Preventive Measures against Ebola and COVID-19 and Their Impact on Human Dirty-Hand Disease Mitigation in Côte d’Ivoire

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study examined the impact of hygiene on the prevalence of dirty hand pathologies in rural and urban areas of Côte d'Ivoire. The study collected clinical data from patients' records and conducted Focus Group Discussions to identify factors affecting handwashing and disinfection practices. Men were found to be more affected by Typhoid fever and Influenza than women. While hygiene measures promoted during Ebola and Covid-19 outbreaks had no impact on the prevalence of typhoid fever, a positive impact was observed on influenza. Financial constraints, access to drinking water, and scarcity of handwashing facilities were identified as hindering factors for adherence to hygiene practices.

- The manuscript within the journal's scope.

- This study was well designed, executed, and presented. It makes important points that are widely applicable.

- The conclusion is consistent with the evidence presented

- The discussion is relevant and comprehensive 

- References are up-to-date and relevant.

- Figures and tables are well presented

Author Response

REVIEWER 1 REPORT

" This study examined the impact of hygiene on the prevalence of dirty hand pathologies in rural and urban areas of Côte d'Ivoire. The study collected clinical data from patients' records and conducted Focus Group Discussions to identify factors affecting handwashing and disinfection practices. Men were found to be more affected by Typhoid fever and Influenza than women. While hygiene measures promoted during Ebola and Covid-19 outbreaks had no impact on the prevalence of typhoid fever, a positive impact was observed on influenza. Financial constraints, access to drinking water, and scarcity of handwashing facilities were identified as hindering factors for adherence to hygiene practices.

- The manuscript within the journal's scope.

- This study was well designed, executed, and presented. It makes important points that are widely applicable.

- The conclusion is consistent with the evidence presented

- The discussion is relevant and comprehensive

- References are up-to-date and relevant.

- Figures and tables are well presented. "

 

Comment: We thank very much Reviewer #1 for checking our manuscript so carefully and for appreciation on the design, execution, presentation, conclusion, discussion, figures and tables of the manuscript. We tried our best to address revision in English language and the manuscript was thoroughly edited by a native English speaker. We do hope that we were able to edit the manuscript to your satisfaction. Please note that we highlighted all changes using a yellow marker to assist you in readily tracking our changes made. Moreover, we reworked the last paragraph of the limitation of the study (see revised manuscript, lines 468-481).

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you very much for this opportunity to revise the manuscript titled "Prevention Measures Against Ebola and COVID-19 and their Impact on Human Dirty Hand Pathologies Mitigation in Côte d’Ivoire" that was submitted to Sustainability.

First of all, I would recommend to the authors to supplement the article with the following sources:

Anderson, J. L., Warren, C. A., Perez, E., Louis, R. I., Phillips, S., Wheeler, J., Cole, M., & Misra, R. (2008). Gender and ethnic differences in hand hygiene practices among college students. American Journal of Infection Control, 36(5), 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2007.09.007

Chandrashekar, B., & Goel, S. (2020). Evaluating the efficacy of handwashing demonstration on hand hygiene among school students – An interventional study. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 9(1), 226. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_94_20

Sultana, M., Alam Mahumud, R., Razzaque Sarker, A., & Mahmud Hossain, S. (2016). Hand hygiene knowledge and practice among university students: evidence from Private Universities of Bangladesh. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 13. https://doi.org/10.2147/rmhp.s98311

Thaivalappil, A., Young, I., Pearl, D. L., McWhirter, J. E., & Papadopoulos, A. (2022). “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene. Environmental Health Insights, 16, 117863022211299. https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302221129955

Wong, J. S. W., & Lee, J. K. F. (2019). The Common Missed Handwashing Instances and Areas after 15 Years of Hand-Hygiene Education. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2019, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5928924


Second, it is also, suggestions for future studies should be added, substantially.

Third, I think the Conclusions section should be expanded.

Fourth, please do have this paper carefully edited by a native speaker to make it readable.

I will be happy to review the revised manuscript.

Author Response

REVIEWER 2 REPORT

"Thank you very much for this opportunity to revise the manuscript titled "Prevention Measures Against Ebola and COVID-19 and their Impact on Human Dirty Hand Pathologies Mitigation in Côte d’Ivoire" that was submitted to Sustainability.

First of all, I would recommend to the authors to supplement the article with the following sources:

 Anderson, J. L., Warren, C. A., Perez, E., Louis, R. I., Phillips, S., Wheeler, J., Cole, M., & Misra, R. (2008). Gender and ethnic differences in hand hygiene practices among college students. American Journal of Infection Control, 36(5), 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2007.09.007

 

Chandrashekar, B., & Goel, S. (2020). Evaluating the efficacy of handwashing demonstration on hand hygiene among school students – An interventional study. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 9(1), 226. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_94_20

 

Sultana, M., Alam Mahumud, R., Razzaque Sarker, A., & Mahmud Hossain, S. (2016). Hand hygiene knowledge and practice among university students: evidence from Private Universities of Bangladesh. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 13. https://doi.org/10.2147/rmhp.s98311

 

Thaivalappil, A., Young, I., Pearl, D. L., McWhirter, J. E., & Papadopoulos, A. (2022). “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene. Environmental Health Insights, 16, 117863022211299. https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302221129955

 

Wong, J. S. W., & Lee, J. K. F. (2019). The Common Missed Handwashing Instances and Areas after 15 Years of Hand-Hygiene Education. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2019, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5928924

 

Second, it is also, suggestions for future studies should be added, substantially.

 

Third, I think the Conclusions section should be expanded.

Fourth, please do have this paper carefully edited by a native speaker to make it readable.

 I will be happy to review the revised manuscript"

 

Comment: We thank Reviewer #2 for in-depth revision of our manuscript. Given the opportunity to revise our piece, we carefully addressed each of the raised concerns and hope that we are now closer to the mark. Please note that we highlighted all changes using a yellow marker to assist you in readily tracking our changes made.

As recommend by the Reviewer, for the first point, we examined the articles suggested and incorporated their content in the state of art in the introduction and in the Discussion section. Those sources were incorporated in the list of references at the end (see revised manuscript, reference 13 lines 566-567; reference 22 lines 586-587; reference 26 lines 595-597; reference 35 lines 616-617 and reference 36 lines 618-620).

We also added a paper (see revised manuscript, reference 21 lines 583-585).

For the second point on future studies, we reworked and expanded the last paragraph of the limitation of the study (see revised manuscript, lines 468-481) as well as the conclusion to indicate the new directions that future research could take.

For the third point on the conclusion, we reworked the conclusion (see revised manuscript, lines 491-498) to reflect more on future interventions and research to prevent dirty hand diseases.

For the fourth point on the language, we carefully checked English language before resubmission. The manuscript was thoroughly edited by a native English speaker after all the revisions.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article written by Aubin et al, entitled: Prevention Measures Against Ebola and COVID-19 and their 2 Impact on Human Dirty Hand Pathologies Mitigation in Côte 3 d’Ivoire needs revision in English language. The work is well designed. Results are well presented, discussed and statistically evaluated...

Authors present studies conducted on the impact of Ebola and COVID-19 prevention measures on the evolution of the prevalence of dirty hand pathologies in Côte d’Ivoire. The study showed that the prevalence of typhoid fever in both general hospitals had not been impacted by the preventive measures edited by the government before Ebola, during Ebola, between Ebola and COVID-19 and during COVID-19. Their results showed that measures had a positive impact only on influenza.  They concluded that the provision of basic hygiene and sanitation facilities, the enforcement of preventive measures by governmental authorities (local and national) and as well as permanent communication are critical factors to encourage good hygiene practices among population in the times of pandemics.

 Results are presumed to be classical and very known before, but the study is consistent and well proved by the good quality of the design.

 

The manuscript should be improved before publication. A special note for the English editing... 

Author Response

REVIEWER 3 REPORT

The article entitled: Prevention Measures Against Ebola and COVID-19 and their Impact on Human Dirty Hand Pathologies Mitigation in Côte  d’Ivoire needs revision in English language. The work is well designed. Results are well presented, discussed and statistically evaluated...

Authors present studies conducted on the impact of Ebola and COVID-19 prevention measures on the evolution of the prevalence of dirty hand pathologies in Côte d’Ivoire. The study showed that the prevalence of typhoid fever in both general hospitals had not been impacted by the preventive measures edited by the government before Ebola, during Ebola, between Ebola and COVID-19 and during COVID-19. Their results showed that measures had a positive impact only on influenza.  They concluded that the provision of basic hygiene and sanitation facilities, the enforcement of preventive measures by governmental authorities (local and national) and as well as permanent communication are critical factors to encourage good hygiene practices among population in the times of pandemics.

 Results are presumed to be classical and very known before, but the study is consistent and well proved by the good quality of the design.

 

The manuscript should be improved before publication. A special note for the English editing... 

 

Comment: We thank Reviewer #3 for the appreciation of our research on the design of the study, results and discussion and for pointing out areas that should be further enhanced. We tried our level best to address revision in English language and hope that we were able to modify the manuscript to your satisfaction. Please note that we have highlighted all changes with a yellow marker in the edited manuscript. Moreover, we reworked the last paragraph of the limitation of the study (see revised manuscript, lines 468-481). We have also reworked the conclusion (see revised manuscript, lines 491-498) to reflect more on future interventions and research to prevent dirty hand diseases.