BACTERIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF KWATA ABATTOIR WASTE WATER AWKA, NIGERIA

Abattoir wastes can have a detrimental effect on the environment, public health, animal health, and economy of a country if they are not effectively managed and controlled. The bacteriological evaluation of waste water from Kwata abattoir was carried out to determine the bacterial load present and if the waste water generated is suitable for direct discharge into the environment. A total of two samples were aseptically collected, in which the physicochemical analysis of the waste water showed objectionable color and odor, pH of 7.3 and 6.5, and temperature of 30.2°C and 25.3°C for samples A and B, respectively, of which the pH and temperature were within acceptable limits by WHO. The membrane filter method was used to determine the total coliform and thermotolerant coliform counts present per 100 mL of the samples using MacConkey agar and Eosin Methylene Blue Agar, respectively. The total viable count was obtained for both samples: 5.1×105 CFU/mL for sample A and 1.4×106 CFU/mL for sample B. Phenotypic and biochemical tests were carried out for four isolates, which include Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Bacillus spp., and Bacillus cereus. Thus, it can be concluded from the above study that untreated abattoir waste water contains a high level of pollutants, which supports the growth of the microbial population, as evidenced in the microbial study. Therefore, waste water has to be treated before discharge into the environment to protect public health and promote the safety of the environment

Peste des Petits Ruminants

Heartwater (or cowdriosis) is a tick-borne disease caused by Ehrlichia ruminantium, an obligatory intracellular bacterium of the order Rickettsiales, transmitted by several ticks of the genus Amblyomma. The organism is genetically highly variable which prevented until now the development of efficient vaccines. The disease is enzootic in sub-Sahelian Africa and in some Caribbean islands. It affects domestic and wild ruminants, the susceptibility to cowdriosis varying greatly between breeds and species: African wildlife shows mainly asymptomatic infections; local cattle breeds are generally protected due to enzootic stability; and introduced cattle breeds and small ruminants, even in enzootic regions, are usually susceptible to heartwater and can suffer high mortality rates. Cowdriosis is characterized by a sudden and acute fever followed by nervous, respiratory, and gastrointestinal symptoms and by hydrothorax and hydropericardium during postmortem examination. In West Africa, the only vector is Amblyomma variegatum, present in areas where pluviometry is higher than 500 mm. Therefore, animals of a high proportion of the Sahelian region are usually not infested by the tick and not infected by the bacterium. They are thus susceptible when introduced in southern parts of the Sahel or in the subhumid neighboring areas of the West African countries, for example during transhumance. Tetracyclines are effective drugs to treat heartwater when administered before occurrence of the nervous symptoms. Various vaccines have been tested, and are still developed, but, up to now, none of them showed enough effectiveness against all the field strains of E. ruminantium to allow its marketing. Prevention is therefore mainly achieved by drastic vector control or, on the contrary, acquisition of enzootic stability following tick infestation combined with tetracycline treatment as soon as hyperthermia occurs