To inform health promotion practice regarding the sustainability of public health interventions, ... more To inform health promotion practice regarding the sustainability of public health interventions, the authors interviewed the directors of 13 new community-based organizations created through a practitioner-initiated public health intervention designed to promote physical activity at the community level. The purpose of the interviews was to uncover the factors that lead organization directors to become involved in the initiative and to maintain their involvement across an extended period of time. Results showed that there were 3 categories of positive outcomes associated with leading a walking club: maintaining and improving health, personal satisfaction, and group motivation. Difficulties associated with directing the club included high participant turnover rates, isolation of club directors, and lack of support from community organizations. Club directors indicated that sustainability would be enhanced through developing individual competencies, becoming more proficient at leading group dynamics, and developing better rootedness in the community. This information is interpreted in light of the six factors associated with sustainability.
To investigate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in Vietnamese children under the age... more To investigate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in Vietnamese children under the age of 5 years, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with meningitis were screened for Hib, and isolates were subjected to evaluation of susceptibility to 12 antibiotics, biotyping, and genotyping with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The major biotype was type II (68.3%), followed by type I (22.8%). Among 79 Hib isolates, 45 (57%) were -lactamase-producing and ampicillin-resistant (44 and 1 isolates produced TEM-1and ROB-1-type -lactamases, respectively), and 34 isolates (43%) were -lactamase-nonproducing and ampicillin-sensitive. No -lactamase-nonproducing and ampicillin-resistant isolates were found. The PFGE patterns of Hib isolates were highly divergent, but most could be classified into three clusters. We also investigated Hib colonization in household contacts of patients, and found that Hib isolates from the CSF of patients and from nasopharyngeal cavities of household contacts showed the same PFGE patterns. This observation suggested that household contacts of patients are a possible reservoir of Hib.
The live, auxotrophic Shigella flexneri vaccine strain SFL124 was given in a single dose of 10(7)... more The live, auxotrophic Shigella flexneri vaccine strain SFL124 was given in a single dose of 10(7), 10(8) or 10(9) colony forming units (cfu), respectively, to each of three groups of 10 Vietnamese children aged 9-14 years. The vaccine was well tolerated by all the children without any severe side effects such as diarrhoea or fever being observed. Mild symptoms were reported by five children. Only five children were found by culture to excrete SFL124 but, by PCR, 28 of 30 children were found to excrete the vaccine strain for up to 5 days (mean 2.8 days) with insignificant differences among the groups. Local mucosal immune responses and antibody secreting cell (ASC) responses to S. flexneri lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and invasion plasmid-coded antigens (Ipa) were elicited in the children in a dose-dependent manner. Doses of 10(9) cfu induced most prominent responses, followed by those of 10(8) and 10(7) cfu. The sIgA responses were the highest whereas the ASC were modest. High titres of serum antibodies to Shigella LPS and Ipa were found in all the children before ingestion of the vaccine which elicited increases in serum antibody titres in only a few of them. The immune response patterns seen indicate a booster rather than a primary response and may be a consequence of the endemic nature of shigellosis in Vietnam.
To inform health promotion practice regarding the sustainability of public health interventions, ... more To inform health promotion practice regarding the sustainability of public health interventions, the authors interviewed the directors of 13 new community-based organizations created through a practitioner-initiated public health intervention designed to promote physical activity at the community level. The purpose of the interviews was to uncover the factors that lead organization directors to become involved in the initiative and to maintain their involvement across an extended period of time. Results showed that there were 3 categories of positive outcomes associated with leading a walking club: maintaining and improving health, personal satisfaction, and group motivation. Difficulties associated with directing the club included high participant turnover rates, isolation of club directors, and lack of support from community organizations. Club directors indicated that sustainability would be enhanced through developing individual competencies, becoming more proficient at leading group dynamics, and developing better rootedness in the community. This information is interpreted in light of the six factors associated with sustainability.
To investigate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in Vietnamese children under the age... more To investigate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in Vietnamese children under the age of 5 years, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with meningitis were screened for Hib, and isolates were subjected to evaluation of susceptibility to 12 antibiotics, biotyping, and genotyping with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The major biotype was type II (68.3%), followed by type I (22.8%). Among 79 Hib isolates, 45 (57%) were -lactamase-producing and ampicillin-resistant (44 and 1 isolates produced TEM-1and ROB-1-type -lactamases, respectively), and 34 isolates (43%) were -lactamase-nonproducing and ampicillin-sensitive. No -lactamase-nonproducing and ampicillin-resistant isolates were found. The PFGE patterns of Hib isolates were highly divergent, but most could be classified into three clusters. We also investigated Hib colonization in household contacts of patients, and found that Hib isolates from the CSF of patients and from nasopharyngeal cavities of household contacts showed the same PFGE patterns. This observation suggested that household contacts of patients are a possible reservoir of Hib.
The live, auxotrophic Shigella flexneri vaccine strain SFL124 was given in a single dose of 10(7)... more The live, auxotrophic Shigella flexneri vaccine strain SFL124 was given in a single dose of 10(7), 10(8) or 10(9) colony forming units (cfu), respectively, to each of three groups of 10 Vietnamese children aged 9-14 years. The vaccine was well tolerated by all the children without any severe side effects such as diarrhoea or fever being observed. Mild symptoms were reported by five children. Only five children were found by culture to excrete SFL124 but, by PCR, 28 of 30 children were found to excrete the vaccine strain for up to 5 days (mean 2.8 days) with insignificant differences among the groups. Local mucosal immune responses and antibody secreting cell (ASC) responses to S. flexneri lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and invasion plasmid-coded antigens (Ipa) were elicited in the children in a dose-dependent manner. Doses of 10(9) cfu induced most prominent responses, followed by those of 10(8) and 10(7) cfu. The sIgA responses were the highest whereas the ASC were modest. High titres of serum antibodies to Shigella LPS and Ipa were found in all the children before ingestion of the vaccine which elicited increases in serum antibody titres in only a few of them. The immune response patterns seen indicate a booster rather than a primary response and may be a consequence of the endemic nature of shigellosis in Vietnam.
Uploads
Papers by Nguyet Minh