PREVA LENCE OF PATHOGENIC BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH BRONCHIAL ASTHMA PATIENTS ATTENDING ASHAKA CEMENT CLINIC, FUNAKAYE, GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Asthma has been one of the most prevalent chronic childhood conditions in many countries. This
condition has repeatedly been a major burden for affected children and their families, which results
into a great challenge for public health organizations and health care providers, and researchers
who are working hard to finding the key causes. Pathogenic bacteria have been observed to pose
public health challenges associated with patients suffering from childhood asthma. This study was
conducted to determine the prevalence and intensity of childhood asthma among patients attending
Ashaka Cement Clinic, Funakaye LGA, Gombe state, Nigeria within the periods of October 2016
to March 2017. A total of 155 patients from four wards of the clinic were screened for symptoms
and signs of asthma using questionnaire designed to collect patients’ age, history, chemical
examination and in-depth interviews were carried. Sputum and oropharyngeal swabs from the
posterior walls of oropharynx were obtained and examined using standard laboratories methods.
An oral prevalence of 3.9% was observed out of the 155 patients examined. High prevalence of
39.3%, 46.0%, 25.5% and 41.2% were observed in Jalingo ward, Anguwan Kara ward, Wuro Ibba
ward and Maza ward, respectively. The age group 0 – 9 years recorded the highest prevalence of
42.1% with no significant differences among age groups (P< 0.05). Males recorded higher
prevalence of 39.4% more than the females (38.5%) with no significant difference (P<0.05).
Factors associated with the presented symptoms of asthma on multivariate analysis were passive
smoking (O R 3.33, 95% CL 1.85. 7.65), pets at home (O R 5.5, 95% CL 1.04 – 29.15) and absence
of windows in living rooms (O R 4.03, 95% CL 1.17 – 13.79). Other factors such as family history
of asthma, history of worm infestation, fuel used for cooking, location of kitchen and food allergy
were not significant on statistical analysis. The species of bacteria isolated and identified from
asthma patients include Chlamydia Pneumoniae (22.5%), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (10.8%),
Bordetella Pertussis (4.4%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (3.0%) and Staphylococcus aureus
(1.9%). The study draws attention to the health hazards posed by pathogenic bacteria and risk
factors associated with asthma among patients in the study area. The urgent need for a decisive
control intervention to stern the problems cannot be overemphasized. Furthermore, there is a need
to establish a computerized data bases for information sharing among researchers and personnels
involved in the implementation of control programme to improve the surveillance system and allow quic k and adequate access responds to asthma outbreak, epidemiological database, risk
factors associated with the disease as well as GIS database on Asthma.