Bacterial contamination of Ugandan paper currency notes possessed by food vendors around Mulago Hospital complex, Uganda

Introduction: paper currency notes, exchangeable fomite, that is continuously contaminated because of the poor handling and storage practices. Objective: the general objective of the study was to determine the bacterial contamination of paper currency notes possessed by food vendors around Mulago National Referral Hospital Complex. Methods: a total of sixty paper notes of six denominations (1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000) were collected from different food vendors. Each note was preserved in a sterile falcon tube and transported to the microbiology lab for bacteriological examination. Data from questionnaires was analyzed using SPSS version 23 (IBM SPSS Statistics). Results: all sampled paper notes had bacterial contamination. The bacterial counts ranged from 4×102 cfu/ml to 6.8×109 cfu/ml, with the Shs.1000 notes having the highest average total bacterial load of 2.17×109 cfu/ml and highest average total coli form counts of 21.5×102 cfu/ml. The fifty thousand shillings note had no coliform detected. Of the analysed 60 samples, 27(45%) samples contained <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. None of the sampled paper notes had <i>Escherichia coli</i>. Conclusion: the study revealed that most of Ugandan paper notes are contaminated with bacteria including potential pathogens that cause disease in healthy individuals and opportunistic pathogens that may cause disease in hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. This study showed that the most contaminated note denominations were those of low denomination (Shs.1000 and Shs.2000) which had the highest bacterial count. The study revealed the paper currency notes were stored in different places where the commonest was the drawer and kept with different items, the commonest being pens. Hence, great care must be taken while handling money during the preparation and handling of food to avoid cross contamination

A review of phage mediated antibacterial applications

Background: For over a decade, resistance to newly synthesized antibiotics has been observed worldwide. The challenge of antibiotic resistance has led to several pharmaceutical companies to abandon the synthesis of new drugs in fear of bacteria developing resistance in a short period hence limiting initial investment return. To this effect, alternative approaches such as the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections are being explored. This review explores the recent advances in phage-mediated antibacterial applications and their limitations.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Lib Hub and Google Scholar databases from January 2019 to November 2019. The search key words used were the application of bacteriophages to inhibit bacterial growth and human phage therapy to extract full-text research articles and proceedings from International Conferences published only in English.Results: The search generated 709 articles of which 95 full-text research articles fulfilled the inclusion guidelines. Transmission Electron Microscopy morphological characterization conducted in 23 studies registered Myoviruses, Siphoviruses, Podoviruses, and Cytoviruses phage families while molecular characterization revealed that some phages were not safe to use as they harbored undesirable genes. All in vivo phage therapy studies in humans and model animals against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infection provided 100% protection. Ex vivo and in vitro phage therapy experiments exhibited overwhelming results as they registered high efficacies of up to 100% against MDR clinical isolates. Phage-mediated bio-preservation of foods and beverages and bio-sanitization of surfaces were highly successful with bacterial growth suppression of up to 100%. Phage endolysins revealed efficacies statistically comparable to those of phages and restored normal ethanol production by completely eradicating lactic acid bacteria in ethanol fermenters. Furthermore, the average multiplicity of infection was highest in ex vivo phage therapy (557,291.8) followed by in vivo (155,612.4) and in vitro (434.5)

Serological and molecular investigation for brucellosis in swine in selected districts of Uganda

Brucellosis is a notifiable zoonotic disease affecting livestock, humans and wildlife in Uganda. Human brucellosis cases are frequently reported and the increasing incidence is suggestive of increasing disease in the livestock population. Pigs are among the livestock species that can be infected with human pathogenic Brucella suis biovars 1 and 3 and can be a significant source of brucellosis for humans. Uganda has a rapidly growing pig population and the pork consumption per capita is the highest in East Africa. The objective of this work was to determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis in Ugandan pigs