The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness. Plants are traditionally used for treatment of bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to investigate chemical composition, nutritional evaluation and antibacterial activities of watermelon seeds. The qualitative phytochemical analysis of watermelon indicated that alkaloids were moderately present, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, and phenols were all present. The quantitative analysis of watermelon indicated 3.080 mg/g for alkaloids, 0.304mg/g for phenols, 0.117 mg/g for tannins, 0.200mg/g for saponins and 2.675 mg/g for flavonoids. The vitamin composition of watermelon seeds indicated 0.03 mg/100 g for vitaminB1, 0.01 vitaminB2, 0.64 mg/100g for vitaminB3, 0.24 mg /100 g vitaminB6 and 0.01 for vitaminB12.The bioactivities of extract were tested, against Proteus mirabilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Necropsobacter rosorum, Tsukamurella hongkongensis, Lactobacillus sp, Staphylococcus petrasii, Neisseria sicca, Dietzi amaris, Pseudomonas oryzyhabitans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Advenella incenata, Neiserria subflava and Serriatia marcescens. Researchers are advised to turn their attention towards plants products, which is most promising area in search of new biologically activity compounds with better activity against multi drug resistant strains and reduced antibiotic related side effects.
This study aimed to detect presence of RpoS gene in Escherichia coli O157:H7 and non-O157 and investigate their survival pattern in different water treatment methods. A total of fifteen serologically and molecularly identified E. coli was selected from a previous work, out of which eight were Escherichia coli O157 and seven were E. coli non-O157. From among these, S30 and S89 identified isolates served as presentative E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 respectively for survival studies. The water treatment methods used employed included: use of silver, lime, storage, acidification (low pH), high temperature and Moringa oleifera. Survival pattern of the test organisms under the influence of these methods were carried out using standard techniques. Molecular detection of stress response gene, RpoS, in the fifteen (15) test organisms was performed following manufacturer’s instruction. Results showed that for both test organisms, silver was bactericidal at high concentration while storage allows their survival up till 21 days though with a reduction in cfu. Both organisms showed low survival at pH 9 while E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 could survive at pH 4 and 6 respectively. E. coli O157:H7 survived better than non-O157 at high concentration of lime. While both survived at low temperature, E. coli O157:H7 survive better at 60oC. Sunlight and chlorine showed mild and complete bactericidal action respectively with increased exposure time for both test organisms. Moringa oleifera was only effective at a reduced concentration on the two organisms. Detection of RpoS genes showed that only 66.7% carried the gene in them while 33.3% did not. Findings from this study show that the possession of stressed genes in bacteria causing waterborne disease could allow these organisms to survive water treatment methods adopted in many under developed countries or rural communities. This suggests a threat to health of these communities.
Background: The quest for potability of drinking water in various homes led to the widely use of chlorine or chlorine compound in treatment of water. Which however has contributed to increasing incidences of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the microbial reduction potential and contribution of Sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl, to incidence of stress response genes in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Study Design: Experimental Design was adopted in this study Place and Duration of the Study: The study was carried out at the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Ekiti State University between October, 2019 and February, 2020. Methodology: Sixteen (16) different water samples were randomly collected from various homes in Ajilosun, Ado-Ekiti and were chlorinated following manufacturer’s instruction. Microbial load of both raw and chlorinated water was determined using standard pour plate technique. Standard streaking method was used to isolate bacteria from chlorinated water samples. Standard CLSI technique was used to test the sensitivity of isolates to different antibiotics and PCR technique was employed to detect stress response genes (RpoS, RpoN, KatF genes) in multiple antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolates. Results: The result showed 24% and 52% reduction in the microbial load of well and pipe-borne water samples respectively following treatment with NaOCl for 180 sec. The different identified bacterial isolates recovered from chlorinated water samples included Enterobacter aerogenes (7.14 %), Proteus vulgaris (10.71 %), Escherichia coli (25 %), Bacillus cereus (32.14 %), Bacillus licheniformis (14.29 %) and Staphylococcus aureus (10.70 %). The bacterial isolates demonstrated varying resistance pattern to the different antibiotics. RpoS, RpoN and KatF genes encoding stress responses were detected in some of the tested antibiotic-resistant isolates. Conclusion: The study therefore stresses the importance of chlorination in contributing to increasing incidence of resistance of bacteria to stressors in the environment. Hence, subverting chlorination efficacy in treatment of water.
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