The value of development researchers: structural racism, universities and UK Overseas Development Assistance (ODA)

In this Viewpoint we explore and speculate on the value of development researchers at what is an extraordinary moment in the relationship between UK universities and public research funding from UK Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in the period following massive cuts to the state aid budget in March 2021. We anchor our exploration in structural racism and its manifestation in the politics of aid and development research conducted in universities, and in the lives of racialised minoritised development researchers. We conclude the Viewpoint with some reflections to help guard against the performative value of Southern researchers in development research

Fresh leafy green vegetables associated with multidrug resistant E.coli

Background: Recent outbreaks of  E. coli diarrheal diseases linked to the consumption of  fresh green produce, has raised a global concern about bacterial pathogens that cause food borne diseases. While little attention have been devoted to contamination of fresh green food with drug resistance bacteria species. Objective: To detect the occurrence of contamination and antibiotic resistance in E. coli isolates from fresh leafy vegetables presented in Jordanian retail markets. Study design: A total 150 fresh leafy green vegetable samples were collected from different markets in Amman and Al-Zarqa in Jordan over the five months; June through October, 2010  . Results: A total of 61 (40.6%) E. coli isolates were found as contaminates of 150 fresh leafy green vegetable samples. The highest contamination with E. coli occurred in parsley and lowest in Lettuce.  A range of  3-41% of E. coli isolates were resistant to 7 common antibiotics used often in the treatment of urinary tract infection in Jordan. A total of 17 (27.8%) E. coli isolates were resistant to three or more antimicrobial agents and considered to be multidrug resistant. Of these, 14(82%) isolates were positive for class 1 integron, 17(100%) carry at least one plasmid with a common sizes (7.3 and 54.3 Kb), 12(70.6%),  and  2(11.8%) isolates were positive for Tet A and Tet B genes, respectively. A total of 15 (88.2%) isolates were positive for sul2 and 4 (23.5%) isolates for sul1 gene. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the widespread of antimicrobial resistance in E. coli contaminating fresh green produce and which may increase the reservoir of antimicrobial resistance in the intestinal tract of Jordanian population

Molecular characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from various clinical specimens in Khartoum/Sudan: Antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogenic organism responsible for frequent wound and nosocomial infections worldwide. Its infections are difficult to control since the organism is known to rapidly develop antibiotic resistance and becomes multidrug-resistant (MDR) during treatment of patients. Aim of the study: This study was intended to investigate the occurrence of certain important types of (ESBL) and (MBL) enzymes in association with important specific virulence factors  associated with P. aeruginosa clinical isolates from Khartoum, Sudan. Methods: This study investigated 70 P. aeruginosa isolates which were collected from patients admitted to four major hospitals in Khartoum  (Fedail, Ribat, Ibn Sina and Soba hospitals). These isolates were recovered from 40 wound swabs (57.1%), 27 urine samples (38.6%), and 3 pleural fluid samples (4.3%) of patients. Higher numbers of isolates were recovered from males 42 (60%) than in females 28 (40%). All P. aeruginosa isolates were first confirmed by conventional biochemical and second using molecular PCR tests.   PCR methods were also used for detecting the presence of the virulence genes ToxA, AlgD, LasB, exoS, exoU, CTX, GES-1, and genes of VIM, IMP, KPC, CTX, VEB-1 and SHV-1. Results:   Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of P. aeruginosa isolates showed a high resistance to azetronam 49 (70%), followed by ceftazidime 32 (45.7%), 16 ciprofloxacin (22.9%), gentamicin 13 (18.6 %), piperacillin-tazobactam 11 (15.7%), amikacin 9 (12.9 %), and imipenem 6 (8.6%) showed the least resistance. All isolates were positive for algD and lasB (100%), followed by toxA (90%), exoS (34.3), exoU (24.3%), respectively. The rates of detected ESBL genes blaTEM, blaCTX-m, blaSHV-1,GES-1, were 3.3%, 6.6%, 10%, 3.3%,10%, respectively, but all isolates were negative for bla-KPC and bla- VIM and IMP . The percentages of pigment production were 61.4% for pyocyanin, 37.1% for pyoverdin and 1.4% for pyorubin. Conclusion: The study demonstrated high rates of antimicrobial resistance markers to most commonly used antibiotics in treatment of P. aeruginosa infections. The majority of the isolates from urine and wound samples carried at least three potential virulence factor genes of algD, lasB and toxA and without any significant relation to their antimicrobial resistance markers. &nbsp

Microbiology, diseases, and epidemiology of Kingella kingae in young children: A short review

Kingella kingae is a Gram-negative coccobacilli and it is a member of the HACEK (Haemophilus species, Aggregatibacte actinomycetemcomitans, Cardiobacterium hominis, Eikenella corrodens, and  K. kingae). HACEK organisms are typically oropharyngeal commensals and have long been recognized as a cause of infective endocarditis in children and adults. K. kingae in difficult to be recovered from cultured pharyngeal samples due to its slow growth and the high presence of resident bacterial flora, however, the organism can be better detected using PCR tests. Based on our search in PubMed and other sources, we couldn't discover any study about K. kingae originated from any Arab country. Therefore, we wrote this review to draw the attention of our physicians and clinical microbiologists on the importance of this neglected group of organisms in clinical medicine.   However, this review article aims to cover the most important diseases of K. kingae in the pediatric population

Diagnosis And Antimicrobial Treatment Of Bacterial Of Neisseria Gonorrhea Infections: Update Review Article

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are caused by a wide spectrum of bacteria, viruses and parasites. These agents can be easily transmitted during any direct genital or oral sexual contact. Recently, World Health Organization (WHO), reported that more than 1 million STIs  are acquired every day worldwide,  Each year, there are an estimated 357 million new infections with 1 of 4 STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis. There are few studies and official reports published on the prevalence of STIs in most Arab countries. However, few new recent studies showed increased prevalence of certain STIs in some Arab countries

A pilot Citizens' Assembly on Electricity and Energy Justice in Hamra, Lebanon

The Citizens’ Assembly Pilot (CA) on energy justice and electricity was a conceptual and a methodological experiment conducted over five sessions over three days in the neighborhood of Hamra and Beirut in October and November 2020. The CA aimed at exploring meanings, dimensions, priorities of energy justice in a deliberative democratic setting. The CA tackled five main questions: How did we get to where we are? What is energy justice to us? What is the energy-mix we would like to have? What do we need to be doing as individuals and communities to achieve a better energy future? How should we move forward with our decisions on the above questions? The responses produced interesting findings for researchers and international stakeholders to consider further; such as skepticism over renewable energy targets, the interest in circular solutions to solve multiple intersecting service sectors like waste and water in particular. It also raised questions over decentralization as well as privatization at different scales of governance

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci isolates from infants: A review study

The emergence of antibiotic resistance in potential bacterial pathogens is considered as an important consequence of antibiotic misuse and overuse in humans and animals husbandry. In addition,  lacks of adequate infection-control practice in hospital and medical care settings have led to the continuing development of extensive resistance problems worldwide. Certain multidrug-resistant commensal and potential pathogens are now   widely spread in community and hospital patients worldwide . Examples are meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistance enterococcci (VRE), extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and carbapenemase-producing coliforms, and toxin-hyperproducing Clostridium difficile. During the last decade, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium are the most prevalent species cultured from human infections. Incidence of enterococci resistant to multiple antibiotics has become increasingly common in the hospitalized patients all over the world. E. faecium is reported to be responsible for most vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infections.Â

Frequency of antimicrobial resistance markers among Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli isolates from municipal sewage effluent water and patients in Jordan

The objective of this study was to compare the frequency of antimicrobial resistancemarkers of P. aeruginosa and E.coli isolates from effluent of sewage treatment plantsand clinical specimens over the same period in Jordan

Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns of Diarrheagenic and non-Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli Isolates from Libyan Children

Background: Diarrhea continues to be one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among infants and children in developing countries. This study was carried out among Libyan children in Benghazi to investigate the prevalence of diarrheagenic E.coli types and  antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of E.coli isolates from their stools. Methods  & patients: A total of 200 children with diarrhea and 90 without diarrhea  were investigated for presence of E.coli in their stools using culture on MacConkey agar, and the isolates were examined for detection diarrheagenic E. coli types, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, presence of ESBL-CTX-M genes and integrons using PCR . Results: The study indicated that diarrhoeagenic E. coli isolates were  found only in stools of children with diarrhoea. The detected  diarrhoeagenic  E. coli types; were 4 (2%) enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), 3 (1.5%) enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), and 1(0.5%)  enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), and both enterotoxigenic E. coli(ETEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli(EPEC) were not present. It has also found that multidrug resistant E.coli (> 3 drugs) was higher prevalent in commensal intestinal E.coli than in diarrheagenic E.coli, and both carried high rates of Class 1 integrons, bla(CTX-M) and fluroquinolone resistance genes . Conclusion: This study revealed the low incidence of diarrhoeagenic E. coli isolates and high prevalent of antimicrobial resistance among normal intestinal E.coli of hospitalized children in Benghazi/Libya

Intestinal colonization of infants with multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginos in tertiary care center in Jordan

Background: Pseudomonas.aeruginosa is among the most common opportunistic hospital pathogens, which exhibit an innate resistance and has developed increasing resistance to many useful antimicrobial agents over the last decades. This study investigated the occurrence of important types of ESBLs and MBLs in association with potential important virulence factors among P. aeruginosa isolates from feces of Jordanian infants.   Methods: A total of 302 feces samples were obtained randamely from neonates and infants admitted to Pediatric Clinic and the Neonate Intensive Care Unit (NICU)/Jordan University Hospital (JUH), over a  9-months period(2016- 2017). Fecal samples were cultured for P.aeruginosa and their growth was identified and tested using microbiological and antibiotic susceptibility methods. Additionly,  virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance genes and genotypes were detected using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Results: A total of 16/302 (5.3%) of P. aeruginosa isolates were recovered from feces samples. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates ranged between the lowest 18.75% to meropenem and highest of 87.5% to azetreonam among 9 tested drugs. The percentage of specific genes of ESBLs and MBLs in 16 P.aeruginosa isolates were the following: blaOXA-50, blaTEM, blaCTX-M , blaVIM ,blaKPC , blaSHV ,blaGES, and blaVEB were detected at the rate of  13(81.2%), 13(81.2%), 12(75%), 12(75%), 11(68.7%), 10(62.5%), 2(12.5),1(6.2%), respectively. The percentage of the potential virulence genes in the same isolates were detected as follow:  lasB, algD , toxA, exo S and exo U at the rate of 100%, 87.5% , 81.2%, 81.2%,31.2, respectively. All P.aeruginosa isolates observed to develop beta-hemolysis on both human and sheep blood agar, and to produce either pyoverdin ((56.3%) or pyocyanin (43.7%).  Conclusions: The present study demonstrates high occurrence of multidrug resistant P.aeruginosa isolates in infant feces which carried high rates of important genes of ESBLs and MBLs and potential virulence factors.   &nbsp