Antibacterial properties of Uvaria chamae, Congronema latifolium, Garcinia kola, Vemonia amygdalina and Aframomium melegueta

The antimicrobial efficacy of cold and hot water and ethanol extracts of Garcinia kola, Congronema latifolium, Aframomium melegueta, Vemonia amygdalina and Uvaria chamae on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Vibrio spp. were determined using well in agar diffusion technique. Cold and hot water extracts of G.kola and U. chamae moderately inhibited the growth of S. aureus and S. pyogenes with zone of inhibition of between 9 – 15 mm. V. amygdalina, G. kola and C. latifolium slightly inhibited S. pyogenes and E. coli with a zone of clearing of between 7 -13 mm. Cold or hot ethanol extracts of U. chamae, G. kola and V. amygdalina profoundly inhibited the growth of S. aureus, S. pyogenes, E. coli and S. typhi to about 13 to 21 mm. Also ethanol extract of C. latifolium inhibited the growth of S. aureus, S. pyogenes and E. coli with zone size between 13 to 20 mm. While P. aeruginosa was slightly inhibited by ethanol extracts of G. kola, A. melegueta and U. chamae. Soxhlet extracts of U. chamae, G. kola, V.Amygdalina and C. latifolium profoundly inhibited the growth of S. aureus, S. pyogenes, E. coli and S. typhi with zone of inhibition ranging from 13 – 22 mm. Vibro spp. were not inhibited by the cold and hot extract as well as soxhlet extracts of all the plants tested. The standard microorganisms, E. coli NCTC 10418 and S. aureus NCTC 6571, were moderately inhibited by the various test plant extracts with zones of inhibition ranging between 8 mm to 20 mm. This study reveals the antibacterial potentials of these plants

Premunition in Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Malaria parasites have evolved to maintain a well-balanced relationship with their human hosts. This implies that they can partially escape from protective effector mechanisms of their hosts, but also that hosts can develop partial immunity to the parasite. This immunity requires repeated infections, takes years to develop and is usually of short duration. However, protective immunity to clinical malaria rather than infection may be of long duration. This natural acquired immunity is called premunition since a low parasitemia mostly persists in the presence of circulating antibodies to the various stages and in the absence of clinical disease. In children who do not have circulating antibodies to the parasite, premunition is probably caused by antitoxic immunity. These poor and slowly developing immune responses to malaria are partly due to immune evasion strategies of the parasite caused by antigenic polymorphism, shedding of parts of parasite proteins, cross-reactive epitopes of antigens of different developmental stages, prolonged exposure to endemic malaria and widespread restricted immunogenicity to defined antigens. Premunition relies on the cooperation between the parasite and human antibodies, leading to the induction of antibody dependent cellular inhibition (ADCI) of the intraerythrocytic growth of the parasite. The immunity, however, is not a sterilizing type in that the infection persists longer than the symptoms and individuals can exhibit relapses or recrudescences or become reinfected

In vitro effect of some quinolone antibiotics on strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a hospital environment.

A total of 30 different strains of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from some selected wards of Madonna University Teaching Hospital (MUTH), Elele, Nigeria, using blood agar and nutrient agar. All the isolates were subjected to some selected quinolones (ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxcin and sparfloxacin) to determine their antibiotic susceptibility pattern using the disk diffusion method. Ofloxacin had the highest percentage susceptibility of 93.3%, followed by ciprofloxacin with 73.3%; pefloxacin was next with 70%, sparfloxacin 63.3%, while norfloxacin recorded the lowest percentage of 50%. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the quinolones to the isolates was also determined. The results show that all the tested quinolones had an MIC ranging from 2.5-10mg/ml. Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, quinolones, hospital environment African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 9 (3) 2008: pp. 142-14

Malaria Prevalence in Children under 5 Years and Pregnant Women Attending Selected Hospitals in Ihitte Uboma LGA, Imo State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria among children under 5 years and pregnant women in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area, Imo State, South Eastern, Nigeria. A total number of 200 blood samples were collected which comprised of 100 from pregnant women and 100 from children under 5 years. These were screened for presence of malaria infection using the thick and thin Giemsa stained blood films. Out of the four species of Plasmodium, only one: Plasmodium falciparum was identified to be most predominant in both sample populations. Results obtained showed that all the blood samples obtained from the pregnant women were positive for the parasite with the age groups of 19-21 and 28-30 producing the highest significant signs, with visible fever accompanying the infection. Similarly all the blood samples obtained from the infants were positive with all the studied age groups displaying a high level of significance of (+++) and the associated fever. Malaria infection indeed showed a high level of endemicity in Ihitte Uboma thus calling for adequate measures to be put in place to monitor its negative impact on these most vulnerable members of the community, namely, pregnant women and children.Keywords: Amakohia, Ihitte Uboma, malaria, children, pregnant women, Plasmodium falciparum, Nigeria.Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 33 [1] March 2012, pp. 73-7

Studies on the distribution of clinically diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

A study was conducted in January, 2005 to December, 2006 to ascertain the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among patients who attended chest clinics in some randomly selected hospitals, clinics and health centres in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Investigations were carried out using the two popular diagnostic criteria for pulmonary tuberculosis namely the specific Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) methods and chest X-ray. A total of 962 patients with clinical signs and symptoms of tuberculosis were studied. The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis 559 (58.1%) with 1:1 male/female ratio. There was no significant difference between ZN sputum smear positive and chest X-ray in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in the studied population at 95% confidence level. The possible reasons for the high prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis may be attributed to increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS, high rate of poverty, emergence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacteria and to a lesser extent, smoking and diabetes. Keywords: pulmonary tuberculosis, sputum, chest X-ray, Ziehl Neelsen. Nigerian Journal of Parasitology Vol. 29 (2) 2008: pp. 106-10

Relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty:Acase study of two cities in Abia State, Nigeria

A study was conducted between March and September 2007 to determine the relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty in two urban cities in Abia State, Nigeria.Atotal of 382 respondents, made up of 235 (61.5%) HIV/AIDS positive patients, 119 (31.2%) HIV-negative 28 (7.3%) were of unknown status. Using educational level, employment status and salary structure, it was found that the disease in the state was not caused by poverty. It was therefore concluded that drastic measures besides poverty alleviation, should be adopted if emergence of new infections in the state must be checked