Multiple drug resistance Staphylococcus aureus isolated in foods of animal origin in Nairobi, Kenya

Background: StaphylococcuS. aureus is the most important agent, which is known to cause a wide range of diseases in both human and animals. Extended use and misuse of antibiotics in agriculture, stock farming and in the treatment of human diseases, has contributed to the rapid increase of the number of bacteria that are resistant to antimicrobial agents.Objective: To determine the occurrence of S. aureus in foods of animal origin and their reactions to commonly used antibiotic.Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study.Setting: Central Business District of Nairobi (CBDN) and its environment.Subject: Samples of meat (n=280) and dairy products (n=140) were randomly purchased from various butcheries and supermarkets. Additional 251 samples of various pork products were also collected randomly from a nearby pig processing plant for comparison purposes. Baird-Parker agar with 2% egg yolk tellurite emulsion was used as growth medium for isolation of S. aureus. The typical culture confirmed positive of S. aureus were tested for antibiotic susceptibility to eight commonly used antibiotics using the disc diffusion method.Result: Occurrence of S. aureus was 36.2% (152/420) and 39.4% (99/251) from the food outlets and meat processing factory respectively. Proportions of contamination from the two sources were not significantly different (p=0.400). Significantly, more contamination was observed in meat products (40.7%) compared to dairy products (25.0%) (p=0.001). Penicilin G (246; 99.6%) was the most resisted antibiotic followed by Ampicillin (230; 93.1).Conclusion: The results of this study confirms that multi antibiotics resistant S. aureus strains are present not only in hospital setups, but also widespread in foods of animal origin

Spectrometric Detection of Organic Compounds and Toxicity of Ethanolic Leaves Extracts of Prosopis Juliflora

Spectrometric detection of saponins, tannins and alkaloids in Prosopis juliflora using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is reported in this paper. Crude dry plant powders and corresponding ethanolic extracts were mixed with potassium bromide (KBr) powder and compressed to a thin pellet for infrared examination. The plant powders, ethanolic extracts and leaves ethanolic extract (LEE) fractions  exhibited characteristic infrared spectra due to various functional groups –OH, -C=O, C-H, and C=C absorptions. Phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of saponins, tannins and alkaloids in the tested specimens. Prosopis juliflora whole plant parts were used as a reference sample. Toxicity and safety levels of P. juliflora were also investigated. Acute and sub-acute toxicity of P. juliflora ethanolic leaves extract was evaluated using Swiss albino rats. All clinical signs and symptoms were recorded within 24 hours. These results indicated that direct detection of bioactive compounds was possible by infrared analysis. Toxicity symptoms were moderately observed and post mortem did not show any major gross effects on the internal organs. Keywords: Prosopis juliflora, infrared examination, potassium bromide, acute and sub-acute toxicity, clinical signs, doses, symptoms

Assessment of heavy metals concentration in water, soil sediment and biological tissues of the lesser flamingos in four eastern rift valley lakes

The term heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical element that has a relatively high density and is toxic at low concentrations. This study was conducted in four eastern Rift Valley lakes which included Lakes Oloidien, Crater, Elementaita and Nakuru, to determine the presence and levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium concentration in water, soil sediments and biological tissues of the Lesser Flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) and compare with the set standards. As these lakes catchments fall directly within a combination of agricultural and industrial regions, the run-offs and the resulting effluents will make the waters highly prone to chemical contamination. The methodology involved collection of water samples (n=40), sediments samples (n=51) and the Lesser Flamingos (live n= 6; dead n=2) for qualitative and quantitative toxicological analysis. The analysis was done using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (GFAAS) model-Specter AA-10 Varian. Lead and arsenic were found to be in high concentration in soil sediments in all four lakes while chromium and cadmium were in low concentration. Soil sediments analysed from the inflow of the Nakuru sewerage drain (1754±22.81 ppb) and rivers to Lake Nakuru (1129±107 ppb) had the highest mean ± SD lead concentration. Arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead were also observed in bird tissues. Metals in the Lesser Flamingo tissues were below the toxicological levels that are reported in literature to be harmful, except lead which was above the level recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency.Keywords: Heavy metals, lesser flamingo, environmen