Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and Associated Risk Factors among Students in a Nigerian University

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus has been associated with subsequent infection and transmission within the hospital and community settings. This study was carried out to evaluate the carriage rates of S. aureus in a University student population and describe risk factors associated with the carriage. Two-hundred and seventy-seven nasal samples were obtained from healthy volunteer students and screened for S. aureus by standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was conducted on the bacterial isolates by the disk diffusion technique. A questionnaire was conducted with each student to acquire demographic and risk factor information. One hundred and fifty-seven (56.7%) isolates were identified as S. aureus. Antibiotic resistance was highest for cloxacillin (91%), ceftazidime (71%), cotrimoxazole (23%), erythromycin (20%) and oxacillin (16%). Risk factors such as hospitalization in the past 12 months, recent skin infection and participation in sports were significantly associated with carrier status. High resistance to certain antibiotics observed in this study shows that nasal colonization could serve as a reservoir of antibiotic resistant strains within the community

Farmer Knowledge of Cassava Mosaic Disease and Management Practices in Ogun State

This study assessed CMD knowledge and management practices of farmers in Ogun state Nigeria during a farmers' training exercise. A total of 101 farmers (80 male and 21 females) participated in this study. Only a few farmers (35.22%) however, were aware that whiteflies are vectors of cassava begomoviruses. Farmers generally obtained their planting material from neighbours’farms (42.71%) and previous planting season (41.67%). This study has shown poor knowledge of CMD amongst farmers in Ogun state and underpins the need for interventions towards farmer education in the study region

Malaria Diagnosis: Current Approaches and Future Prospects

Scaled up efforts by a consortia of organisations in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of malaria have led to a significant reduction in the overall malaria mortality and morbidity in the past few years. Malaria has, nonetheless, remained one of the world’s most burdensome diseases with the over 214 million cases and 438,000 deaths recorded in 2015 (2.68% of global DALYs). This burden is unevenly domiciled in sub-Saharan Africa where 89% of all cases and 91% of all deaths occurred. These figures however, only represent a fraction of the actual global burden of Malaria as surveillance fails to cover most cases in sub-Saharan Africa where the majority of malaria endemic regions lack facilities for diagnosis, case management and active surveillance. The emergence of drug resistant strains of the Plasmodium species prompted WHO to recommend a confirmatory diagnosis of each case of Malaria before treatment. The workability of this recommendation however, begs to be questioned as the majority of all malaria diagnosis is done via Clinical diagnosis; which lacks precision, is still the major form of diagnosis in many malaria endemic regions, and contributes to the over-diagnosis of malaria and subsequent under-diagnosis of other febrile illnesses. Of higher import is the risk of the emergence of drug resistant species due to the unregulated antimalarial use caused by inaccurate clinical diagnosis. Microscopy, which is the gold standard of malaria diagnosis, and the Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) for malaria antigens have proven to be very useful in the diagnosis of malaria giving high levels of specificity and sensitivity. They however have the downside of having relatively high limits of detection, invasiveness, being labour intensive and expensive in the light of the low income countries where malaria is endemic. More sophisticated tools such as those that employ nucleic acid techniques (Polymerase Chain Reaction and Gene probes) are not field deployable and are mostly applied for research purposes. This necessitates the need for new diagnostic approaches that are suited to the conditions found in malaria endemic regions. A range of novel diagnostic tools with a do-ityourself approach, leveraging on previously untapped diagnostic material such as urine are currently being assessed. These novel tools promise great results if successful. This review presents an overview of current diagnostic methods, the prospects in malaria diagnostics and finally makes an effort to recommend what an ideal malaria diagnostic tool should be made up of, all the while focusing on sub-Saharan Afric

Pre and Post Training Knowledge of Cassava Viral Disease among Farmer and Extension Officer in Nigeria

This study presents findings of a train-the trainer cassava stakeholders training workshop conducted in 2017. Farmers and agricultural extension officers from 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria were invited for a 2-day workshop aimed at raising awareness and educating participants on cassava virus disease management. An open-ended questionnaire was used to measure pre and post workshop knowledge alongside practices and needs. A total of 74 persons, 49 farmers and 25 extension officers were included in the study. Participants were mostly males who had been cultivating cassava for 12±9 years or had been providing extension services for 17±9 years. Pre-workshop knowledge on cassava viral diseases among cassava farmers was poor with farmers scoring an average of 2.04±1.1 out of 5 obtainable points on knowledge. Disease management practices were poor among farmers with 40.8% obtaining planting materials from unverified sources. Post-workshop evaluation showed that farmers’ knowledge of cassava viral diseases had increased as adjudged by an average knowledge score of 7.98±1.80 out of 11 obtainable points. This study highlights the effectiveness of training in improving farmers’ knowledge and equipping them to contribute to the management of cassava viral diseases

Poor Knowledge of Human Papilloma Virus and Vaccination Among Respondents from Three Nigerian States

The aim of this study was to assess the levels of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and vaccination awareness among members of the general population across three Nigerian States. A descriptive crosssectional study among 758 persons selected by convenience sampling was conducted from March to July 2016. Structured questionnaires were administered to consenting participants and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods in SPSS V20. Awareness to HPV infection and vaccination was very low at 1.40 ± 1.803 out of 6 points. Only 31.97% of respondents had heard about HPV while 17.5% were aware of the existence of a vaccine. The most prevalent sources of information amongst respondents who had heard about HPV were Doctors (13.08%) and the Media (9.91%). Bivariate analysis showed that respondents who consulted with gynaecologists, knew someone who had cervical cancer or had received HPV vaccination were more likely to be aware of HPV infection and vaccination. Gynaecologists (p < 0.0001) and previous vaccination (p < 0.0001) were the most important contributors to HPV awareness in a multivariate analysis. This study underpins the need for urgent intervention to raise awareness for HPV

Knowledge and Awareness of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Nigeria

Background: The World Health Organisation recently launched a campaign to reduce Hepatitis B Viral Infections by 80% globally. Achieving this goal is partly predicated on proper awareness of persons in regions of high transmission. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection knowledge status of persons across three states in Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study among 758 persons selected by convenience sampling was conducted from March to July 2016. Structured questionnaires were administered to consenting participants and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods in SPSS V20. Findings: Respondents showed average knowledge with a mean knowledge score of 4.85 ± 2.69 out of a max score of 9.00. Respondents belonging to the working class had significantly better knowledge (5.59 ± 2.34 p < 0.001) than respondents in other categories. High-risk behaviour such as having multiple partners was predominant among respondents belonging to a public institution. A total of 242 (31.96%) of study respondents were aware of the existence of a vaccine for HBV, whereas only 161 (21.2%) had received at least one dose of vaccination against HBV. Previous knowledge of HBV infection, previous HBV testing, and knowing someone who had HBV infection were predictors of HBV infection knowledge as well as vaccination. Conclusion: This study has shown the urgent need for intervention targeted at raising awareness about HBV infection and the existence of a vaccine

Pre and Post Training Knowledge of Cassava Viral Disease among Farmer and Extension Officer in Nigeria

This study presents findings of a train-the trainer cassava stakeholders training workshop conducted in 2017. Farmer and agricultural extension officers from 12 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were invited for a 2-day workshop aimed at raising awareness and educating participants on cassava virus disease management. An opened ended questionnaire was used to measure pre and post workshop knowledge alongside practices and needs. A total of 74 persons, 49 farmers and 25 extension officers were included in the study analysis. Participants were mostly males who had been cultivating cassava for 12±9 years or had been providing extension services for 17±9 years. Pre-workshop knowledge on cassava viral diseases among cassava farmers was poor with farmers scoring an average of 2.04±1.1 out of 5 obtainable points on knowledge. Disease management practices were poor among farmers with most (40.8%) obtaining planting materials from unverified sources. Post-workshop evaluation showed that farmers’ knowledge of cassava viral diseases had increased as adjudged by an average knowledge score of 7.98±1.80 out of 11 obtainable points. This study highlights the effectiveness of trainings in improving farmer knowledge and empowering them to contribute to the management of cassava viral diseases

Pre and Post Training Knowledge of Cassava Viral Disease among Farmer and Extension Officer in Nigeria

This study presents findings of a train-the trainer cassava stakeholders training workshop conducted in 2017. Farmer and agricultural extension officers from 12 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were invited for a 2-day workshop aimed at raising awareness and educating participants on cassava virus disease management. An opened ended questionnaire was used to measure pre and post workshop knowledge alongside practices and needs. A total of 74 persons, 49 farmers and 25 extension officers were included in the study analysis. Participants were mostly males who had been cultivating cassava for 12±9 years or had been providing extension services for 17±9 years. Pre-workshop knowledge on cassava viral diseases among cassava farmers was poor with farmers scoring an average of 2.04±1.1 out of 5 obtainable points on knowledge. Disease management practices were poor among farmers with most (40.8%) obtaining planting materials from unverified sources. Post-workshop evaluation showed that farmers’ knowledge of cassava viral diseases had increased as adjudged by an average knowledge score of 7.98±1.80 out of 11 obtainable points. This study highlights the effectiveness of trainings in improving farmer knowledge and empowering them to contribute to the management of cassava viral diseases

Antiplasmodial Activity shown by Secondary Metabolites Extracted from the Seeds ofPentaclethramacrophyllaBenth

Oil extracts from the African oil bean seed (PentaclethramacrophyllaBenth.) was analyzed for its phytochemical and mineral content and proximate, physicochemical and antimicrobial analyses were also performed. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of tannins, saponins, quinones, terpenoids, phenols and coumarins in the oil sample. Mineral determination of the cotyledon showed the presence of iron (Fe) (with the highest concentration), Cu, Zn, Mn, Cr, Pb and Cd; while proximate analysis gave the following result: moisture (14.2%), ash content (1.5%), crude fibre (4.9%), crude proteins (12.8%), oil contents (4.9%), and carbohydrate (61.8%). GC-MS analysis of the partitioned petroleum ether and chloroform fractions of the oil revealed the presence of 9-Octadecenoic acid, 9,12- Octadecadienoic acid and their methyl esters,cis-9-Hexadecenal among the many components of the oil extract. Physicochemical analysis of the oil indicateda saponification value (148.67 mg KOH/g), peroxide value(8.0 meq/g), iodine value (10.41 mg iodine/g) and free fatty acid (8.98 mg KOH/g). The need for the development of new drugs for malaria led to our study of the antiplasmodial activity of the oil from the seeds of Pentaclethramacrophylla. Toxicological studies were carried out to determine the LD50with chloroquinediphosphate as positive control and normal saline as negative control. Using the Peter’s 4 day suppressive test a parasite inhibition rate of 47.72% (25 mg/kg), 63.63% (50 mg/kg) and 61.36% (100 mg/kg) on day 4 after treatment was recorded. A 95.45% chemo-suppression was observed for animals treated with 10 mg/kg chloroquine. This resultis an indication that the extract had appreciable signs of chemosuppression

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics enrolment patterns and factors influencing the choice to study science among female secondary school students in Nigeria

Access to education has been listed as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4). Achieving this goal, however, is predicated upon the elimination of widely prevalent gender disparities in education. In this report, we first examine the differences in enrolment in STEM-related courses between the genders then we proceed to explore the factors that may affect the choice of STEM in pre-university female students in Ogun state, Nigeria. Two publicly available datasets, the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) enrolment data for 2012 – 2015 and data on the performance of students enrolled in Covenant University from 2010-2014 were used in this study. A survey of pre-university students in Ogun state, to examine factors that influence career choice was also conducted and used in this study. Our findings showed that men were more likely to be enrolled in a STEM discipline than women. This disparity was, however, not observed for non-STEM disciplines were both genders were equally likely to be enrolled. Responses from our survey of female secondary school students showed that a good number (47.6%) were not confident to take pre-university STEM subjects and were likely to enrol in non-STEM courses at the university. These findings emphasise the need to sensitise junior secondary school level girls to take on more technical courses in a bid to have adequate representation across the STEM disciplines. (Afr J Reprod Health 2021; 25[5s]: 91-97)