Acinetobacter baumannii has been an important nosocomial pathogen causing infections in immunocompromised and hospitalized patients. Multiple antibiotic resistant A. baumannii isolates are spreading and causing outbreaks globally. The present study was done to assess the prevalence of antibiotic resistance pattern of A. baumannii isolated from leafy vegetable samples from different retail markets and clinical strains collected from Gondar University Hospital. Among the 13(48.1%) vegetables and 14(51.9%) clinical isolates, the highest Acinetobacter baumannii was detected in cauliflower 6/27 (22.2%). A. baumannii isolates harbored the highest prevalence of resistance against 23 antibiotics including the following carbapenem antibiotics, meropenem (97%), imipenem (99%), ertapenem (94%), doripeneme (96.6%). Comparison of antibiotic susceptibility rate between the vegetable and clinical isolates based on one-way A nova test (P=0.93>0.05) confirmed multiple antibiotic resistance (MDR). Phylogenetic tree determined the relationship of the vegetable isolates, and the clinical isolates were coherent each other. PCR analysis result of 9 representative isolates demonstrated 100% of them harbor resistance determinants (bla OXA23), (88.8%) of them harbor resistance determinants ompA, 100% harbor resistance determinants blaOXA51 and 100% harbor resistance determinants ISAab1. Furthermore, plasmid extraction analysis for 21 representative isolates confirmed that all the isolates harbor at least one plasmid.
In many developing countries, the role of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) is still limited especially in transporting pipelines because an abiotic mechanism can be invoked to explain the observed corrosion. A research on the role of microorganisms in oil transporting pipelines in Escravos gas plant, Delta state, Nigeria was conducted. The microbial count was assayed using pour plate method after which the identification of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), total heterotrophic bacterial, and fungal counts were also carried out. The corrosion rates were determined by the weight loss method. The sulfate-reducing bacteria, total heterotrophic bacterial and fungal counts of the biofilm samples ranged from 4.81 × 103 to 8.56 × 103 CFU/ml, 1.22 × 104 to 2.60 × 104 CFU/ml, and 4.14 × 103 to 8.52 × 103 CFU/ml respectively. The results revealed Desulfovibrio magneticus, Desulfobulbus propionicus, and Desulfuromonas acetoxidans as sulfate-reducing bacteria present. The bacteria species identified isolates include gram-positive Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cerus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Halomonas subglaciescola while the identified gram negative organisms include Klebsiella oxytoca and Seratia marcescen. The fungal isolates include members of the genus Microsporum, Saccharomyces, Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Verticillium. The weight-loss method was used to determine the rate of corrosion and the mean values of corrosion rates in each pipeline ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, and ST5 had corrosion rates of 4.47, 3.28, 4.22, 2.56, and 3.19mpy respectively. These results will therefore alert oil companies, the government, and other agencies of the possible microbiologically influenced corroding effects on pipelines.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are an essential part of people's diet all over the world. Since they are typically eaten raw and often without heat treatment or thorough washing, so they serve as vectors for the transmission of pathogenic micro-organisms associated with human diseases. This study aimed at isolating and identifying the pathogenic bacteria from selected popular fresh fruits and vegetables which are known as street food. A total of 7 fresh fruits and vegetables were collected from different open markets of Chittagong with aseptic condition. Selective and non-selective media were used to isolate and enumerate the bacteria. All the species were identified on the basis of morphology, biochemical tests (IMViC) and selective differential culture media. Among the samples Vibrio spp., Lactobacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Salmonella spp. were dominant. All of fresh fruits and vegetables were heavily contaminated with coliform and fecal coliform (> 1100 CFU/100ml). Range of microbial count of guava was 2.1×104 CFU/ml, apple was 4.3×104 CFU/ml, tomato was 8.2×104 CFU/ml, cucumber was 5.0×104 CFU/ml, carrot was 1.3× ×104 CFU/ml, hog plum (Amra) was 7.5×104 CFU/ml. This results indicated that the serious concern for the people of Chittagong area as it can be a great risk for human health. So this results, suggested the necessity to create awareness about hygienic practices in selling and buying fresh fruits and vegetables.
The toxicities of some metal ions (Pb2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Co2+ as individuals and in quaternary and quinary mixtures with Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) to Serratia marcescens (SerEW01) isolated from Otamiri river, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria were assessed, using dehydrogenase activity as an endpoint. The EC50S observed ranged from 0.046 ± 0.003 mM for Zn2+ to 2.329 ± 0.092 mM for SDS and Duncan tests indicated that the EC50S of the toxicants were significantly different from each other. Among the individual toxicants, the increasing toxicities ranking were SDS> Pb2+> Ni2+> Co2+> Cd2+> Zn2+. The responses of the bacterium to the toxicities of the toxicants were dose-dependent, and the toxicants also progressively inhibited the dehydrogenase activity as the concentration increased. Fixed ratio mixtures (Arbitrary concentration ratio (ABCR) and equieffect concentration ratio (EECR) mixtures) were designed to evaluate the combined toxicities of these toxicants. All the dose-response relationships of the ABCR and EECR mixtures and the individual toxicants could be described by 2-parameter logistic function. All quaternary and quinary mixtures were strongly synergistic against the organisms. Within each mixture ratio, experimental, CA and IA-predicted EC50S were statistically different from one another for both mixtures. The quinary mixtures were generally more toxic to the bacterium than the quaternary mixtures. Both CA and IA models greatly underestimated the toxicities of the quaternary and quinary mixtures against S. marcescens (SerEW01). The synergistic effects of the both the quaternary and quinary mixtures of the toxicants indicates potential deleterious effects of the mixtures to the aquatic bacteria of the river.
Uncontrolled fermentation is a method of transformation which can expose food to risks of contamination by moulds and mycotoxins. Food contaminations represent a potential threat to the health of consumers. In the far North of Cameroun, Iassa obtained by spontaneous fermentation of Hibiscus sabdariffa grains belongs to this food category. This study was aimed at preserving the safety quality of Iassa against fungal growth during fermentation by using lactic acid bacteria (LAB). To carry out this work, moulds and LAB were first isolated from Iassa samples collected in the locality of Gamboura (Cameroon). This was followed by the production of Iassa at the laboratory which was inoculated with moulds and LAB, and the entire batch was left to ferment for 120 hours at 25°C. The antifungal activity of LAB and titratable acidity were evaluated during fermentation. The results showed that, Iassa is a favourable food to the development of moulds. High contamination of this product by moulds of the genus Aspergillus and Fusarium were observed. Generally, this contamination ranged from 2.9Log10CFU/g to 6.9Log10CFU/g. Among the isolated LAB, Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus paracasei were identified as the best LAB with good antifungal activity. Lactobacillusbrevisinhibited completely the growth of Aspergillus in Iassa after 96 hours of fermentation. During this assay, a high growth of Lactobacillus brevis varying between 12.0 and 13.3 Log10CFU/g was also observed. Unlike Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus paracasei produced a high quantity of acidity evaluated at 0.9%. From this work, these bacteria can be used as a LAB starter to ensure safety of the Iassa against moulds after 96 hours of fermentation.
Packed and fresh fruit juices are important parts of the diet of all age groups due to associated health benefits. However, these food sources are highly perishable and affected by different microbial contaminants from the processes of production to consumption. In this regard, an assessment of the microbial quality spectrum of packed and fresh fruit juices was done. The objective was to evaluate the status of microbe free food handling of the cafes and super markets. Cross sectional study was used as a study design. A total of 48 fruit juice samples were analyzed for Aerobic Mesophilic Count, total coliform, mold and yeast count and pathogen detection. The data was analyzed using one way ANOVA by spss version 20. The results revealed that mean values for Aerobic Mesophilic Count ranged from 7.24 X 103 to 2.68 X 103 cfu/ml for packed and 5.2 X 104 to 4.5 X 103 cfu /ml for fresh fruit juice. The total coliform count ranged from 3.89 X 103 to 2.55 X 103 cfu/ml for packed and 1.76 X 104 to 1.36 X 103 cfu/ml for fresh juice. Mold and yeast count ranged from 1.35 X 102 to 1.78 X 102 cfu/ml for packed and 2.4 X 102 to 3.4 X 102 cfu/ml for fresh juice. Two genera of molds (Alternaria spp. and Fusarum spp.) were isolated from 60 samples. Statistically significant difference (P=0.021 < 0.05) was recorded between Rani and Apple on Aerobic Mesophilic Count. Similarly, significant difference (p=0.002 < 0.05) was recorded between Rani Mango and Pine apple for total coliform counts. A highly significant mean difference (p=0.0 < 0.05) was obtained for total yeast and mould counts. The highest detected species was Staphylococcus aureus (16, 26.6%) from fresh and packed juice samples whereas, the least was Salmonella spp. (5, 8.3%) from fresh juice samples. Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. were absent in all packed fruit juice samples. All the pathogens were sensitive to gentamicin but resistant to amoxicillin. The microbial quality spectrum of packed fruit juice was better than that of fresh juice samples collected from local cafe.
Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a zoonosis affecting both humans and none-human primates (NHP). The fever is caused by Ebola virus, a highly pleomorphic virus of the filovirus family. The virus is a non-segmented negative-stranded RNA virus. Five species of the virus including Zaire ebolavirus, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Tai Forest ebolavirus (formerly known as Cote d’Ivore), Sudan ebolavirus, and Reston ebolavirus (found in Western Pacific, highly pathogenic in nonhuman primates) have been identified. The recent West African outbreak, which is the biggest since the virus was discovered in 1976, is caused by a new strain, the Zaire ebolavirus. The most recent outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, the worse ever recorded in the history of the disease was recorded in 2013 in Gueckedou prefecture in Guinea and spread across the bordering Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and U.S.A recorded imported cases of EVD with the epidemic spanning through 2014, 2015 to early 2016. The onset of the disease is abrupt after an incubation period of two to 21 days followed by clinical manifestations of influenza–like syndrome, persistent fever not responding to antimalarial drugs or to antibiotics (acute phase), and the a brief improved condition of pseudo-remission and then the aggravation stagecharacterized by various symptoms including respiratory disorders such as dyspnoea, throat, chest pain, cough and hiccups, bloody diarrhoea, hematemesis, conjunctival bleeding, gingival bleeding, nose bleeding and bleeding at the site of injection which consistent with disseminated intravascular coagulation and eventually, death. Transmission cycle of Ebola virus include endozootic, epizootic and human to human transmission Though just like other viral diseases, Ebola has no cure, antiretroviral drugs recommended for treatment but still undergoing clinical trials include; Favipir, Zmapp, interferons with or without Ribavirin and TKM-10082. A clear understanding of the virus and its molecular composition will be of immense help in developing more effective therapies as and preventive measures.
Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the new strain Aspergillus oryzae 18HG80 isolated from saline soil were studied. Among three isolates of A. oryzae S1, S2, S3, the S1 (Aspergillus oryzae 18HG80) had the most antibacterial activity against Gram -positive and Gram-negative and resistant bacteria (MICs between 7.28 and 21.85 μg mL - 1). A. oryzae 18HG80 was also tested for antifungal activity against indicator fungal phytopathogens Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria solani, by dual culture method. The results showed that A. oryzae 18HG80 inhibited their growth with low to moderate activity 9.3% for A. solani, 46% for A. flavus and 37% for F. oxysporum. The effects of culture conditions on antimicrobial activity were investigated, the fungus exhibited higher antimicrobial activity at 30°C, pH 6, and 28 days of incubation. The addition of NaCl (from 0.5M to 2M) to the medium decreased the activity and showed optimum inhibitory effects on Gram+ bacteria at 1M. Metabolite profiles of the fungus revealed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry GC/MS, allowed to identify 104 bioactive compounds, where butanedioic (succinic) acid and kojic acid were the major compounds with total percentage of 42,284% and 24,845% respectively, which are a useful platform chemicals that can be converted into many other valuable chemicals. They have many applications in agriculture, pharmaceutical activities, food, cosmetic and health care industries.
This study was designed to determin the prevalence of Staphylococcus nasal carriage in the Sudanese community. Healthy individuals were divided into four groups: Hospital staff, Subjects in direct contact with animals, Subjects working in clean environments (with no contact with patients or animals) and Children in different ages (neonates, infants and school children). Atotal of 220 nasal speciemens were collected. Speciemens were divided as fifty speciemens for each group. Twenty speciemens were collected to compare between mothers and their infants. All speciemens were cultured, isolates were identified using conventional cultural procedures and biochemical tests. Hospital staff showed 100% carraige, 92% for those in direct contact with animals, 72% for the children group and 64% for subjects working in clean environments. The total of Staphylococcus species isolated from all groups were eleven species and two subspecies: Staph epidermidis, Staph aureus, Staph capitis, Staph hyicus (coagulase positive), Staph hyicus (coagulase negative), Staph caseolyticus, staph Simians, Staph lugdunensis, Staph delphini, Staph schleiferi, Staph hominis, Staph capitis subspp ureolyticus and Staph cohni subspp ureolyticus. Staph epidermidis was the dominant species in this study. The over all positive results of Staphylococcus species obtained from different groups under study were (82%). Fifty percent of the speciemens used to compare between mothers and their infants represented identical species.
Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common hospital acquired infection. The use of indwelling urinary catheters is the major associated cause for catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). CAUTI is defined as a UTI in a patient who had an indwelling urinary catheter in place at the time or within 48 hours prior to infection. There is a gap in the literature about the risk factors of CAUTI. Objectives: To assess the occurrence of CAUTI, and to determine the risk factors associated with CAUTI among patients admitted in medical wards and ICU in KFHH in KSA. Methods: It is a prospective surveillance study of CAUTI among patients admitted in medical wards and ICU in KFHH, in the period of May to August 2017. All patients with medical conditions other than urinary tract infection, and had been catheterized with Foley’s, catheter were included in the study and data was collected from the medical records. Results: The total number of patients was 200, most of the patients were females (72%), 82.5% of the patients were in general medical wards and 17.5% were in ICU, past medical history of urinary tract infection was found in 10% of the patients. Most of the patients showed no symptoms of urinary tract infection. About 29.55% of patients had CAUTI, with the majority of them located in general wards than ICU. Female gender was significantly associated with CAUTI, where 81.4% females had CAUTI, P-value 0.050. Associated disease or comorbidity among patients with CAUTI had significant association with CAUTI P-value 0.001. Patients who stayed longer than 30days in hospital had significant association with CAUTI, P-value 0.001, while age, past medical history of UTI, and past history of Foley’s catheter had no significance association with CAUTI. Conclusion: The occurrence of CAUTI was more common in patients in wards than ICU. Nearly one third of patients had CAUTI. Risk factors for CAUTI were, female gender, associated disease or comorbidity and longer duration of stay in hospital. While age, past medical history of UTI or previous history of Foley’s catheter insertion had no significant association with CAUTI.
Water quality in Ohio has been a growing concern in recent years. The current project was set to meet the following objects: 1) Use the Colilert test in detecting and quantifying the bacterial contamination of water resources; 2) Raise the public awareness of drinking water pollution and its impact on community and surrounding wildlife; 3) Use the current project as model to be used in the future testing of the water sources cross Ohio. Based on the current results, it is determined that E.coli level are mostly with in the acceptable and legal limits. However, its presence is concerning. These bacteria can cause water turbidity and deplete oxygen inside water which kill water life and damage the ecosystem. Presence of such pathogens in water, warrants more effective treatment of water. Farmers shall use more environment friendly fertilizer on their farming land and utilize better filtration system to get rid of their agricultural waste. The current results show that Colibert test is sensitive, accurate and effective in measuring E.coli in water samples. The current methodology can be used in future testing of water in this area and other areas of Ohio.
Potato has a crucial role to play in maintaining food security worldwide as it has high nutritive qualities and ratio of yield productivity to soil occupation. Despite the importance of the plant, its production is constrained by several biotic and abiotic stresses. Key among them is the bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, with enormous yield losses. Existing management strategies have not been effective owing to the diversity of the pathogen with vast variation in host range. This study aimed at bio-prospecting for the potential of rhizopheral bacteria as biocontrol agents against potato bacterial wilt disease. The pathogen was isolated from plants showing typical symptoms of the disease and the obtained isolates were subjected to biochemical and molecular techniques of identification to confirm their status as Ralstonia solanacearum. In the course of bioprospecting, a total of 62 bacteria isolates were obtained from potato rhizosphere by serial dilution methods using broad spectrum media: nutrient agar and tryptic soy agar. Then, 20 isolates were selected based on their association with healthy plants for antagonistic tests using dual culture assay. During the in vitro screening, 5 bacteria species were identified to be highly antagonistic against four R. solanacearum strains. These antagonists were further tested in vivo for plant growth promoting traits and disease suppression ability. The results revealed that Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Paenibacillus spp, Providencia rettgeri and Providencia vermicola were dominantly active in potato rhizosphere causing resistance to bacterial wilt disease. The isolates Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis were also observed to have several plant growth promoting traits. These findings could provide baseline information for development of biocontrol strategies with the potential antagonists reported.
Pectinases are industrially important enzymes. Bacillus spp. isolated from soil sample was used for pectinase production utilizing orange peels as its substrate under submerged fermentation. Enzyme activity Increased with increase in temperature with peak at 30°C which decreased with further increase in temperature. At pH 7, enzyme activity was optimum which decreased with increase in alkalinity, temperature and incubation time. Maximum activity of the pectinase enzyme was obtained with glucose at pH7 and temperature of 30°C. Supplementary carbon sources viz;- glucose, sucrose , lactose and orange peel were crucial for pectinase activity demonstration at 30°C. Glucose enhanced the highest pectinase activity of 54.92 U/ml. Bacillus spp. demonstrated high pectinase enzyme activity, which is an indication that this organism is of great importance for industrial pectinase enzyme activity demonstration. It is expected that with further strain improvement and substrate modification, greater activity can be achieved.
Microscopy is the mainstay in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in resource poor settings. Usefulness of Auramine-O staining and LED (AO-LED) microscopy for the diagnosis of tuberculosis from extrapulmonary and non-sputum pulmonary samples was evaluated. A prospective study was performed on 75 extrapulmonary samples like CSF, Urine, Pleural fluid and non-sputum pulmonary samples like BAL. Smears were stained with auramine-O and Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stains and viewed under LED microscopy and bright field(BF) microscopy respectively. Solid culture (Lowenstein-Jensen medium) was used as a reference standard. Out of the 75 specimen collected, 24% of them were CSF followed by BAL specimen (23%) and pleural fluid (13%). Three (4%) were positive by AO-LED microscopy whereas only one (1%) was positive by ZN-BF microscopy. The percentage of TB positivity among the three different methods used, revealed a high yield by culture (8%), followed by AO-LED (4%) and ZN-BF (1.3%) methods. AO-LED microscopy had a better sensitivity of 50% Vs 16.6% in comparison to ZN-BF microscopy. Both AO-LED and ZN-BF microscopy methods had a specificity and positive predictive value of 100%. Both the techniques had a negative predictive value of 95.8% and 93.2% respectively. We found a higher smear positivity rate with AO-LED in comparison with ZN-BF microscopy. The AO-LED microscopy was found to be more sensitive than the ZN-BF (50% Vs 16.6%). We report that it would be prudent to use AO-LED microscopy for non-sputum samples like BAL replacing the current practice of ZN-BF microscopy for the diagnosis of smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis.
Wheat is one of the major crops cultivated in the black clay soil, the salinized soil reduces the productivity due to the improper nutrition of plants as well as osmotic and drought stress. The current study used osmoadaptive salt tolerant Azotobacter chroococcum and Azotobacter vinelandii, isolated from salt-affected soils to tolerate salt and facilitate plant growth in saline soils. Inoculated wheat crops with bacteria gave better results than uninoculated one in growth criteria as stem high, weight, grains weight, straw weight, and 100 grains weight. The improvement ability of bacteria was correlated to the production of plant growth regulators as auxins (IAA), which indicated that using these salt tolerant bacteria with wheat cultivation, improve crop productivity in saline soil.
The present work was carried out for four Actinomycetes SN-1, SN-2, SN-3 and SN-4 isolated from soil samples of agricultural fields near University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka. Isolates were subjected for the screening of antimicrobial analysis by the cross streak method. Among four isolates the strain SN-3 has shown good antimicrobial activity. Morphological characterization by scanning electron microscopic analysis followed by physiological and biochemical characterizations were performed. The potent strain was identified by the 16S rRNA gene sequence (987 bp) and a phylogenetic tree was correlated with other species Streptomyces spp and finally, the strain was confirmed and identified as Streptomyces gancidicus SN-3.
It is to be noted that protein vibration has been playing a pivotal role in controlling structural changes. Thus observation and identification of these vibrations are getting priority day by day. But it is very hard to conduct experiments in vivo phase with living animals particularly human to investigate and to identify protein vibration. Scientists of the day are giving priority in devising suitable tools for observation of protein vibration in vivo phase subject to that a thought experiment based on resonance phenomenon has been designed here. Through this it is expected that vibration of protein can be investigated and hence measuring of vibration frequency can be undertaken even indirectly in near future. For example, points of resonance frequency due to vibrations of Heat Shock Protein – 70 and those of aggregated alpha synuclein proteins where disaggregation of aggregated proteins may occur, have been suggested in this paper with scope of determining maximum amplitudes.
Virus adsorption and the subsequent survival of viruses on fresh produce is of concern because of the increasing amount of fresh produce consumed in Egypt. Because fresh produce is not cooked to the same extent as meat products, vegetables provide an ideal vector for virus transmission. So, the objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and Human norovirus (NoV) which are the most commonly documented enteric viruses as contaminating vegetables. Therefore, may pose a risk to human health and causes many foodborne diseases. For this purpose, a total of 135 fresh produce samples were collected from Giza, Kafr El-Sheikh, and Qalyubia governorates. Since 45 samples from fields irrigated with water from Elmaryotia canal, 45 samples from fields irrigated with water from Kitchener drain, and 45 samples from El-Gabal El-Asfar farm, respectively. Three fresh produce items (lettuce, spinach and green onions) were chosen for this study, where 15 samples from each item. The obtained results revealed that fresh produce samples which collected from the three governorates showed high contamination percentages by HAV and NoV. Samples collected from the fields irrigated with water from Kitchener drain (Kafr El-Sheikh governorate) showed the highest contamination percentages by 73.3%, 60% and 46.6% for lettuce, spinach, and green onion, respectively for HAV. Towards NoV the percentages were 26.6%, 26.6% and 6.6%, respectively. As well as, the contamination percentages of the previous three items collected from El-Gabal El-Asfar farm (Qalyubia governorate) for HAV were 60%, 40%, and 26.6%, respectively. Whereas the percentages for NoV were 20% for both lettuce and spinach. NoV not detected in any samples examined of green onion collected from this region. On the hand, samples of Elmaryotia canal (Giza governorate) showed the lowest contamination percentages, where both viruses not detected in green onion examined samples. Further, HAV was only detected in lettuce plant samples by 20%, while spinach samples showed contamination with HAV and NoV by 33.3% and 13.3%, respectively. Lettuce samples from the three regions showed the highest contamination percentages with HAV followed by NoV. But in contrast, the green onion examined samples from the previous three regions showed the lowest contamination percentages.
In the present study, fermented fish products (Fasseikh) were prepared under laboratory level using six fish species namely: Kass, Koara, Dabis Bolti, Aejel and Shilba. Various microbiological parameters were utilized to evaluate the microbiological quality of raw fish and Fasseikh products using the official methods. The results show that the highest total viable count (TVC) of bacteria (5.3 x 106 cfu/g) and yeasts and moulds (7.5 x 103) were observed in Kass fish, while the lowest TVC (2.8 x 105 cfu/g) and yeast and mould conunts (7.0 x 101 cfu/g). were found in Ijel fish As for indicator organisms, the total coliform bacteria was detected in all raw fish samples, however, Eschrichia coli did not show positive reaction in any of the tested samples. Various pathogenic bacterial groups were detected in the raw fish species in various levels, with the lowest values in Ijel fish. All microbiological parameters deceased when the various fish species were processed into Fasseikh product. In that: TVC ranged between 2.8 x 104 and 2.5 x 106 c.f.u/g, and the coliform bacteria were not detected in all tested Fasseikh samples except that prepared from Kass fish (44 c.f.u/g). Moreover, E.coli, showed positive result. S.aureus bacteria were found in all Fasseikh samples, while salmonella was detected in 33% of the samples. The presence of these pathogen will constitute a major health risk for the consumers. Therefore, utilizing the hygienic practices, good manufacturing practices and handling processes are necessary to improve microbiological quality and safety of Fasseikh product.
The most widely used drugs for prophylaxis and treatment of CMV infections are chemical drugs. Unfortunately, these drugs have dose-limiting renal and bone marrow toxicities. Also, the long-term therapy with these drugs, necessary for management of infection, has been associated with the development of clinically resistant strains of the virus. Therefore, antiviral agents would need to develop for the treatment and suppression of CMV disease. Natural products of plant origin are proving to be a valuable source for anti-viral agents. So, the aim of the current study was to in vitro evaluation of Allium sativum and Nigella sativa methanolic extracts as anti-CMV agents. Murine Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) were infected with CMV and propagative, plaque assay of CMV titer was 9.5x106 (PFU/ml) at four days post infection. Two methanolic plants extracts showed anti-cytomegalovirus (CMV) activity against CMV tissue culture which determined by cytopathic effects whereby, the number of staining survival cells were increased with the treatment by A. sativum or N. sativa methanolic extracts. While a mixture of both extracts showed a synergistic effect in controlling the virus greater than each extract in a solo state.
