Comparative effects of washing solution and the survival of Staphylococcus aureus on tomatoes

Various types of fruits and vegetables are often eaten raw or consumed after minimum processing in which this has been connected to an increase in outbreaks of fresh produce associated with food borne diseases in the recent times. In order to determine the micro-flora, survival of Staphylococcus aureus on ripe and unripe tomatoes and to also asses the efficiency of some washing solutions, 100 tomatoes, both ripe and unripe were randomly bought from different selling points in Sagamu Markets, Ogun State Nigeria. Surface swabs of the tomatoes were cultured on both nutrient broth, and selenite F broth. The sample from nutrient broth was then sub cultured on Blood Agar, Mannitol Salt Agar, and MacConkey Agar, (MSA), Potato Dextrose Agar (SDA), while the one on Selenite F Broth was cultured on Salmonella Shigella Agar (SSA). Density of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 after pre-inoculation on ripe and unripe tomatoes, and after the application of washing solutions on tomatoes, was determined by surface spread count. The prevalence of any of the isolated micro-flora could not be significantly linked with either ripe or unripe tomatoes (0>0.05).Mean residual counts (log CFU/g) of bacteria was significantly higher in ripe tomatoes (3.52 ±2.40) than unripe tomatoes (2.30 ±1.96) after pre inoculation with Staphylococcus aureus (t =2.75, P< 0.05). Among the washing solution, hypochlorite was observed to be twice more efficient than hydrogen peroxide and thrice efficient than saline solution. In conclusion, Staphylococcal colonization of tomatoes skin is significantly reduced in unripe tomatoes. And also, hypochlorite solutions are better than hydrogen peroxide and saline in Staphylococcal decontamination from tomatoes.Key words: washing solution, Staphylococcus aureus, tomatoe

Fertility knowledge, care seeking behavioral pattern and attitudes of infertile men in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: The objective was to study the extent of infertility knowledge, attitude and care seeking behavioral pattern of infertile men in Lagos.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out using questionnaire between 2009 and 2014. Adult males who were clinically infertile, visiting the clinics for the first time and consented were studied. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis.Results: Only 226 men, mean age 38±5.8 years participated. Up to 20.8% had sired a child for between >1 but 3 times (mean coitus 2.3±0.9 times) weekly. Only 11.1% knew about male-female factor infertility. Up to 42.9% knew about fertility and the sign of female ovulation and 38.1% correctly defined clinical infertility. Up to 40.3% switched treatment for competency of the new places and exorbitant price by 22.1%. Sixty-six (29.2%) made the first visit to a proper care place within a period >1 but 3 years. Majority (50 %) sought to know the causes of infertility, 14.6% how to improve fertility and 6.6% the reality of male infertility.Conclusions: Majority of the participants sought inappropriate help and delayed in seeking appropriate care. Poor collaboration and referral system observed. There is need for edification of both care providers and seekers to be ethical in their actions. Infertility care cost intervention is needed

Multi-antibiotics Resistant Relatedness of bla-gene Encoded Enteric Bacteria harbouring High Molecular R-plasmids.

Increase prevalence of multi-resistant enteric bacteria isolates encoded with high mobile R-plasmid causing enteric infections was examined among the community residents in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Random cluster sampling of 251 fecal samples of community residents were cultured for enteric bacteria and biotyped. Disc diffusion and Micro-broth dilution assay were used to determine antibiotic susceptibility while R-plasmid was profiled with photo-gel documentation. Antibiotic resistance relatedness was detected using DendroUPGMA construction utility software. Of all isolates obtained, 31.3% were Escherichia coli Klebsiella oxytoca (19.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.3%) and Shigella specie (2.0%). Significant high rate of 62.6% showed resistant to Cefuroxime, 61.6% to Ampicillin and Augmentin (54.2%) while 44.7%, 38.9% and 33.9% resist Cotrimoxazole, Ciprofloxacin and Tetracycline respectively at MIC >16 μg/ml (p= 0.004). Only 54.1% harboured high molecular weight R-plasmid (>11.0kbp) and 2.7% having <5kbp R-plasmid weight. Two distinct clusters revealed significant multi-antibiotic resistant relatedness. Cluster A enteric isolates harboured similar R-plasmid of only one bands with high molecular weight more than 11kbp while Cluster B divided into subgroup a and subgroup b comprising different enteric species having similar high molecular weights with high antibiotic resistant expressing more than two plasmid bands showing computed cophenetic correlation of 0.94. Cluster analysis reveal a related high level multi-antibiotics resistant enteric bacteria strains among the community residents suggesting a continuous dissemination and imminent outbreak of resistant enteric pathotypes with resultant epidemic proportion

Specific Viruses Detected in Nigerian Children in Association with Acute Respiratory Disease

Occurrence of different viruses in acute respiratory tract infections of Nigerian children was examined. Respiratory swabs were collected from 246 children referred to hospital clinics because of acute respiratory symptoms from February through May 2009. Validated real-time RT-PCR techniques revealed nucleic acids of at least one virus group in 189 specimens (77%). Human rhinoviruses and parainfluenza viruses were present each in one third of the children. Adenoviruses, enteroviruses, human metapneumovirus, human bocavirus, and influenza C virus were also relatively common. Possibly due to their seasonal occurrence, influenza A and B virus, and respiratory syncytial virus were detected rarely. We conclude that all major groups of respiratory tract viruses are causing illness in Nigerian children

ANTIBIOTICS RESISTANCE PROFILE OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AND ENTEROBACTER AEROGENES ISOLATED FROM WELL WATERS IN AGO-IWOYE, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Staff PublicationEighty percent of all diseases are attributed to unsafe water with about 11.4 billion people in the world suffering from major related diseases at various times. This study was carried out to investigate the antibiotics resistance profile of Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes isolated from well waters in Ago-Iwoye, Southwestern Nigeria. Water samples were collected from ten different wells. The multiple tube fermentation technique was employed to enumerate coliforms using MacConkey broth. Nutrient agar and ethylene methylene blue (EMB) agar were used for the enumeration of Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes. Biochemical characterization was carried out using standard methods. The disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibiotics susceptibility profiles of the bacterial isolates. Results showed that wells contained most probable number (MPN) of bacteria ranging from 43 to 1,100 bacteria per 100 ml. E. coli was present in eight of the wells while E. aerogenes was present in all the wells. Wells B and C had the highest incidence of E. coli with 5.0 x 102 CFU/100ml while wells D and J had no incidence of E. coli. Occurrence of Enterobacter aerogenes was highest in well B (4.5 x102 CFU/100ml), followed by well C (4.0 x102 CFU/100ml) while the lowest occurrence was obtained from well F having a count of 2.0 x 102 CFU/100ml. E. coli was resitant to nitrofurantoin, ampicillin, cephalocidine, sulphafurazole, carbenicillin and sulfamethazole while E. aerogenes was sensitive to colistin, gentamicin and nitrofurantoin but resistant to the remaining antibiotics of the Gram negative disc. For the U4 disc, E. coli was susceptible to colistin sulphate and resistant to all other antibiotics. E. aerogenes was resistant to the entire U4 discs. The presence of E. coli and E. aerogenes suggested faecal pollution, hence the quality of the wells fell strongly below the standard of safe drinking water. Most strains of isolates showed relative resistance to antibiotics investigated in this study and this should be of great concerns to researchers

Antimicrobial activity and time kill kinetics of Nigerian Honeys on multi-resistant Enteric Bacilli

Antimicrobial activities of some Nigeria honeys were tested on multi-antibiotic resistant enteric bacilli strains (MAREBS) that are becoming dreadful among the populace. Enteric bacilli isolated from fecal samples randomly collected from community populace were biotyped and profiled for antibiotic susceptibility by micro-broth dilution assay. Honey physico-chemical and phyto-chemical metabolites were analysed and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to MAREBS while its time kill kinetics was evaluated. Significant rate of 31.3% Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, (19.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.3%) were found with only 62.6% showed significant resistance to cefotaxime (30μg) and 61.6% to ampicillin (10μg). more than 40% showed significant resistance to Cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline with MIC >16 μg/ml (p<0.05). Physico-chemical parameters vary significantly with high phenol and alkaloids contents. Few honey samples showed antimicrobial activity of more than 37% inhibition rate while 8.1% MAREBS were further inhibited at lower MIC 31.25mg/mL, 10.8% at MIC 125mg/mL and 8.1% MIC 250mg/mL, while cidal rate of 8.1% was recorded. Significant reduction in average count of different MAREBS was recorded at honey dilutions of 1:2 and 1:4 to less than 2.10Log10CFU/mL. Amidst global burden of enteric infection with persistence antibiotic resistance, Nigerian honeys showed a reliable bacteriostatic and cidal activity as prospective novel alternative therapy for MAREBS infections

Suitability of spectrophotometric assay for determination of honey microbial inhibition

Commonly used methods for determination of antibacterial potency of honey are usually the disc, agar well diffusion and dilution plate assay which had shown various demerit of inaccuracies and impreciseness. Therefore, the suitability of spectrophotometric assay for determination of honey inhibitory activity is evaluated in this study. Honeys from different sources in southwest states in Nigeria were assayed for antibacterial activity using 96-well micro-titre plate spectrophotometric methods to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against enteric bacteria strains. The honey inhibition assay of Nigerian honeys tested against enteric bacilli showed more than 90% inhibitory activity. Among all the honeys sample assayed, only two honeys reveal a very low MIC of 31.25 and 125mg/mL. The use of spectrophotometry is a precise method to determine honey inhibitory rate and it is proven to be suitable highly sensitive, reproducible, specific, reduced cost, fewer amounts of sample and reagent are require

Prevalence of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis Among Women with Diabetes mellitus in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Background: Diabetes mellitus predisposes to both bacterial and fungal infections, includingCandida species. Hitherto, Candida albicans has been identified as the most common opportunistic pathogen amongpatients with diabetes mellitus. More recently, Non-Candida albicans Candida (NCAC) species are increasingly recognized as the cause of candida infections. Objective: To determine the prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) as well as the species of Candida frequently identified among women with diabetes mellitus in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 213 women diagnosed with diabetes mellitus was carried out in 2010. Direct microscopy and fungal cultures of high vaginal swabs were done using Sabouraud--Dextrose Agar and ChromAgar. Results: The prevalence of VVC among 213 women with diabetic mellitus was 18.8% (40/213). The predominant Candida species isolated were Candida glabrata (30.0%), C. albicans and C. tropicalis (17.5%) each and C. Gulliermondii (15.0%). Diabetic women had higher rates of moderate and heavy growth of Candida density. Twenty-nine (72.5%) patients with candidiasis were symptomatic and the most common symptom was vulval/vaginal itching 48.3% (14/29). Conclusion: This study put the prevalence rate of VVC among women with diabetes mellitus in Ibadan at 18.8%. The most common Candida species isolated was C.glabrata and majority of the patients were symptomatic

The effect of presence of facultative bacteria species on semen and sperm quality of men seeking fertility care

Introduction: Infections of male urogenital tracts may contribute to male infertility. However, the effects of bacterial presence on sperm quality and fertility are controversial. Objectives: We investigated the occurrence of non-specific bacteria and quality/quantity of semen of infertile and fertile control groups in Nigeria. Subjects and methods: We investigated 162 infertile and 54 fertile men. Spermiogram, culture, bacterial isolation and characterization were conducted. Results: We report 114/162(70.4%) occurrence of bacteria species, 49.4% of such were Gram positive and 21% Gram negative: Staphylococcus aureus (29.6%) and Escherichia coli (10.5%) had the highest occurrence for each group respectively. On semen quality/quantity, we report 14.2% azoospermia, 52.5% oligozoospermia and 33.3% of normozoospermia. The mean sperm concentrations were 10 × 7/ml and 41 × 10 6/ml for oligo and normozoospermia respectively. Majority (52%) of azoospermic group had no bacterial growth. S. aureus was the most implicated among the bacterial positive group. Within the ologozoospermic category, 28% had no bacterial growth, 28% had S. aureus and 11.8% E. coli. The normozoospermic patients had 18.5% no bacteria contamination, 33.3% had S. aureus, 13% had E. coli. From the analysis, the normozoospermic group with bacterial contamination had lower sperm concentrations compared with those without contamination. It was apparent that factors other than bacterial contamination may contribute more to oligozoospermia (compare: “no bacteria” group mean sperm concentration 8.97 × 106/ml, Gram positive bacteria contaminated group 17.74 × 106/ml and Gram negative bacteria contaminated group 13.66 × 106/ml). The mean progressive motility ratios were lower (15.6 [a]% + 18.3 [b]%) = 33.9%) against WHO standard (a + b = >50%) and control RPM (a) = 55.3%. Generally, the semen quality (vol., rapid progressive motility, sperm concentration and immotility) were significantly lower than the fertile group, P = 0.0005, <0.0001, <0001 and 0.0335, respectively. Conclusions: Although bacterial presence in semen reduced mean sperm concentration and viability, thereby contributed to oligozoospermia and by extension the chances of siring a child, however, factors other than bacterial presence may contribute more. Improved interpretative approaches of semen analyses are highlighted

Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of a New Chemotype of Hyptis suaveolens (Poit) from Nigeria

Abstract: Hyptis suaveolens is one of the aromatic plants credited for substantial medicinal values in the tropics with three chemotypes previously reported in Nigeria. This study provided biological and chemical evidence for a new chemotype of Hyptis suaveolens in Lagos. Hydrodistillation of the dried leaves of the plant produced volatile oil with a yield of 0.31% and subsequent analyses by GC-MS identified 28 volatile compounds that accounted for 99.1% of the total oil composition. Although the oil was monoterpenoid dominated and has comparable levels of sabinene (25.8 vs. 13.2-30.1%), a-thujene (1.1 vs. 0.9-1.2%), and 4-terpineol (8.4-9.8 vs. 11.4%), it elicited a moderate level of &quot;-pinene (4.7 vs. 1.8-13.6), higher levels of $-pinene (9.7 vs. 0-4.4%), limonene (2.3 vs. 0-0.8%), 1,8-cineole (4.8 vs. 0-1.2%), (-terpinene (9.3 vs. 1.6-4.2%) and terpinolene (8.4 vs. 5.6-6.3) and the presence of new compounds: aromadendrene (0.3%), camphor (0.3%), germacrene B (0.4%) and himachalol (0.1%) when compared with the previous chemotypes. In vitro, the oil was found by agar diffusion assay to elicit antibacterial activity against E. coli ATCC25922, and S. aureus ATCC25923 and antifungal activity with C. albicans showing higher sensitivity (MFC = 53.3 :L/mL) and Aspergillus niger and Trichophyton rubrum displaying moderate to low sensitivity. Biological effect of the oil at sub-MIC on E. coli ATCC25922 was characterized by dose-dependent loss of outer membrane proteins. These findings provide evidence for a new chemotype of Hyptis suaveolens in Nigeria