pp.75-75
ISSN
2049-9957
Publisher
BioMed Central
Start Page
75
End Page
75
Journal / Book Title
Infectious Diseases of Poverty
Volume
12
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37587500
PII: 10.1186/s40249-023-01117-9
Subjects
Adult
Animals
Cross-Sectional Studies
Epilepsy
Female
Ghana
Humans
Intestinal Volvulus
Ivermectin
Male
Mass Drug Administration
Microfilariae
Onchocerciasis
Prevalence
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Coverage
Ivermectin
Mass drug administration
Microfilaria
Onchocerca volvulus
Onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy
Seizure
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
ARTN 75