Anthropogenic activities have driven many wildlife species towards extinction. Among these species, the geographic distributions of many are poorly documented, which can limit the effectiveness of conservation. The critically endangered Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is experiencing population decline throughout its range due to land-use changes and illegal trade for food and traditional medicine. Using distribution records and maximum entropy modeling, we predicted the potential distribution of the Chinese pangolin across Nepal. Most suitable potential habitats of the Chinese pangolin occurred in forest areas of the mid-hill region in central and eastern Nepal, followed by cultivated land. Almost all potential suitable habitats of the Chinese pangolin occurred outside of protected areas, and most of them were encroached upon by cultivated land, human settlements, and infrastructure developments. The results from this study provide baseline information on the potential suitable habitats of the Chinese pangolin in Nepal, which helps to develop site- and species-specific management plans and to identify priority areas to minimize the current threats to the pangolin and enhance the stewardship of species conservation.

Objectives: In order to evaluate the quality assurance of drinking water in Kathmandu valley, this study analyzed selected physiochemical and microbial parameters of treated water samples and compared with Nepal Drinking Water Quality Standards (NDWQS). Methods: Treated water samples were collected from all over the Kathmandu valley and analyzed in terms of physicochemical and microbiological parameters over the period of one year from July 2017 to July 2018. The physio-chemical parameters of water samples were performed according to standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. The total coliforms were enumerated by standard membrane filtration technique. Results: We report that microbiological aspect of treated water was the major problem as 66% of the water samples crossed the guideline value for total coliform count. Above 92% of jar water samples, 77% of tanker water samples and 69% of filtered water samples had the total coliform count exceeding the NDWQS. Moreover, 20% of bottled water was contaminated by coliform bacteria. Iron and ammonia content were found to be higher than the guideline values in 16% and 21% of the total treated water samples respectively. Analyzing the types of treated water samples showed that 35% and 15% of tanker water samples had higher ammonia and iron content respectively, and the same parameters were higher in 23% and 19% in the filtered water samples respectively than the standard criteria recommended by NDWQS. Conclusion: The treated water samples exceed the standard values set by NDWQS and hence had poor quality. The presence of faecal pollution indicating coliform bacteria was the key problem for treated drinking water of Kathmandu valley. Therefore, monitoring and proper treatment of water should be conducted to prevent dissemination of waterborne diseases.

BackgroundDiarrheal diseases are the major infectious disease in developing countries like Nepal. Lack of proper sanitation and antimicrobial resistance gained by microbes have challenged to address diarrheal diseases in resource-limited countries. Early diagnosis of disease and proper antibiotic treatment can significantly reduce the disease burden. This study was designed to determine the recent antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Vibrio cholerae and Shigella spp. to assure the proper antibiotic treatment. Stool specimens were processed following microbiological protocol and identified by biochemical and serological tests recommended by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute.ResultsOut of total 640 analyzed stool samples, 50 were culture positive, among them 29 were Shigella spp. (64.4%) and 21 were V. cholerae (46.6%). All V. cholerae strains belonged to the serogroup O1 and serovar Ogawa. Among the Shigella spp., Shigella flexneri 17 (59%) topped the list of serotype followed by Shigella sonnei 8 (28%), Shigella dysenteriae 3 (10%) and Shigella boydii 1 (3%) respectively. All the V. cholerae isolates (100%) were sensitive to cefotaxime while 71% were sensitive to tetracycline but 100 and 90.4% were resistance to co-trimoxazole and nalidixic acid respectively. Shigella isolates were mostly susceptible to cefotaxime (97%) while ciprofloxacin (48%) and ofloxacin (55%) were less effective drugs.ConclusionsThese results on the prevalence of enteropathogens and their antibiotic resistance pattern may help to guide accurate choice of therapy in clinical setting. Hence, development of evidence based National Guidelines for the treatment of diarrhea is needed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-017-2967-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The limited availability, accessibility and deterioration of the water quality in Kathmandu valley have led to the high demand of ground water. This study aims to evaluate ground water quality of the Kathmandu valley. In this study, the physio-chemical parameters of water samples were performed using standard procedures. Also, total coliforms were enumerated using standard membrane filtration technique to quantify the bacterial contamination. Water samples were collected from July 2017 to July 2018. The results revealed that 56% and 73% of well and boring water samples, respectively exceeded standard value of iron recommended by National Drinking Water Quality Standards, 2005. Likewise, ammonia content was higher in 41% of well water and 35% of boring water samples than standard. However, few numbers of water samples were contaminated with arsenic (0.27% and 2.6% of well and boring water samples, respectively) and nitrate (3% and 8% of well and boring water samples, respectively). Besides, 96% of well water samples and 88% of boring water samples were contaminated with total coliform bacteria. Our data indicated that groundwater quality of Kathmandu valley was poor, which was not suitable for direct drinking purposes. Therefore, regular monitoring and treatment of groundwater is recommended before using accordingly.