ABSTRACT Arboviruses belong to various families of viruses that are transmitted by arthropods, mainly mosquitoes and ticks causing clinical disease symptoms in humans ranging from febrile illnesses to hemorrhagic fevers. A systematic vector surveillance spanning two months and covering five sites in Kyela district was carried out in order to determine mosquito abundance and evaluate the potential role of Aedes spp in arbovirus transmission in the study area. Mosquitoes were collected, identif...
ABSTRACT Reuse of wastewater for vegetable irrigation is common in developing countries due to its accessibility and being rich in fertilizing elements thus improving crops yield. Regardless of these advantages, the practice plays an important role in transmission of intestinal parasitic helminths to vegetable consumers. This study was conducted to assess farmers’ awareness, perceptions, managerial and consumption practices regarding vegetables irrigated with reused wastewater on health ris...
ABSTRACT Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an acute, zoonotic viral disease, caused by a Phlebovirus belonging to the Bunyaviridae family. RVF virus (RVFV) historically has been responsible for large explosive outbreaks of severe human and animal disease throughout Africa and recently in the Arabian Peninsula. In animals, it mainly affects domestic ruminants such as sheep, goats and cattle. RVFV outbreaks among livestock are economically devastating and often characterized by large sweeping abortion...
ABSTRACT Experiences of early antiretroviral treatment failures are increasingly linked to escalating pretherapy HIV resistance mutations. Regular update of epidemic status and impact of pretherapy resistance are needed in resource limited countries, including Kenya. Since pretherapy resistance survey has not been conducted and factors associated remain unknown in the high-HIV prevalence western Kenya region, this study aimed to establish the prevalence of pretherapy antiretroviral resistance...
ABSTRACT Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are a serious problem globally and are some of the most common diseases encountered in medical practice today. Despite the widespread availability of antibiotics, UTIs remain a problem because of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing therefore provides information that allows physicians to select the most appropriate antibiotics for UTIs. This study was carried out to: (i) determine the prevalence of UTIs among patients present...
ABSTRACT The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used extensively in many important industrial applications that often expose these organisms to a range of stresses. Consequently, a considerable amount research has focused on understanding the nature of stress response in yeast and the development of more stress resistant yeast. The stress protein Hsp12 has since garnered interest, as it is upregulated in response to a wide variety of environmental stresses. Using an Hsp12-GFP construct, we con...
ABSTRACT Though the promotion of resistant bacteria worldwide has mainly been attributed to the injudicious use of many antibiotics, the role of non-antimicrobial drugs used in the clinical management of pathological conditions of non-infectious diseases in the modulation of microbial drug resistance or susceptibility needs to be assessed. The effects of the antibioticnon- antibiotic drug-drug interactions against bacteria in SCD patients and in other chronic diseases cannot be overemphasized...
ABSTRACT Recent discovery of cutaneous H. ducreyi has complicated the epidemiology of Yaws in endemic countries. Yaws and H. ducreyi ulcers are clinically indistinguishable from each other and some other causes of skin ulcerations. The aim of the study was to isolate and characterize H. ducreyi strains from lesions of children in yaws-endemic areas. Symptomatic patients were first screened with Dual Path Platform (DPP-RDT) Syphilis Screen & Confirm test kit (Chembio, Medford, New York) for ya...
ABSTRACT Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is an arbovirus which belongs to the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever serogroup. It belongs to the viral family, Nairoviridae and genus, Orthonairovirus. Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever serogroup and Nairobi sheep disease serogroup both fall under this genus. Viruses from these two serogroups are pathogenic to humans and animals respectively, and therefore have a significant economic impact. Tick species of three genera are known to tra...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major life threatening infectious diseases of public health concern globally. Its treatment is long and complex, requiring a cocktail of four drugs administered for six months. Pyrazinamide (PZA) is a cornerstone drug in the treatment regimen for tuberculosis that has contributed to reducing the treatment time from nine to six months. PZA is a pro-drug that is converted to its active form, pyrazinoic acid (POA) by the bacterial enzyme nicotinamida...
ABSTRACT As part of the malaria control measures in Ghana, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is used as an Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp) among pregnant women and now as a seasonal chemoprophylaxis (SMC) in children on pilot basis. However, parasite resistance to the drug has been reported in the country and this has been linked to point mutations in the dhps (dihydroptoreate synthase) and dhfr (dihydrofolate reductase) genes, the targets of SP. There is also an evidence of amplificati...
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Of Study The prevalence of diabetes is increasing rapidly and electrolyte disturbances are common in patients with diabetes. According to World Health Organization, over 1.4 Nigerians are diabetic in 2017. Diabetes can be defined as a disease condition in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood. They are two major ...
ABSTRACT Leishmaniasis is widely considered among neglected tropical disease and threatens about 350 million people globally. In spite of advances in drug discovery, high toxicity, and drug resistance limits current drugs. With current emphasizes on use of medicinal plants worldwide, three novel tetracyclic iridoids, Molucidin, ML-2-3 and ML-F52 were identified from Morinda lucida, a medicinal plant, to have anti-trypanosomal activity. This study sought to determine the activity of irido...
ABSTRACT Mycobacterium ulcerans’ mycolactone, is reported to mediate the production of ROS in keratinocytes; cells that play critical role in wound healing. The key stimulatory function of macrophages in the production of keratinocytes and fibroblasts during wound healing may also be impaired by mycolactone-mediated ROS. To ensure regeneration of tissues with proper and timely healing of the wounds, antioxidants that can combat the effects of ROS ought to be investigated. This study was the...
ABSTRACT Buruli ulcer remains a neglected tropical disease endemic in Africa especially Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. It is a necrotizing skin and soft tissue infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans which produces mycolactone which causes adverse effects associated with disease in humans. Other mycolactone producing bacteria (MPMs) have been identified to cause granulomas in fish and frog. There are limited advanced genetic tools for studying transmission of the diseases and for carrying out...