Phage Therapy in the Treatment of Infectious Diseases: An Overview

Today, we are facing the spread of antibiotic resistance in various microbial communities. Also, researchers are using new methods to replace conventional treatments to prevent chronic bacterial infections. Hence, the used of phages or bacterial contaminant particles are now used as an effective method in the treatment of many infectious diseases. Several studies have suggested that the use of bacteriophages is effective in treating some bacterial diseases. Therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate phage therapy studies against infections caused by bacterial infections. The use of bacteriophages as new targets in the treatment of bacterial diseases restricts the development of infectious diseases. Bacteriophages can provide a new perspective in the development of new drugs to reduce the rate of bacterial infections. Also, it seems more research should be done in this field and more developed techniques should be used to evaluation of new phages.

Comparative distribution of bacterial contaminants of packaged and unpackaged polyherbal products sold in Nnewi, Nigeria

Background: The use of herbal medicine continues to remain popular despite advances in orthodox medicine largely as a result of affordability and availability. However, contaminated and potentially toxic polyherbal preparations remain a public health challenge despite regulations instituted by concerned agencies in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to determine and compare the bacterial contaminants of different polyherbal products sold in Nnewi, NigeriaMethodology: This study evaluated the bacteriological profile of 22 packaged and 22 unpackaged polyherbal preparations sold in Nnewi, Nigeria. The samples were collected from different herbal medicine shops in Nnewi by simple random sampling and were assayed for comparative bacterial loads with chromogenic media and their total viable counts evaluated following standard method for microbial load analysis.Results: Bacterial contaminants were isolated from 9 of 22 (40.9%) packaged polyherbal samples while 13 of 22 (59.1%) samples were bacteriologically sterile. For the unpackaged polyherbal, bacterial contaminants were isolated from 18 of 22 (81.8%) samples while 4 of 22 (18.2%) were bacteriologically sterile (OR 0.1538, p=0.0122). The most frequently isolated bacterial contaminant in the packaged polyherbal samples was Enterococcus faecalis with 33.3% (6/18) while Salmonella sp was the least frequently isolated with 5.6% (1/18). For the unpackaged polyherbals, the most frequently isolated bacterial contaminant was Staphylococcus aureus with 25% (7/28) while Salmonella sp and E. faecalis were the least frequently isolated with 10.7% (3/28) each. The median total viable count of the packaged group of the polyherbal products was 1.48x106 CFU/ml, while the median total viable count for unpackaged group of polyherbals was 1.95x106 CFU/ml.Conclusion: This study shows that many polyherbal products sold in Nnewi are potentially contaminated with bacterial agents. It is therefore imperative that herbal medicine practitioners be enlightened on hygienic ways of preventing microbial contamination during polyherbal production. Keywords: Bacterial contaminants, herbal products, Nnewi, Nigeria

Identification Bacterial Contaminant in Semiarundinaria fastuosa Tissue Culture

Bamboo is one of the plants which propagated by tissue culture technique however, the emergence of microbial contaminant caused decrease of bamboo production. A type of microbe that caused the contamination on Semiarundinaria fastuosa tissue culture is bacteria. This study aimed to isolate bacterial contaminant and understanding its biodiversity. Bacterial isolation and phenotypic characterization were done by observing morphology, physiological test, biochemical test, identification and numeric phenetic analysis. Twelve bacterial contaminants was isolated and based on profile matching with Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, six isolate was a member of genus Bacillus, one isolate Enterococcus, two isolate Xenorhabdus, one isolate Morococcus, one isolate Corynebacterium, and one isolate belongs to genus Sarcina. A dendrogram created using Simple Matching coefficient (SSM) parameter and average linkage algorithm shown that on the 71% similarity index, all 12 OTU was grouped in one cluster. However, a dendrogram produced by Jaccard’s coefficient (SJ) parameter and average linkage algorithm on 70% similarity index divided 12 OTU on to 12 clusters.

Hybrid plasmonic/photonic crystals for optical detection of bacterial contaminants

Here, we show that a hybrid plasmonic/photonic crystal consisting of a thin layer of bioactive plasmonic material (i.e. silver) deposited on top a 1D PhC can detect one of the most common bacterial contaminant, namely Escherichia coli. We speculate that the change in the plasmon charge density brought about by metal/bacterium interaction results in a variation of the plasmon resonance that, in turns, translates in a shift of the photonic structural color.

Contamination of Cockroaches (Insecta: Blattaria) by Medically Important Bacteriae: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cockroaches have the potential to disseminate bacteria in their environments and therefore a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the state-of-the-art of our knowledge regarding bacterial contaminants of cockroaches. At least 78 bacterial species and 42 genera from 24 families and 11 orders of bacteria were reported to have contaminated cockroaches. At least 61, 42, 12, 13, 7, and 16 bacterial species have contaminated Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattaria: Ectobiidae), Periplaneta americana (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae), Blatta orientalis (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae), Diploptera punctata (Eschscholtz) (Blattaria: Blaberidae), Periplaneta fuliginosa (Serville) (Blattaria: Blattidae), and Supella longipalpa (F.) (Blattaria: Ectobiidae), respectively. Blattella germanica is the most commonly contaminated cockroach species, with the widest bacterial species diversity that threatens human health, followed by P. americana. Cockroach bacterial contaminants may result in the dissemination of opportunistic or pathogenic infections, particularly nosocomial and foodborne infections. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between bacterial contaminant species of cockroaches, species of cockroaches with bacterial contaminants, cockroach body part surfaces from the point of view bacterial contaminants and countries of cockroach infested with bacterial contaminants (P < 0.05). This statistical analysis indicates that the bacterial contaminants of the external cockroach body parts are potentially more harmful than from internal surfaces, and secondly, the bacterial contaminants of cockroaches in hospital environments are potentially more harmful than from other human environments. The survey indicated that the bacterial contaminant species of cockroaches appear to be mostly multiple drug resistant. The challenges of cockroaches as being potential vectors of pathogenic or opportunistic agents of human infections are discussed.

Assessment of bacterial contamination of toilets and bathroom doors handle/knobs at Daeyang Luke hospital

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the level of bacterial contamination of door handles/knobs of toilets and bathrooms at Daeyang Luke Hospital.Methods: Fomite can be described as a non-living object capable of carrying infectious organism and it is considered as one of the major source of spread of hospital acquired infection. In this study, door handles/knobs were swabbed with sterile swab stick moistened with sterile water. The content was evenly transferred to nutrient agar petric dish and then incubated for 24 hours at 37˚C. The study was done between the months of May to August 2016.Results: The results of the study showed that during the period of study there was 41.6% bacterial contamination with the female medical and surgical ward toilets being more contaminated as compared to staff toilets. Private room bathrooms were more contaminated during the period of study as compared to the staff room bathrooms that were less contaminated. Among the bacterial contaminant isolated and identified, Staphylococcus aureus had the highest prevalence followed by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter species and Klebsiella pneumoniae respectively.Conclusions: Therefore, from the study, it can be concluded that general public needs observe hand hygiene and use of quality disinfection procedures in order to reduce hospital acquired infection.