Mohamed Zaki

This study was conducted to determine prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life and to identify factors that interfere with this practice in the study area.
METHODS:
A retrograde cross-sectional study included 1,059 mothers who attended the rural health unit to immunize their young children (6-24 months old) in Al Der village in Kaliubia Governorate, Egypt.
RESULTS:
We found 95.8% of mothers (1,015 of 1,059) breastfeeding their babies, whereas only 9.7% (103 of 1,059) were exclusively breastfeeding their infants for 6 months. Among the different sociodemographic, maternal, and infant factors studied, only antenatal care (four or more visits), early breastfeeding initiation after delivery, male infant, and absence of breastfeeding difficulties were the significant predictors associated with higher chance for exclusive breastfeeding.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study indicates that the prevalence rate of exclusive breastfeeding is low in Egypt and that interventions are needed to bridge the gap between the current practices of breastfeeding and the World Health Organization recommendations.

The Egyptian Arabian horse is one of the oldest and most popular horse breeds in the world. No previous efforts have been done to investigate the existence and prevalence of EHV infections in these precious horses. In this report, ninety three clinical samples were collected from a cohort of Arabian horses located in Cairo, Egypt. Screening of the clinical samples for the presence of EHV antigens by cell-ELISA utilizing a polyclonal antibody pool against EHV-1, 2, and 4 identified 34 (36.56%) positive samples. Virus-specific semi-nested PCR assays were used for typing the positive samples. Three samples were found positive for EHV-1, seventeen for EHV-2, seven for EHV-4, one was a mixed infection of EHV-1 and EHV-4, and six did not produce any amplification signal with all assays. Sequence analysis of the amplified semi-nested PCR products of representative EHV strains further confirmed the virus identity. This study is the first that outlines the involvement of EHV infections in Arabian horse diseases worldwide. Besides, it presents new data about the prevalence of EHVs in the Egyptian horse population.

This study aim is to assess the prevalence of occult HCV infection among Egyptian patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with elevated AST and ALT, and to correlate presence of occult HCV with severity of liver disease. Patients and Methods: After informed consent 27 patients with elevateed liver en-zymes diagnosed as NAFLD were examined for de- mographic, clinical, laboratory data and Ultrasono-graphy. Liver biopsy was done and tested for HCV RNA in tissue. Genotyping using RFLP analysis of PCR products in the 5’NCR was done for positive cases. Results: HCV RNA in tissue was positive in 11/27 patients (40.7%); genotype was 4a in all posi-tive cases. AST and ALT values showed significantly lower values in occult HCV than the non HCV NAFLD group. Liver biopsy of studied patients showed no significant difference as regard inflamma-tion and fibrosis according to METAVIR score. Con-clusions: Occult HCV is highly prevalent among Egyptian NAFLD patients. It seems to induce a mild liver disease. Patients with elevated ALT and negative HCV RNA in sera might be investigated for tissue HCV RNA. Follow up is recommended for the occult HCV patients to monitor progression to overt disease.

The study of inbred populations has contributed remarkably to the description of new autosomal recessive primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs). Here, we examine the pattern of PIDs in North African populations and assess the impact of highly prevalent consanguinity. This review reports on the current status of pediatricians' awareness of PIDs in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, where awareness of PIDs is relatively recent. The phenotypic distribution of PIDs is reported and compared among the three countries and with other populations. Data analysis reveals a prevalence of autosomal recessive forms and a peculiar distribution of major PID categories, particularly more combined immunodeficiencies than antibody disorders. In these endogamous communities, molecular diagnosis is critical to developing a genetic-based preventive approach. The organization of diagnosis and care services in these resource-limited settings faces many obstacles. Autosomal recessive PIDs are overrepresented; thus, it is critical to continue investigation of these diseases in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms and to improve patient care.