Ethnopharmacology of human immunodeficiency virus in South Africa–a minireview

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the etiologic agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), continues to pose an unprecedented public health problem of enormous proportions worldwide. Current treatment options for HIV/AIDS have not been satisfactory and the quest for effective curative or preventive therapies goes on. Plants are increasingly seen as an alternative source for the discovery of novel anti-HIV molecules. Africa, particularly southern Africa, endowed with a rich diversity of medicinal plants, represents the region of the world worse hit by HIV. Anecdotal evidence of the therapeutic benefits to AIDS patients of some plant-derived preparations abound. This mini-review takes a look at the evaluations of South African medicinal plants to determine their effects on HIV/AIDS, and the initial attempts at the isolation and characterization of putative anti-HIV molecules

Immune pressure analysis of protease and reverse transcriptase genes of primary HIV-1 subtype C isolates from South Africa

Synonymous (ds) and non-synonymous (dn) substitution rates and their ratios (ds/dn) were analyzed for 33 HIV-1 subtype C protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) nucleotide sequences each from antiretroviral naïve South African chronically infected individuals. The ds/dn ratios were calculated using the synonymous/non-synonymous analysis programme (SNAP). The ds/dn ratio for PR was found to be 5.3801, while for RT it was 8.6098. The RT had a higher ds/dn ratio when compared with PR, suggesting a greater conservation in the RT gene. Generally, these values point to proteins that have not been subjected to strong immune pressure. Analysis of the evolutionary distance of PR and RT based on synonymous and non-synonymous mutations was done by phylogenetic analysis. The clustering of viruses was different when synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions were considered in both gene regions. Overall, the data indicated that the viruses had not experienced high immune pressure at the time the sequences were obtained. It may also mean that, the PR and the RT of the sequences did not present enough epitopes to elicit antibody responses.Key words: HIV-1 subtype C, chronic infection, immune pressure, protease gene, reverse transcriptase gene, South Africa

Prevalence, haemolysis and antibiograms of Campylobacters isolated from pigs from three farm settlements in Venda region, Limpopo province, South Africa

We investigated the prevalence, haemolytic activities and antibiotic susceptibility profiles of Campylobacter species isolated from pigs in three farms in the Venda region, Limpopo province, South Africa. During the period of investigation, which spanned over one year, 450 faeces samples from pigs comprising 150 each from the three farms were collected and appropriately transported to the base laboratory at the Department of Microbiology, University of Venda for analysis. In total, the prevalencerate of Campylobacter isolates from all three farms was 30.2%, whereas, the rates of 25 - 26% were recorded for farms X, Y and Z, respectively. Out of the isolated Campylobacter species 10 (12.5%) were identified as Campylobacter jejuni and 70(87.5%) as Campylobacter coli. Of the Campylobacter isolates from the farms, 23, 22 and 35 were â-haemolytic from farms X, Y and Z, respectively. Susceptibility of the isolates to 12 antibiotics was determined by disc diffusion technique. The overall rate of resistance determined in this study to most of the antibiotics was 84.2%. Most Campylobacter isolates from farm X (< 50%) were resistant to ciprofloxacin, cefexime, and erythromycin, while > 50% were resistant totetracycline, (54.5%) to vancomycin, (100%) to ampicillin and methicillin. The rates of resistance to these antibiotics were not significantly different from farms X and Y (p < 0.005). However, most isolates from farm Y were more resistant to ciprofloxacin (57.1%) than isolates from farm X (36.4%) and Z (40.7%). Resistance rates to tetracycline by C. coli isolated from farm Y (48%), farm Z (45.5%) and farm X (44.4%) were noted. Similar trend was observed for C. coli from farm Y (40%), farm Z (31.8%) and farm X (22.2%) for ciprofloxacin. All C. coli from farm Z showed higher level of resistance to ampicillin (100%), Y (64%) and X (55.6%). The C. jejuni isolates though few were markedly resistant to fluoroquinolone and the macrolide as well as aminoglycoside antibiotics. Most of the isolates were resistant to at least seven (7) of the antibiotics tested. These observations indicate high levels of resistance to antibiotics commonly used in the swine industry (erythromycin and tetracycline) among the C. coli and C. jejuni isolates from pigs. Erythromycin and ciprofloxacin are drugs for treatment of human campylobacteriosis. The high prevalence rate of resistance to these drugs among C. coli and C. jejuni isolates from pig faeces is of public health significance.Key word: Campylobacter, campylobacteriosis, haemolytic, susceptibility, resistance, profiles

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of Campylobacter jejuni and coli isolated from diarrheic and non-diarrheic goat faeces in Venda region, South Africa

A total of 200 freshly voided goat faeces samples were collected in the study and were examined for the presence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. The samples were obtained randomly from 2 farm settlements in Venda region, South Africa in 2008 to 2009. All samples were analyzed with the mCCDA media with Campylobacter supplement in microaerophilic condition provided by the Campygen gas envelope (Oxoid). Of the total 200 samples, the recovery rate was 29% (58 of 200) for all samples. Of the 200 samples, 155 (77.5%) were non-diarrheic and 45 (22.5%) were diarrheic faeces. From the 45 diarrheic faces, 41 (91.1%) were positive for campylobacters and of the 155 non-diarrheic faeces, 17 (11.1%) were positive for campylobacters. In all, 58 Campylobacter species comprising 33 (56.9%) Campylobacter jejuni and 8 (13.9%) Campylobacter coli strains were from diarrheic and 2 (3.4%) C. jejuni and 15 (25.9%) C. coli were from non-diarrheic faeces. There was no statistical correlation between the incidence of C. jejuni in diarrheic faeces and non-diarrheic faeces. Rate of resistance of C. jejuni and C. coli to six regularly used antibiotics in human and veterinary campylobacteriosis; ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, ampicillin, tetracycline, nalidixic acid and erythromycin were 40.0, 47.1%, 57.1, 43.5%, 48.6, 56.5%, 42.9, 43.5%, 34.3, 34.5% and 14.3, 17.4%, respectively. In comparison, a significantly higher frequency of resistance to gentamycin was recorded among the C. jejuni and C. coli isolates (57.1 versus 43.5%) respectively, at p < 0.005 from goats in all farms. Resistance to ciprofloxacin and kanamycin was higher among the C. coli than C. jejuni strains but the difference was not statistically significant. Comparable occurrences of resistance were observed among C. jejuni and C. coli to erythromycin and nalidixic acid. High prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in goat could be of public health significance in the Venda region. The observed multi-drug resistance and especially resistance to macrolides and fluoroquinolones in this study pose a threat of transfer of antibiotic resistance to human pathogens because of the close contact between goats and man.Key words: Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, microaerophilic, veterinary campylobacteriosis, fluoroquinolones, Venda regio

Activity profiles of fourteen selected medicinal plants from Rural Venda communities in South Africa against fifteen clinical bacterial species

Fourteen plants used in traditional medicine in the Venda region of South Africa were screened for activity against fifteen bacterial species. Methanol, acetone and hexane extracts and in some cases essential oils were tested using the disc diffusion and the microdilution methods. Most of the extractswere active against at least one bacterial species. Methanol and acetone extracts were the most active while Gram positive bacteria were the most sensitive as compared to Gram negative bacteria. This study has revealed the strong in vitro activity of Syzigium cordatum, Peltophorum africanum,Rhoicissus tridentata, Bridelia micrantha and Ximenia caffra against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Essential oils of Lippia javanica was also effective against most of the bacterial species studied. However, Pouzolzia mixta and Mucuna coriaceae showed less activity. Some plants were more active than commercial antibiotics. This study is the first to test the activity of the selected plants from the Venda region against such number of bacterial isolates and justifies their use by local traditional healers. The identification of the active components of the plants and the determination of the effect of these plants on the immune system will give more information on their activity. Finally, these results may be of importance in identifying candidate plants and essential oils for eventual drug design and other therapeutic purposes, respectively

Identification of subdominant lactic acid bacteria in dawadawa (a soup condiment) and their evolution during laboratory-scale fermentation of Parkia biglobosa (African locust beans)

The successive colonization of fermenting African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa) by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was investigated for seven days. The LAB isolated were Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus raffinolactus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Leuconostoc sp, Pediococcus halophilus,Pediococcus sp, Lactobacillus sp, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus brevis. The first dominant species were P. pentosaceus, which was more in abundance, L. raffinolactus, L. mesenteroides and another Leuconostoc sp. At the end of fermentation, a stable community comprising of P. halophilus, P. pentasaceus and L. brevis was formed. The dominant genera in this study were Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. The proximate analysis of the fermenting andfermented mash showed an increase in moisture content from 55.1 to 65.2%, pH from 6.25 to a stable alkaline value of 8.4. The reducing sugar however, decreased from 0.96 to 0.58 mg. The amino acid content increased from an initial value of 8.13 to 35.55 mg for the laboratory-scale product, whereas the value of the control was 13.4 mg. The total viable count increased from an initial value of log102.6 to log105.8 and then fell to a final value of log104.1. The enterococci count increased initially but eventually fell to zero. The total yeast count increased initially from log105.3 to log106.6 and thereafter fell to zero. The market sample had a value of log101.5. No coliforms were found in the course of fermentation as well as in the final product of the laboratory-scale experiment and the market sample

Physico-chemical assessment of borehole water used by schools in Greater Giyani Municipality, Mopani district, South Africa

In the present study, the physical and chemical quality of several borehole water sources, used by rural schools in Greater Giyani Municipality, were assessed to determine their safety for human consumption. Atomic absorption spectroscopy and ion chromatography were used to determine the chemical quality of water sources. The pH of the water samples varied between 5.29 and 8.3 and tended to be lower in summer and higher in winter. The turbidity values varied between 6.17 and 44.7 NTU in some of the schools. High concentrations of magnesium and total hardness were obtained from all water sources. Calcium concentrations were high in some schools. Anions such as chloride and sulphate were within the recommended Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) limits except for two sampling points. High concentrations of nitrates were obtained from all schools except in Nyanisi high school. There were no fluorides and phosphates from all schools. Heavy metals like arsenic, iron, cadmium and lead were within the recommended DWAF limits. The results obtained in this study indicate that the water from the studied boreholes is not suitable for human consumption based on hardness and nitrate content and may pose a serious threat to the health of the consumers and therefore calls for urgent intervention in order to reduce such chemicals and preserve the health of the children.Keywords: Physico-chemical water quality, borehole, primary schools, Giyani, South AfricaAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(30), pp. 4858-486

Antifungal activities of selected Venda medicinal plants against Candida albicans, Candida krusei and Cryptococcus neoformans isolated from South African AIDS patients

Infection with HIV leads to immunosuppression and up to 90% of HIV infected individuals contract fungal infections of which 10 - 20% die as a direct consequence of these infections. In the present study, 76extracts from 30 plants used by Venda traditional healers for the treatment of fungal related ailments, were tested for their antifungal activities against clinical isolates of Candida albicans, Candida krusei andCryptococcus neoformans using the agar diffusion and the microdilution methods. The minimum fungicidal concentrations as well as the time kill curves of the thee most active plants were also determined. Extracts from 25 plants (83.3%) were active against C. albicans, C. krusei or C. neoformans. Thirty two extracts were active against C. neoformans, while 15 were active against C. albicans and 12 were active against C. krusei. Warburgia salutaris, Cassine transvaalensis, Piper capense, Maerua edulis,Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia, Berchemia discolor and Lippia javanica were not only inhibitory to fungal growth but also had fungicidal effects against one or all the 3 fungi tested (MIC/MFC between 0.11 and 7.5 mg/ml). Hexane extracts were also active indicating that many of the antifungal components of these plants are non-polar compounds. Time-to- kill experiments indicated an intense time-dependent fungicidal effect against C. albicans, achieving over a 5 h-period a 6 log10-unit decrease in CFU/ml at a concentration of 0.4 mg/ml for W. salutaris. The present study justifies the traditional use of these plants for the treatment of opportunistic infections in the region

Antibiotic resistance profiles and relatedness of enteric bacterial pathogens isolated from HIV/AIDS patients with and without diarrhoea and their household drinking water in rural communities in Limpopo Province South Africa

Antibiotic resistance profiles and the correlation of enteric bacterial pathogens from HIV positive individuals with and without diarrhoea and their household drinking water were determined using the KirbyBauer disk diffusion and polymerase chain reaction methods respectively. The sef gene of Salmonella enteritidis was amplified with the primer pair sefA-1 and sefA-2. The fliC gene of Salmonella typhimurium was amplified with the primer pair flicA-1 and flicA-2. Heat-labile toxin (LT) primers (Lta and LTb) were used to amplify Escherichia coli isolates and VirA1 and VirA2 for the Vir A gene of Shigella dysenteriae. Results of antibiotic resistance profiles of enteric bacterial pathogens isolated from stool samples of HIV positive and negative individuals with and without diarrhea and their household drinking water showed very similar drug resistance patterns. Over 90% of all the organisms isolated from the various study cohorts showed resistance to penicillin, cloxacillin and amoxicillin. Conversely, almost all the organisms were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, meropenem and imipenem. About 50% of E. coli isolated from the various study cohorts showed multiple antibiotic resistance to penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, doxycycline and cotri-moxazole ( PR, AR, APR, ER, TR, DXTR, and TSR ) whereas less than 10% resistance was consistently reported for ofloxacin, gentamycin, meropenem cefotaxime, cefuroxime and imipenem ( OFXS, GMS, MEMS, CTXS, CXMS and IMIS ). The majority of Salmonella and Shigella isolates from all the groups were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amikacin, meropenem, imipenem, nalidixic acid, kanamycin, piperacillin-tazo bactam, cefuroxime, doxycyclin, cefepime and ceftazidime (CIPS, GMS, AKS, MEMS, IMIS, NAS, KNS, DXTS, CXMS, CPMS, CAZS and PTZS). For Campylobacter, over 30% of the isolates were resistant to erythromycin, ampicillin, tetracycline,cotrimoxazole and ceftazidime (ER, APR TSR and CAZR) whereas over 85% were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, gentamycin, amikacin, mero-penem, and nalidixic acid (CIPS, OFXS, GMS, AKS,MEMS and NAS). In addition to penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin and erythromycin, Aeromonas and Plesiomonas spp were more resistant to chloramphenicol, but were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, amikacin, meropenem, imipenem and nalidixic acid (CIPS, GMS, AKS, MEMS, IMIS and NAS). Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) experiments using targeted species genes of S. enteritidis, S. typhimurium, E. coli, Sh. dysenteriae showed that isolates from stool samples of HIV positive and HIV negative individuals with and without diarrhoea were also present in the household drinking water of the same study cohorts, suggesting that drinking water may have been the sources of the organisms in stool sample. Furthermore, by showing that the primers were able to amplify the genes in both clinical and environmental isolates, the link between the virulence of the pathogens was established

Sutherlandia frutescens: The meeting of science and traditional knowledge

Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br. (syn. Lessertia frutescens (L.) Goldblatt and J.C. Manning) is an indigenous medicinal plant extensively used in South Africa to treat a variety of health conditions. It is a fairly widespread, drought-resistant plant that grows in the Western, Eastern, and Northern Cape provinces and some areas of KwaZulu-Natal, varying in its chemical and genetic makeup across these geographic areas.1 Sutherlandia is widely used as a traditional medicine. Extensive scientific studies are being carried out on the safety, quality, and the efficacy of this medicinal plant to validate the traditional claims, elucidate the bioactive constituents, and conduct clinical trials. This has resulted in a unique situation in South Africa’s history, where traditional knowledge and science intersect to provide insight into this popular plant. This photoessay attempts to illustrate the interlinkage of science with the indigenous knowledge of traditional healers, the local knowledge of people who care for the sick, product development, and innovation agenda of the country as it relates to this plant.Web of Scienc