Physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water of different sources, Jimma zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Additional file 3: Table S3 . Correlations among measured parameters of water samples from five different water sources, Serbo town and its surroundings, 2012

MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY OF FRUIT JUICES SERVED IN CAFES/RESTURANTS, JIMMA TOWN, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

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Chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium vivax malaria in Serbo town, Jimma zone, south-west Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ethiopia has the highest proportion of vivax malaria, approximately 40% of all malaria infections, in contrast to African countries. Chloroquine (CQ) is the drug of choice for the treatment of <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>infection in the country, although CQ resistant <it>P. vivax </it>(CRPv) has started to challenge the efficacy of the drug. The present study was conducted to assess the current status of CRPv at Serbo, Jimma zone, south-west Ethiopia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A 28-day <it>in vivo </it>therapeutic efficacy test was conducted from October 2007 to January 2008. Recurrence of parasitaemia and the clinical condition of patients were assessed on each visit during the follow-up. The levels of haemoglobin (Hb) in the study participants were determined. The patients' blood drug levels were measured using HPLC. Data was analysed using SPSS for windows version 10.0. HPLC data was computed using Chem Station for LC 3D systems software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the total 84 patients included in the study, 78 completed their 28-day follow-up, six of whom being excluded for different reasons. In three children (aged 7, 12 and 13 years), parasitaemia reappeared within the 28-days follow-up in spite of adequate absorption of the drug and absence of malaria symptom. In addition, on the day of recurrence of parasitaemia the levels of chloroquine-desethylchloroquine (CQ-DCQ) were above the minimum effective concentration (≥100 ηg/ml) in all the three cases, showing that treatment failure could not be attributed to low level of drug in the patients blood.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Reappearance of the parasite within the 28 days of follow-up is due to parasite resistance to CQ. The 3.6% (95% CI = -0.038 - 0.0758) prevalence of CRPv malaria in the study area signals the need for launching monitory activities for CQ resistant <it>P. vivax</it>. Moreover, as former report from the same country, Debrezeit, also showed the occurrence of CRPv, survey on CRPv malaria should be made in <it>P. vivax </it>endemic areas in order to estimate the level of burden across the country.</p

Estimating the hidden magnitude of the malaria community burden

The second push for global malaria eradication, launched more than a decade ago,1 has motivated a renewed interest in the understanding of malaria transmission, and in the strategies required to interrupt it. In this respect, in order to eliminate malaria from a given geographical area, rapid detection and treatment of the clinical cases is rarely sufficient. In settings where transmission intensity is sufficiently high, populations exposed to continuous infective mosquito bites progressively develop a tolerance to malaria infections during the first few years of their life. This tolerance protects them against malaria disease, but not necessarily against the infection itself

Therapeutic efficacy of chloroquine for treatment of Plasmodium vivax malaria cases in Halaba district, South Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chloroquine is an anti-malarial drug being used to treat <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>malaria cases in Ethiopia. However, emergence of chloroquine resistant strains of the parasite has challenged the current efficacy of the drug. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of chloroquine against <it>P. vivax </it>strains in one of the malaria endemic areas of Ethiopia, namely Halaba district, located in South Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region (SNNPR) of South Ethiopia</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 87 malaria patients enrolled in the study, only 80 of them completed the 28-days follow-up. Seven of them dropped from the study for different reasons. Among those study participants that completed their follow-up, 69 were classified under the category of adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR). However, the remaining 11 cases were considered as under treatment failure mainly due to recurrence of parasitemia on day 7 (four patients), day 14 (six patients), and day 21 (one patient). The age of all cases of treatment failures was found to be less than 20 years. The load of parasitemia of patients with treatment failure on day of admission (4709.4/μl) was higher than day of recurrence (372.37/μl). Parasite reduction ratio (PRR) of treatment failure cases was 12.6/μl.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This report revealed the rise in treatment failure (13% [95% CI = 0.074 - 0.217]) as compared to earlier reports from Ethiopia. It signals the spreading of chloroquine resistant <it>P. vivax </it>(CRPv) strains to malaria endemic areas of Ethiopia. It is recommended that all concerned bodies should act aggressively before further expansion of the current drug resistant malaria.</p

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella and Shigella Species Isolated from Outpatients, Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia

This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of Salmonella and Shigella among outpatients in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia. Cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 176 outpatients. Stool specimens from both adult and pediatric outpatients were collected and analyzed for the presence of presumptive Salmonella and Shigella colonies followed by confirmation by biochemical tests. Pure cultures of Salmonella and Shigella species were further subjected to test for antibiotic resistance against the commonly used antibiotics. Furthermore, growth potential of the isolates in selected foods items was assessed following standard procedures. The result indicated that the prevalence of Salmonella and Shigella among outpatients in the study area was 19 (10.8%) and 2 (1.1%), respectively. In addition, Salmonella species were resistant to ampicillin (100%) followed by tetracycline (47.4%) and nalidixic acid (26.3%) while Shigella species were highly resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline (100%, each). Multidrug resistance towards maximum of four drugs was observed in both pathogens. The pathogens were observed growing to their infective dose within 24 hours. In conclusion, Salmonella and Shigella are still among microbes of public health importance in the study area. Thus, this calls for frequent monitory and evaluation of their prevalence and drug resistance patterns besides awareness development on water sanitation and hygienic food handling practices to the public at large

Anti-plasmodial activities of Combretum molle (Combretaceae) [Zwoo] seed extract in Swiss albino mice

Abstract Objective Objective of the study was to evaluate in vivo anti-plasmodial activities of Combretum molle seed extract. Methods As a standard protocol, initially the acute toxicity of the plant seed extract was checked following single administration of crude seed extract of the plant at doses 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg. This was followed by evaluation of anti-plasmodial activity of crude seed extract of the plant following a 4 days suppressive test. Results In acute toxicity study sign of toxicity was not observed. Also physical and behavioural changes were not detected. The crude seed extract of C. molle showed, 63.5% parasite suppression in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) murine parasite and treated with 250 mg/kg of seed extract of C. molle. Relative survival time of mice treated with 250 mg/kg showed significantly longer survival than the negative control, while lower than mice treated with the standard drug, chloroquine. The plant seed extract on day-4 post-infection showed significant (P < 0.05) protection against body weight reduction, high body temperature and hemolysis of RBC at relatively lower doses. At optimum dose the crude extract of C. molle seed has good chemo-suppressive activity against PbA parasite and improved some clinical symptoms of malaria in mice

Phenotypic diversity in the Ethiopian noug germplasm

Noug (Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass.: 2n = 30), a member of the Compositae family, is grown as an oilseed crop in Ethiopia. The crop grows best on poorly drained heavy clay soils. In this experiment, 157 noug accessions randomly sampled from different parts of the country were evaluated in a field test at Adet, Ethiopia in 1993, to estimate the phenotypic diversity index (H') for phenological (days to flowering, days to maturity) and morphological (leaf colour, leaf margin, stem hairiness, stem colour, angle of branching, plant height) characters. The phenotypic diversity was calculated using Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') for the regions, provinces, characters, after pooling together all characters. The results of this study indicated that the phenotypic diversity index (H') of noug accessions was 0.61 for Western, 0.56 for Northern, 0.54 for Southern and 0.51 for Central and Eastern Ethiopia Province, while the highest diversity index was from Gojjam H' = 0.60, Welega H' = 0.57, and Shewa H' = 0.53. The phenotypic diversity index for the Nation was H' = 0.40. Most of the variations were due to differences among provinces for different characters than among regions. Based on the characters studied and small collections evaluated, the centres of diversity for noug appears to be in Gojjam, Welega and Shewa, and further exploration efforts should be undertaken in these regions. Key Words: Diversity index, genetic diversity, germplasm, Guizotia abyssinica Cass., oilseed (African Crop Science Journal: 2000, 8(2): 137-144