Assessing the in vitro antibacterial activity of honey against wound and respiratory tract infecting bacteria

Background: Honey is a natural product rich in compounds with antimicrobial properties. The antimicrobial properties are being harnessed in the treatment of respiratory tractinfections and wound care. Honey is locally available in Nigeria and is used in thetreatment of wounds as well as respiratory tract infections. However, the antimicrobialpotentials differ across honey sources and locality.AIM: We sought to obtain laboratory based-evidence by assessing the antibacterialactivities of three honey samples collected from Nsukka in Enugu State.Methods: Neat and diluted honey was tested on six (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella specie, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecium, and Streptococcus pneumoniae) bacterial isolates from infected wound and sputum specimen using in vitro agar diffusion assay.Results: The result obtained showed that the different honey samples had antibacterial activity on all the strains of bacteria tested except for Pseudomonas aeruginosa with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 10mg/ml to 27 mg/ml.Conclusion: This suggests the usefulness of honey as an antibacterial for wound and respiratory tract infecting bacteria. However, the need for isolation and susceptibility testing of infecting bacterial organisms to honey in clinical practice is recommended

Phytochemical and antimycobacterial analysis of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Annona muricata Linn (Soursop)

Against the backdrop evidenced in the threat Tuberculosis poses to developing economies, especially its prevalence among people in their productive (15-45) years; this preliminary study examined the phytochemical constituents and antimycobacterial effect of four (4) aqueous and ethanolic extracts from the fruit skin (epicarp) and leaf of Annona muricata Linn

Comparative genomics shows differences in the electron transport and carbon metabolic pathways of Mycobacterium africanum relative to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and suggests an adaptation to low oxygen tension

YesThe geographically restricted Mycobacterium africanum lineages (MAF) are primarily found in West Africa, where they account for a significant proportion of tuberculosis. Despite this phenomenon, little is known about the co-evolution of these ancient lineages with West Africans. MAF and M. tuberculosis sensu stricto lineages (MTB) differ in their clinical, in vitro and in vivo characteristics for reasons not fully understood. Therefore, we compared genomes of 289 MAF and 205 MTB clinical isolates from the 6 main human-adapted M. tuberculosis complex lineages, for mutations in their Electron Transport Chain and Central Carbon Metabolic pathway in order to explain these metabolic differences. Furthermore, we determined, in silico, whether each mutation could affect the function of genes encoding enzymes in these pathways. We found more mutations with the potential to affect enzymes in these pathways in MAF lineages compared to MTB lineages. We also found that similar mutations occurred in these pathways between MAF and some MTB lineages. Generally, our findings show further differences between MAF and MTB lineages that may have contributed to the MAF clinical and growth phenotype and indicate potential adaptation of MAF lineages to a distinct ecological niche, which we suggest includes areas characterized by low oxygen tension.European Research CouncilINTERRUPTB starting grant nr. 311725 (to BdJ, FG, CM, LR, BO, MA) and The UK Medical Research Council and the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Grant No. CB. 2007. 41700.007.Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, January 2020

Possible Impact of Co-infections of Tuberculosis and Malaria on the CD4+ Cell Counts of HIV Patients in Nigeria

Background: This study focused on evaluating the possible impact of co-infections of tuberculosis and malaria on the CD4+ cell counts in HIV infected subjects. Methods: This is a cross sectional study. The subjects were drawn from three hospitals and a blood bank in LagosState. After due consent, blood samples were obtained from 69 subjects with single infections (HIV, TB, and Malaria), 34 subjects with multiple infections (HIV/Malaria, HIV/TB, Malaria/TB, HIV/TB/Malaria) and 24 blood donors (controls). The CD4+ cell counts of all the 127 blood samples were estimated using a FACS count. Results: Data obtained were analysed and a comparison of the results showed that the median CD4+ counts in all groups of subjects with HIV infections (whether single or co-infection) were similar and significantly lower than the median counts for the healthy control group as well as groups without HIV infection (malaria, TB and malaria/TB). Conclusion: Overall data further confirmed the progressive depletion of CD4+ cells in HIV infection while co-infections with TB and malaria did not have any impact on the CD4+ cells of HIV infected subjects. A larger prospective study is needed.Fond: Cette \ue9tude a \ue9t\ue9 consacr\ue9e \ue1 l'\ue9valuation de l'impact possible de co-infections de tuberculose et le paludisme sur les comptes de cellule CD4+ des sujets infect\ue9s du VIH. M\ue9thode: Ceci est une \ue9tude transversale. Les sujets ont \ue9t\ue9 choisis de trois diff\ue9rents h\uf4pitaux et une banque du sang dans l'Etat de Lagos. Apr\ue8s le consentement n\ue9cessaire, les \ue9chantillons de sang ont \ue9t\ue9 obtenus de 69 sujets avec les mono-infections (VIH, TB, et le Paludisme), 34 sujets avec les infections multiples (le VIH/PALUDISME, LE VIH/TB, LE Paludisme/TB, VIH/TB/le Paludisme) et 24 donneurs de sang (les contr\uf4les). les comptes de cellule CD4+ de tous les 127 \ue9chantillons de sang ont \ue9t\ue9 estim\ue9s utilisant une compte FACS. R\ue9sultats: les donn\ue9es obtenues ont \ue9t\ue9 analys\ue9es et une comparaison des r\ue9sultats a d\ue9montr\ue9 que le m\ue9dian des comptes CD4+ dans tous les groupes de sujets avec les infections de VIH (soit mono ou co-infection) \ue9taient similaires et significativement plus bas que les comptes m\ue9dianes pour le groupe de contr\uf4le sain de m\ueame que les groupes sans l'infection de VIH (le paludisme, TB et le paludisme/TB). Conclusion: les donn\ue9es g\ue9n\ue9rales ont confirm\ue9 le plus l'\ue9puisement progressif des cellules CD4+ dans l'infection de VIH pendant que les co-infections avec TB et le paludisme n'ont pas eu aucun impact sur les cellules CD4+ des sujets infect\ue9s de VIH. Une plus profonde \ue9tude sera n\ue9cessaire

Cutaneous larva migrans in an eleven-year-old boy in an urban setting in Rivers State

Background: Cutaneous larva migrans is a tropical infectious disease that is usually acquired from contact with soil contaminated with larvae of nonhuman hookworms or Strongyloides usually from faeces of dogs and cats. Aim: To report a case of a boy who presented with pruritic migratory serpiginous skin lesions. Case report: An eleven year old boy with a linear skin lesion was initially misdiagnosed as having an allergy at a private clinic. There was a history of playing regular football in a field contaminated by dog\'s urine and faeces.. Later it was highly suspected that he had cutaneous larva migrans. He responded to treatment with albendazole. Conclusion: Physicians should be aware that such infestations are endemic in Nigeria and should be familiar with the typical features Keywords: CCutaneous larva migrans, Ancylostoma braziliense, AlbendazolePort Harcourt Medical Journal Vol. 3 (1) 2008: pp. 108 -11

Antibiotic resistance trend of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Port Harcourt

No Abstract. African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 7(3) 2006: 199-20

Preliminary investigation of the antibacterial activity of Acalypha hispida leaf extracts against local bacterial isolates from skin infections

Acalypha hispida leaf extracts are used locally for the treatment of skin infections. We sought to obtain laboratory-based evidence for this practice by evaluating the antibacterial activity of this extract against local isolates of bacteria obtained from skin lesions and wounds. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts were evaluated using the agar well diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, and Salmonella typhimurium. S. aureus (ATCC standard and local) and Ps. Aeruginosa isolates were sensitive to all the extracts but one. E. coli (ATCC standard and local), S. enterica serovar typhimurium and Klebsiella species were only sensitive to the soxhlet leaf extracts while S. pyogenes was sensitive to only the ethanolic soxhlet extract. Though there was no statistically significant difference in the antibacterial activity of the 5-days and 14-days neat extracts obtained by soaking in water (p = 0.13) and ethanol (p = 0.08), their antibacterial activity decreased with longer soaking periods. Likewise, there was no significant difference in the antibacterial activity of the neat water and ethanolic soxhlet extracts (p = 0.48). The results show that A. hispida leaf extracts showed some in vitro antibacterial activity and that aqueous extraction using heat would be the preferred option. Keywords: Acalypha hispida, antibacterial, skin infections, aqueous extract, ethanolic extract Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 5 (2) 2006: 12-1