Background: Schistosomiasis is a major poverty-related disease caused by dioecious parasitic flatworms of the genus Schistosoma with a health impact on both humans and animals. Hybrids of human urogenital schistosome and bovine intestinal schistosome have been reported in humans in several of Nigeria’s neighboring West African countries. No empirical studies have been carried out on the genomic diversity of Schistosoma haematobium in Nigeria. Here, we present novel data on the presence and prevalence of hybrids and the population genetic structure of S. haematobium. Methods: 165 Schistosoma-positive urine samples were obtained from 12 sampling sites in Nigeria. Schistosoma haematobium eggs from each sample were hatched and each individual miracidium was picked and preserved in Whatman® FTA cards for genomic analysis. Approximately 1364 parasites were molecularly characterized by rapid diagnostic multiplex polymerase chain reaction (RD-PCR) for mitochondrial DNA gene (Cox1 mtDNA) and a subset of 1136 miracidia were genotyped using a panel of 18 microsatellite markers. Results: No significant difference was observed in the population genetic diversity (p > 0.05), though a significant difference was observed in the allelic richness of the sites except sites 7, 8, and 9 (p < 0.05). Moreover, we observed two clusters of populations: west (populations 1–4) and east (populations 7–12). Of the 1364 miracidia genotyped, 1212 (89%) showed an S. bovis Cox1 profile and 152 (11%) showed an S. haematobium cox1 profile. All parasites showed an S. bovis Cox1 profile except for some at sites 3 and 4. Schistosoma miracidia full genotyping showed 59.3% of the S. bovis ITS2 allele. Conclusions: This study provides novel insight into hybridization and population genetic structure of S. haematobium in Nigeria. Our findings suggest that S. haematobium x S. bovis hybrids are common in Nigeria. More genomic studies on both human- and animal-infecting parasites are needed to ascertain the role of animals in schistosome transmission.

Abstract-This study was carried out with the aim of assessing the health care waste management practices by hospital staff. The study involved the survey of a cross section of four (4) tertiary health institutions. The study showed that there is significant variation in healthcare waste management practices and the sustainability factors (reduce, reuse recycle)(3Rs). The test showed that there prominent method of healthcare waste management at the studied institutions was practice of incineration and frequency of waste disposal, leaving out other new and improved technologies for proper waste management. The study showed that the health institutions adopts minimal activities of recycling, reduce and reuse, although not regularly. It is therefore imperative that new technologies and innovations should be put in proper place for improved healthcare management practices, in Enugu metropolis. The aim of this research therefore is to assess the healthcare management practices using it tertiary health institutions (teaching and specialist hospital) in southern Nigeria, state of Enugu as a case study. This paper therefore sets out to assess the healthcare waste management practices of health workers in those health institutions.

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Herbicides have, no doubt, increased crop yields by killing different types of weeds, however, rainfall and irrigation can wash herbicides from sites of application into the water system. Fish has an important role in the food chain; therefore, investigation of the effects of Round-up on fish has a diag-nostic significance in evaluation of adverse effect of herbicides to human health. The sub-lethal effects of Round-up herbicide on juveniles of an Afri-can catfish Clarias gariepinus was investigated under laboratory conditions. The herbicide caused mortality of fish in a concentration dependent manner for the duration of exposure to acute concentrations (LC5O) of the herbicides for 96hrs.The lethal concentration (LC5O) value of glyphosate was gotten to be 0.560mg/1 for 96hr of exposure using Probit analysis. For the sub-lethal assay, standard haematological procedures were adopted to evaluate the blood parameters. There was significant reduction (p<0.05) in WBC, HGC, RBC, Lymphocyte and Monocyte in order of concentrations with respect to the control. There was also a significance increase (P<0.05) in MCV, MCH, MCHC and Platelet in order of concentration with respect to the control. The results of the biochemical properties showed that the level of total protein, glucose and total cholesterol were elevated with increase in concentration on exposure period of 8weeks compared to the control experiment(P<0.05). This clearly shows that the values were dose-dependent. The result from this study shows that Round-up has a toxic effect on C. gariepinus. This toxicity can end up in humans through the food chain.