Phenotypic and Genotypic Identification of Bacteria from Women Breast-Milk and the Feces of their Childs in the Western Region of Algeria

Breast-milk is an important source of bacteria for the colonization of the infant‘s gut. The aim of our study was to isolate and identify bacteria from samples of breast-milk of 32 women and from fecal samples of their breast-fed infants. Antimicrobial activity of isolates was also performed. A total of 155 isolates were characterized by phenotypic tests and identified by 16S rDNA sequencing analysis. The isolates belonged to 6 different species of acid lactic bacteria (LAB) and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Enterococcus faecium was the most frequently isolated species (40.8%) and faeces (42.5%). According to the mother’s lifestyle, we noticed that the genus Enterococcus was the most frequently isolated from rural mother’s milk as well as urban mother’s milk. Lactobacillus fermentum (P < 0.05) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (P < 0.01) were isolated only from rural mother’s milk. An antimicrobial activity was observed in 30 strains from 148 LAB, the higher level of antagonist was with E.faecium (35 mm). The observed results showed that the isolated strains from rural mother’s milk were different from that urban mother’s milk. Eventual studies can be carried out about lifestyle and nutrition of mothers to explain the effect on the flora found in the milk and feces infants

A regionally based precision medicine implementation initiative in North Africa:The PerMediNA consortium

International audiencePrecision Medicine is being increasingly used in the developed world to improve health care. While several Precision Medicine (PM) initiatives have been launched worldwide, their implementations have proven to be more challenging particularly in low- and middle-income countries. To address this issue, the “Personalized Medicine in North Africa” initiative (PerMediNA) was launched in three North African countries namely Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. PerMediNA is coordinated by Institut Pasteur de Tunis together with the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of Institut Pasteur in France. The project is carried out along with Institut Pasteur d’Algérie and Institut Pasteur du Maroc in collaboration with national and international leading institutions in the field of PM including Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris. PerMediNA aims to assess the readiness level of PM implementation in North Africa, to strengthen PM infrastructure, to provide workforce training, to generate genomic data on North African populations, to implement cost effective, affordable and sustainable genetic testing for cancer patients and to inform policy makers on how to translate research knowledge into health products and services. Gender equity and involvement of young scientists in this implementation process are other key goals of the PerMediNA project.In this paper, we are describing PerMediNA as the first PM implementation initiative in North Africa. Such initiatives contribute significantly in shortening existing health disparities and inequities between developed and developing countries and accelerate access to innovative treatments for global health