J.C. OTIKOR

Occupational exposure to environmental pollutants poses significant health risks, particularly for street cleaners who are routinely exposed to dust, vehicle emissions, and other contaminants. This aim of this study was to evaluate the haematological and
haemorrheological changes among street cleaners in selected environs of Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. A total of 100 participants, comprising 50 street cleaners and 50 age- and gender-matched controls, were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. Sociodemographic and occupational data were obtained via structured questionnaires. Venous blood samples were collected under aseptic conditions for analysis of complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and plasma fibrinogen concentration using automation, Westergren method and Clauss method respectively. Results indicated that street
cleaners in Benin City were slightly older (35.84 ± 8.09 years) than controls (33.84 ± 4.21 years), with a predominance of males in both groups (88.0% vs. 80.0%). Most street cleaners had 1–5 years of work experience and worked 4–8 hours per day, 3–5 days per week.

The persistent burden of malaria in sub-Sahara Africa despite different interventions spanning decades makes it a major public health concern, especially in this region. The study was aimed at investigating how malaria infection affects these hemorheologic factors (haematocrit, fibrinogen and whole blood viscosity) and understand their implications in the severity of the disease. This research was conducted at the University ofBenin, Benin City, on a a total of 35 students within the age range of 18-25 years. Blood samples were collected from the participant and tested for haematocrit, fibrinogen and whole blood viscosity using a micro hematocrit centrifuge, the clauss method, reid and ugwu method respectively. Twenty five students who had no traces of malaria infection were used as control. Results showed a non-significant decrease in Packed Cell Volume (PCV) in the test subjects when compared with the control subjects. There was also no significant increase in fibrinogen level and whole blood viscosity between the test subjects and the control subjects. However, on the basis of sex, the malaria-infected males showed marked difference in their haemorrhegic factors when compared to the non-infected control male subjects. While the haemorrhaegic factors of the malaria-infected female subjects did not differ significantly from the haemorrhaegic factors of the female control subjects. Thus, implying that the male subjects were responsible for the significant difference observed in the overall number of malaria-infected subjects in this study, due to slight changes in PCV Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the haemorrhaegic factors between the groups of control subjects overall and on the basis of sex. It can thus, be concluded that malaria infection does have an impact on haemorrhegic factors. In view of the attempts at eliminating malaria in sub-sahara Africa, everyone in the region must contribute their quota to its elimination.