Article InformationIn Ethiopia, access to improved water supply and sanitation was estimated at 38% and 12% respectively. Three-forth of the health problems of children in Ethiopia are communicable diseases due to polluted water and improper water handling practices. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the microbiological quality of drinking water sources in rural communities of Dire Dawa Administrative Council (Adada Peasant Association). A cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2011 to May 2011. Microbiological water quality parameters were analyzed using the membrane filtration method. Water analysis demonstrated that all water sources in the study area were contaminated with total coliforms and fecal coliform. The fact that, about 83.34% of the water sample was positive for indicator bacteria shown that the three selected Peasant Associations had risk of contamination. High concentration of microbiological indicators in all water sources of this study area have demonstrated the presence of pathogenic organisms which constitute a threat to anyone consuming or in contact with these waters. The majority of the drinking water sources is either of unacceptable quality or grossly polluted. Regular quality control mechanisms need to be in place to ensure safety of drinking water.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of knowledge and hygienic practices of the community on bacteriological quality of drinking water at the source and point of use. community based cross-sectional study was conducted using questionnaire, inspection check list to observe the condition of water sources, and bacteriological water quality examination of sources and household containers. The study was conducted during February-May 2011 in rural Communitie Council. Three hundred eighty four households were selected using systematic random sampling method to assess the knowledge and hygienic practices of the community and gathered by health extension worker under strict supervisi supervisors. Bacteriological examination of six water sources systematically selected household containers was carried out by using Oxfam DelAgua water testing kit. Almost all of the water sources were subjected to contamin score. There is a significant variation between the bacteriological analysis of source water and household drinking water samples. Educational status was the only variables which was significant after adjustment of other socio demographic, Knowledge and practices variables. However other variables like: types of household containers, washing of containers before transferring, methods of water withdrawal, duration of stored water and cover of container during transportation and storage were significant in bivariate analysis but not in multivariate analysis. This may be due to confounding effects of different variables. high sanitary risk score were highly subjected to bacteriological con feacal coliform almost tripled at household level, because of poor household management INTRODUCTION Water is the essence of life and safe drinking water is a basic human right essential to all, and for sustainable development. It is known that water is our most precious resource, vital to our economy, our daily lives and to the health of our environment. Water and sanitation inadequacies hinder economic and social development, constitute a major impediment to poverty alleviation and inevitably lead to environmental degradation (WHO, 2004). A community ravaged by diarrheal diseases, dracunculiasis or schistosomiasis cannot look beyond its immediate problems towards social economic welfare. Safe water is the door way to health and health is the prerequisite for progress, social equity and human dignity (WHO, 2004).

Background Anopheles arabiensis, member species of the Anopheles gambiae complex, is the primary vector of malaria and is widely distributed in Ethiopia. Anopheles funestus, Anopheles pharoensis and Anopheles nili are secondary vectors occurring with limited distribution in the country. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are pillars for the interventions against malaria control and elimination efforts in Ethiopia. However, the emergence and widespread of insecticide resistance in An. gambiae sensu lato (s.l.), might compromise the control efforts of the country. The aim of this study was to investigate composition of mosquito fauna and insecticide resistance status of An. gambiae s.l. in Itang special district ( woreda), Gambella, southwestern Ethiopia. Methods Adult mosquitoes were sampled from September 2020 to February 2021 using the CDC light trap and pyrethrum spray catch (PSC). CDC light traps were placed in three selected houses for two consecutive days per month to collect mosquitoes indoor and outdoor from 6:00 P.M. to 06:00 A.M. and PSC was used to collect indoor resting mosquitoes from ten selected houses once in a month from October 2020 to February 2021. Moreover, mosquito larvae were also collected from different breeding sites and reared to adults to assess susceptibility status of populations of An. gambiae s.l. in the study area. Susceptibility tests were conducted on two to three days old non blood fed female An. gambiae s.l. using insecticide impregnated papers with deltamethrin (0.05%), alpha-cypermethrin (0.05%), propoxur (0.1%), pirimiphos-methyl (0.25%) and bendiocarb (0.1%) following World Health Organization (WHO) standard susceptibility test procedure. Molecular diagnostics were done for the identification of member species of An. gambiae s.l. and detection of knockdown resistance (kdr) allele using species specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and allele specific PCR. Results In total, 468 adult mosquitoes were collected from different houses. Culex mosquitoes were the most dominant (80.4%) followed by Anopheles mosquitoes. Three species of Anopheles (Anopheles coustani, An. pharoensis, and An. gambiae s.l.) were identified, of which An. coustani was the dominant (8.1%) species. Higher number of mosquitoes (231) were collected outdoor by CDC light traps. Out of 468 adult mosquitoes, 294 were blood fed, 46 were half-gravid and gravid whereas the remaining 128 were unfed. WHO bioassay tests revealed that the populations of An. gambiae s.l. in the study area are resistant against alpha-cypermethrin and deltamethrin, but susceptible to bendiocarb, pirimiphos-methyl and propoxur. Of the total 86 An. gambiae s.l. specimens assayed, 79 (92%) successfully amplified and identified as An. arabiensis. West African kdr (L1014F) mutation was detected with high kdr allele frequency ranging from 67 to 88%. Conclusion The detection of target site mutation, kdr L1014F allele, coupled with the phenotypic resistance against alpha-cypermethrin and deltamethrin call for continuous resistance monitoring.

Article InformationIn Ethiopia, access to improved water supply and sanitation was estimated at 38% and 12% respectively. Three-forth of the health problems of children in Ethiopia are communicable diseases due to polluted water and improper water handling practices. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the bacteriological quality of drinking water sources in Dire Dawa Surrounding area. The study was conducted from February 2011 to May 2011. A total of 90 water samples from different water sources (-protected and unprotected well; protected and unprotected spring; and tap water) and bacteriological water quality parameters were analyzed using the membrane filtration method. Water analysis demonstrated that all water sources in the study areas were contaminated with total coliforms, fecal coliform and parasites. The average counts of TC were in the range of 1.5-133.05CFU/100ml whereas the average counts of FC were found to be 0.34-54CFU/100ml. In all samples, the TC, FC was above the recommended limit of WHOM for drinking water quality (1-10CFU/100ml for TC, 0CFU/100ml for FC. The fact that, about 83.34% of the water sample was positive for indicator bacteria shown that the three selected PA had risk of contamination in the three selected PAs had high risk of microbiological water quality parameters. High concentration of microbiological indicators in all water sources of this study area may demonstrated the presence of pathogenic organisms which constitute a threat to anyone consuming or in contact with these waters. This is due to lack of good water treatment, improper water handling practices and lack of the protection of the water sources. Consequently, protection of water sources accompanied by sanitation and hygiene promotion programs can improve the water quality of rural water sources, where disinfection is not feasible.

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Intestinal helminth infections are most common diseases of the poor and a potential cause ofanemia in developing countries. Podoconiosis is non-filarial "elephantiasis" of the lower legs in farmers that work on loamy clay soil and is a chronic complication that does not have effective treatment. Soil contact being the mode of transmission of geo-helminths and the cause of podoconiosis, the aim of this paper is to investigate the health impact of helminth infections of podoconiosis patients. On the other hand, the overall prevalence of intestinal geo-helminth infection decreased with increasing clinical stages of podoconiosis, implying that with severe and complicated podoconiosis, the individual would be seriously incapacitated to work on the farm and hence will have a limited contact with soil to be exposed to helminth infections. The study has provided good evidence to justify selective initiation of deworming and iron rich nutrient supplementation to improve the well being of podoconiosis patients under resource poor conditions.

Malaria has been one of the most prominent and ancient disease which has been profiled and studied malaria distribution seasons from September to December following the major rainy seasons from June to August with minor transmission seasons from February to march with some changes from place to place. The primary objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of malaria among patients visiting Nekemte hospital. Across sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of malaria among patients visiting Nekemte hospital. For the present study 120 patients were included in this study which was selected by convenient sampling techniques. The data was sorted by hand and using table and the calculation was done by using scientific hand calculator. Results were presented using tables. Two species of malaria, P. falciparum and P. vivax were identified with relatively higher prevalence of P. vivax (59.2%). Educational status, presence of stagnant water and bed net usage had an association with prevalence of malaria. Age and religion had no any association with prevalence of malaria between the age group of 17 to 27 and illiterate patients had relatively higher prevalence of malaria. Malaria infection can be reduced with the help of early treatment and by using bed nets.

Probiotics are preparation of live microorganisms that have beneficial effects on the health of their host. Although probiotic strains can be isolated from many sources, for human applications, the main criteria are that it must be from human origin. Milk is an important nutrient source for neonates. Previous studies have shown that human breast milk has beneficial effects on the health of neonates. One reason for these beneficial effects might be explained by the micro flora of human breast milk including beneficial lactic acid-producing bacteria. The main aim of this paper is to review best practices in isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from human milk by biochemical and molecular methods and also determine the probiotic properties of lactic acid-producing bacteria. Most lactic acidproducing bacteria have effective antimicrobial activity against food-borne pathogens like Salmonella, thyphimurium CCM 5445, Escherichia coli O157:H7 NCTC 129000 and Escherichia coli NRRL B-3008. Data show that these isolates possess probiotic properties, as demonstrated by using amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and 16S sequencing. Therefore, it is observed that, human milk is a source of potential probiotic strains.