A Current Bibliography on African Affairs - Baywood Publishing

VOLUME 42, NUMBER 4—2009-2010 / 357
important deficiencies in rabies PEP for travelers who acquire high-risk, animal-associated
injuries in rabies-endemic countries, with the majority not receiving adequate PEP or
experiencing a substantial delay before receiving rabies vaccination.
1170. Gebissa, E. SCOURGE OF LIFE OR AN ECONOMIC LIFELINE? PUBLIC
DISCOURSES ON KHAT (CATHA EDULIS) IN ETHIOPIA. Substance Use and Misuse.
2008, 43(6):784-802.
Until the turn of the 20th century, only the religious and political elite of the city of Harer
in eastern Ethiopia chewed khat. Its consumption has since spread to all regions of Ethiopia
and all social groups, irrespective of religious affiliation, gender category, and age bracket,
have taken up the habit. In a few decades khat has been transformed from a shrub grown for
domestic consumption to the region’s predominant cash crop; from a substance chewed on
religious and cultural occasions to a visible and pervasive social habit; from a product sold
in local markets to the most profitable commodity, whose trade involves millions of
farmers, traders, and other service providers in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian
Peninsula. The growing importance of khat has engendered a heated national debate in
Ethiopia concerning the legal status of the plant. Opponents contend that khat is a health
hazard with deleterious socioeconomic consequences and seek a complete ban to curb its
“evil influence” on the country’s youth and future.
1171. Grace, D. et al. RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 IN
MARKETED UNPASTEURIZED MILK IN SELECTED EAST AFRICAN COUN-
TRIES. Journal of Food Protection. 2008, 71(2):257-263.
We carried out a study to assess the risk associated with the presence of Shiga toxigenic
Escherichia coli (STEC) in informally marketed unpasteurized milk in urban East Africa.
Data for the risk models were obtained from on-going and recently completed studies in
Kenya and Uganda. Inputs for the model were complemented with data from published
literature in similar populations. A fault-tree scenario pathway and modular process risk
model approach were used for exposure assessment. Hazard characterization was based on a
socioeconomic study with dose-responses derived from the literature. We used a probabilistic
approach with Monte Carlo simulation and inputs from farm and household surveys.
1172. Graziani, M., M. S. Milella, and P. Nencini. KHAT CHEWING FROM THE
PHARMACOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW: AN UPDATE. Substance Use and Misuse.
2008, 43(6):762-783.
Khat chewing is deeply rooted in the every day life of people living in the Horn of Africa
and South Arabia, where Catha edulis is endemic. Considered little more than an exotic
habit producing just milk pharmacological effects, systematic investigations on its active
principles have instead led to the isolation and chemical characterization of cathinone, a
compound structurally related to amphetamine. Three decades of intense experimental and
clinical research on khat have depicted a consistently clear picture of its pharmacological
and toxicological effects.
1173. Grusak, M. A. GENETIC DIVERSITY FOR SEED MINERAL COMPO-
SITION IN THE WILD LEGUME TERAMNUS LABIALIS. Plant Foods and Human
Nutrition. 2008, 63(3):105-109.
Teramnus labialis (L.) Spreng. is a wild, tropical legume whose seeds are collected and