Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed to eliminate organic matter and pathogens but most WWTPs discharges antimicrobial resistance pathogens into aquatic milieu. The study aimed to examine the antibiotics resistant patterns and the presence of some resistance genes among E. coli isolates from WWTPs effluents. Water were collected from WWTPs final effluents, filtered through nitrocellulose membrane and the filter papers were placed on chromogenic agar plates, incubated for 24 h at 37 °C. Presumptive E. coli isolates (173) were obtained from the culture method. From the presumptive E. coli isolates screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 111 isolates were positive and the positive isolates were further screened for six diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes (EPEC, ETEC, EHEC, DAEC, EIEC, and EAEC) and from the pathotypes screened, nine isolates harboured daaE gene. The phenotypic susceptibility patterns of the 111 isolates to 12 antibiotics were determined by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion technique. All the isolates were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin. From the resistance genes screened, 31 isolates harboured mcr-1 gene and nine isolates harboured ermA gene. The study reveals that water samples recovered from the final effluents of WWTPs may likely be one of the major sources of antibiotic-resistant in Escherichia coli.

Anaplasma and Ehrlichia are emerging tick-borne pathogens that cause anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis in humans and other animals worldwide. Infections caused by these pathogens are deadly if left untreated. There has been relatively no systematic survey of these pathogens among ticks in South Africa, thus necessitating this study. The presence of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species were demonstrated by PCR in ticks collected from domestic ruminants at some selected communities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The ticks were identified by morphological characteristics and thereafter processed to extract bacterial DNA, which was analyzed for the presence of genetic materials of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia. Three genera of ticks comprising five species were identified. The screening yielded 16 positive genetic materials that were phylogenetically related to Ehrlichia sequences obtained from GenBank, while no positive result was obtained for Anaplasma. The obtained Ehrlichia sequences were closely related to E. chaffeensis, E. canis, E. muris and the incompletely described Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and Ehrlichia sp. UFMT. The findings showed that ticks in the studied areas were infected with Ehrlichia spp. and that the possibility of transmission to humans who might be tick infested is high.

Antibiotic resistance evolution among pathogenic microorganisms has become a huge burden globally as it has increased the burden of diseases amongst humans and animals. The prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-Ec) and metallo beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (MBL-Ec) isolated from pig abattoir and handlers in retail shops was studied. In addition, the relationship between the isolates’ prevalence and the background characteristics of the butchers/retailers was also investigated. Samples from 32 hand swabs of pork sellers at retail shops and 8 butchers at abattoirs, as well as 272 swabs taken from knives, tables, floors, water troughs, and carcasses from both retail shops and abattoirs, were collected. Escherichia coli (E. coli) was isolated from hand swabs, fomites, and carcasses and were identified by standard microbiological procedures. The isolates susceptibility to nitrofurantoin (300 µg), ciprofloxacin (5 µg), ceftazidime (30 µg), cefuroxime (30 µg), gentamicin (10 µg), cefixime (5 µg), ofloxacin (5 µg), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (30 µg), imipenem (10 µg), and meropenem (10 µg) and their ability to produce ESBL and MBL was determined by phenotypic methods. Demographic information of the handlers was retrieved by means of a structured questionnaire and, in some cases, via face to face interviews. Out of 104 E. coli isolates from both sources, 52 (50.0%) and 8 (7.7%) were ESBL and MBL producers, respectively. ESBL was more prevalent on the hands of the retailers (40.6%) and butchers (75.0%). The isolates were 100% resistant to ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and amoxicillin–clavulanic acid and 4.8% resistant to nitrofurantoin. Diverse resistance patterns were observed among ESBL-Ec and MBL-Ec. It was found that 90% of ESBL-Ec and 100% of MBL-Ec were multidrug-resistant. A possible epidemiological link between the two sources was observed. The prevalence of E. coli ESBL- and MBL-producing isolates was associated with the duty performed by handlers (p = 0.012) and gender (p = 0.012). Our results provide evidence that the handlers’ hands and abattoir environment had a great role to play in the high prevalence and resistance profiles of the microorganisms.

Tagetes minuta has a long record of human use for the treatment of stomach and intestinal diseases. Most drugs used for diseases treatment are less efficacious with side effects and this brought the search for new treatment regimens mainly from medicinal plants. The essential oil (EO) was extracted by Clevenger’s-type apparatus and its chemical composition, antioxidant and antibacterial properties were determined by GC-MS, spectrophotometric and broth dilution methods respectively. S. uberis, E. cloacae, S. aureus, M. smegmatis, L. ivanovii, Vibrio spp. and E. coli bacteria strains were used as test bacteria. GC-MS analysis revealed 98 compounds in the EO flower of T. minuta and β-Ocimene (14. 40%) was the major chemical constituents. The EO exhibited highest inhibitory effect against DPPH radical, followed by its effect on ABTS, while LP radical showed the least sensitivity with IC50 values of 2.45 mg/mL, 2.76 mg/mL and 3.23 mg/mL respectively. The EO showed antibacterial activities against all test organisms with MIC value for S. aureus, M. smegatis and S. uberis at 0.125 mg/mL and for L. ivanovii, Vibrio spp., E. cloacae and E. coli at 0.06 mg/mL. The EO showed MBC against E. cloacae and E. coli at 0.06 mg/mL at 0.5 mg/mL for S. uberis and 0.125 mg/mL for Vibrio spp. Findings from this study suggest that the EO of T. minuta flower may be a useful candidate in the search for lead constituents for the synthesis of new potent antibacterial and antioxidant agent.

Background. Diarrhea has been reported as the leading cause of childhood mortality and morbidity globally but with disproportionate impacts in developing nations. Among bacterial etiologic agents of diarrhea, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli is the main cause of the disease among children under the age of 5 years. This study is aimed at determining the prevalence and antibiogram pattern of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) pathotypes associated with diarrhea cases in the study area. Methods. A total of 120 presumptive isolates of E. coli were obtained from diarrheal stool samples from male and female patients below 12 years of age using chromogenic agar. Confirmation of the isolates and screening for virulence genes were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) while antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. The presence of antibiotic resistance genes to chloramphenicol and tetracycline among the confirmed isolates was also profiled by PCR based on the observed phenotypic resistance pattern. Results. Of the 120 presumptive isolates, 88.3% (106/120) were confirmed as E. coli through PCR. The molecular pathotyping of the confirmed isolates showed their distribution as 41% (43/106) of diffusely adhering E. coli (DAEC), 17% (18/106) of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), 17% (18/106) of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and 10% (11/106) of enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), while enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) were not detected, and the remaining 15% did not belong to any pathotype. Notably, high resistance of the isolates to commonly used antimicrobials was observed as follows: ampicillin (98%), chloramphenicol (94%), trimethoprim‐sulfamethoxazole (96%), and tetracycline (90.6%), while a relatively low number of the confirmed isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (45%) and imipenem (36%). In addition, 94% of the isolates that exhibited phenotypic resistance against chloramphenicol harbored the catA1 resistance gene while 89% that showed resistance to tetracycline had tetA genes. Conclusions. These findings showed that DEC could be considered as the leading etiologic bacterial agent responsible for diarrhea in the study community, and the observable high degree of resistance of the isolates to antimicrobial agents is of huge significance, calling for stakeholders to adopt and consolidate the existing antimicrobial stewardship scheme of the government, in order to ensure an uncompromised public health.

The classical porcine parvovirus is an important pathogen of reproductive disorders in pigs with a confirmed history of global distribution. The detection of many novel porcine parvoviruses has however been on the increase for the past few years, but there is a dearth of information on the occurrence and prevalence of these viruses in South Africa. Molecular detection of some known parvoviruses, namely porcine parvoviruses (PPVs) - 1, 2, 3 and 4, porcine bocavirus-like virus (PBo-likeV) and porcine bocaviruses (PBoV1/2), was carried out from 110 randomly selected archived swine samples collected in the year 2015 and 2016. Samples were drawn from previously screened and confirmed porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infected farms, with farm-level occurrence ranged from 5.6 to 60%. The findings showed that all the screened parvoviruses were present as follows: PPV1 (29.1%), PPV2 (21.8%), PPV3 (5.5%), PPV4 (43.6%), PBo-likeV (21.8%) and PBoV1/2 (44.6%). The frequency of double infections of the viruses was as high as 18.2% of PPV2/PPV4 and PPV4/PBoVs; while 17.3% and 7.3% of the screened samples showed multiple infections of the three and four viruses respectively. Further phylogenetic analyses of partial PPV1, 2 and PBoV1/2 sequences showed two major clades for each of the viruses. This study reports the first epidemiological survey and molecular characterisation of the classical and emerging porcine parvoviruses in South African swine herds. It also gives insights into the diversity and distribution of these viral pathogens within the herds of the study area and confirms their co-infection potentials with PCV2.