Levofloxacin: Insights into antibiotic resistance and product quality

Counterfeit and substandard medicines are recognized as one of serious threats to public health. The product quality of antibacterial medicine will compromise patients' recovery and increase the chance of antibacterial resistance. The review aims to provide a summary of low quality levofloxacin issues and the risk factors as well as suggesting the aspects of product quality that need to be regulated strictly. Quality of the active ingredient, levofloxacin, has an important role to contribute to successful therapy. The poor quality of raw material, directly and indirectly, causes treatment failure as the presence of insufficient dose, mislabeled content, and poor dissolution characteristics can lead to lower bioavailability. Identifying and reporting these factors can potentially help in improving the quality of drug marketed in various developing countries and may also reduce the incidences of treatment failure. Dissolution test is used for testing the dissolution profiles and the rate of drug release from solid formulation such as oral formulations, thus providing information regarding the in vivo performance of a formulation and its bioequivalence. On the other hand, quality-Testing procedures are used for comparing the quality of products

A Cross-Sectional Survey on Knowledge and Perceptions of Health Risks Associated with Arsenic and Mercury Contamination from Artisanal Gold mining in Tanzania.

An estimated 0.5 to 1.5 million informal miners, of whom 30-50% are women, rely on artisanal mining for their livelihood in Tanzania. Mercury, used in the processing gold ore, and arsenic, which is a constituent of some ores, are common occupational exposures that frequently result in widespread environmental contamination. Frequently, the mining activities are conducted haphazardly without regard for environmental, occupational, or community exposure. The primary objective of this study was to assess community risk knowledge and perception of potential mercury and arsenic toxicity and/or exposure from artisanal gold mining in Rwamagasa in northwestern Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey of respondents in five sub-villages in the Rwamagasa Village located in Geita District in northwestern Tanzania near Lake Victoria was conducted. This area has a history of artisanal gold mining and many of the population continue to work as miners. Using a clustered random selection approach for recruitment, a total of 160 individuals over 18 years of age completed a structured interview. The interviews revealed wide variations in knowledge and risk perceptions concerning mercury and arsenic exposure, with 40.6% (n=65) and 89.4% (n=143) not aware of the health effects of mercury and arsenic exposure respectively. Males were significantly more knowledgeable (n=59, 36.9%) than females (n=36, 22.5%) with regard to mercury (x²=3.99, p<0.05). An individual's occupation category was associated with level of knowledge (x²=22.82, p=<0.001). Individuals involved in mining (n=63, 73.2%) were more knowledgeable about the negative health effects of mercury than individuals in other occupations. Of the few individuals (n=17, 10.6%) who knew about arsenic toxicity, the majority (n=10, 58.8%) were miners. The knowledge of individuals living in Rwamagasa, Tanzania, an area with a history of artisanal gold mining, varied widely with regard to the health hazards of mercury and arsenic. In these communities there was limited awareness of the threats to health associated with exposure to mercury and arsenic. This lack of knowledge, combined with minimal environmental monitoring and controlled waste management practices, highlights the need for health education, surveillance, and policy changes

Water quality of shallow tube wells as affected by sanitary latrines and groundwater flow

The present study investigated the probable influence of latrines and groundwater flow on the water quality of shallow tube wells in Shinduria village (23?52\u27 N and 90?14\u27 E) of Dhaka district, Bangladesh. A questionnaire survey was made to collect basic information on tube wells and latrines. Four boreholes were drilled to investigate lithostratigraphy. Twenty one water samples were collected and their physico-chemical parameters (Dissolved Oxygen, pH, phosphate, sulphate, nitrate, nitrite and iron) were analyzed using standard method. Total viable bacterial count (TVBC), total coliform count (TCC), total faecal coliform count (TFCC), total salmonella shigella (TSS) and total vibrio count (TVC) were also made using membrane filtration method. Average depth of the tube wells was 120 ft and most of them were less then ten years old. About 85% latrines were ring slab type and about 50% of these were built during the last five years. From borehole data, a shallow aquifer was identified at a depth of hundred feet from where local people extract drinking water. Although most of the physico-chemical parameters of the tested samples were within the Department of Environment (DoE). But almost all of the tested samples failed to ensure the quality of acceptable level for drinking water recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) due to the presence of higher load of TVBC (5.07 &times; 10&sup3; cfu/100 ml), TCC (8.44 &times; 103cfu/10 0ml), TFCC (5.16 &times; 10&sup2; cfu/100 ml) and TSS (1.10 &times; 103cfu/100 ml). Local geological conditions and proximity between tube well and latrine promoted bacterial transport towards tube well while groundwater flow direction from the adjacent Bangshi River influenced the phenomenon. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbas.v37i2.17565 Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Scinces, Vol. 37, No. 2, 231-243, 2013</jats:p