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BackgroundAntibiotics are essential commodities in managing bacterial infections in humans, animals and plants but are hampered by the development of antibiotic resistance which is one of the most serious public health threats of the twenty-first century. Moreover, the rate at which novel antibiotics are discovered is slower that the rate of emerging antibiotic resistance. Therefore, the few remaining potent antibiotics in clinical setting should be safeguarded by closer monitoring of their effectiveness via periodic antibiogram studies. This study aimed to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of routinely isolated bacteria at Livingstone Central Hospital (LCH).MethodsA cohort retrospective study with secondary information collected from electronic laboratory system generated reports on all isolated organisms at LCH microbiology laboratory for three years (January 2019 to December 2021) was used. Study variables such as age, gender, patient’s location, name of the organism and the antibiotic susceptibility were considered. Descriptive statistics was used to describe our data and a chi-square test was used for categorical variables where a p-value of ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant.ResultsA total of 765 specimens were processed from January 2019 to December 2021 and only 500 (65.4%) met the inclusion criteria for this study. Of the 500, 291(58.2%) specimens were received from female and from the age-group 17-39 years (253, 50.6%) and 40-80 years (145, 29%) in form of blood (331, 66.2%), urine (165, 33%) and sputum (4, 0.8%). The out-patient department (323, 64.6%) had a higher number of specimen culture requests that reduced from 175 (35%) for the year 2019 and 2020 to 150 (30%) for year 2021. Amongst the common bacterial isolates identified, Staphylococcus aureus (142, 28.4%) was the commonest isolate followed by Escherichia coli (91, 18.2%), Enterobacter agglomerans (76, 15.2%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (43, 8.6%). The resistance pattern indicated that ampicillin (93%) was the least effective drug followed by oxacillin (88%), penicillin (85.6%), co-trimoxazole (81.5%), erythromycin (71.9%), nalidixic acid (68%), ceftazidime (60%), tetracycline (55.1%), and ciprofloxacin (45.9%) whereas the most effective antibiotics were imipenem (14.5%), piperacillin/tazobactam (16.7%) and clindamycin (34.5%). The resistance levels were affected by patient gender, location, and specimen type.However, the screening of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with cefoxitin showed 76.3% (29/38) susceptibility and 23.7% (9/38) resistance.ConclusionThe commonest bacterial isolates were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter agglomerans, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca. The least effective antibiotics were ampicillin, penicillin, oxacillin, cotrimoxazole, and erythromycin whereas the most effective antibiotics were imipenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, and clindamycin. Therefore, re-establishing of the empiric therapy is needed for proper patient management, studies to determine the levels of extended spectrum beta lactamase- and carbapenemase-producing bacteria are warranted.

BackgroundSchistosomiasis is an acute and chronic parasitic disease that is caused by trematode worms (blood flukes) of the genus Schistosoma. Schistosoma haematobium (S. haematobium) is known to cause urogenital schistosomiasis. The disease is the second most common socio-economically devastating tropical parasitic disease after malaria in Africa. In Zambia, it affects over a million school going children, mostly in rural communities due to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation facilities. This study aimed to determine the presence of S. haematobium in urine specimens of school going children in Maramba compound of Livingstone and establish factors associated with the acquisition and spread of the parasite.MethodsA structured questionnaire was administered on all children with signed consent from their guardians/parents and afterward spot urine specimens were collected in sterile containers for macroscopically/microscopically examination by an independent laboratory technologist.ResultsA total of 173 school going children participated in the study. Parasitic eggs were detected in 6 specimens providing a prevalence of 3.47% (pConclusionThe prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis among school going children in Maramba compound was 3.47%, and the correlates of the infection included washing in a stream, older age and poor knowledge on schistosomiasis. Participants that had schistosomiasis often presented with hematuria and lacked knowledge on disease acquisition, health effects and preventive measures. This calls for more robust sensitization of school going children and periodic screening to curb the disease.

Latcripin-16 (Lp16-PSP) is a gene that was extracted as a result ofde novocharacterization of theLentinula edodes strainC91-3transcriptome. The aim of the present study was to clone, express and investigate the selectivein vitroanticancer potential of Lp16-PSP in human cell lines. Lp16-PSP was analyzed using bioinformatics tools, cloned in a prokaryotic expression vector pET32a (+) and transformed intoE. coliRosetta gami. It was expressed and solubilized under optimized conditions. The differential scanning fluorometry (DSF)-guided refolding method was used with modifications to identify the proper refolding conditions for the Lp16-PSP protein. In order to determine the selective anticancer potential of Lp16-PSP, a panel of human cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines was used. Lp16-PSP protein was identified as endoribonuclease L-PSP protein and a member of the highly conserved YjgF/YER057c/UK114 protein superfamily. Lp16-PSP was expressed under optimized conditions (37°C for 4 h following induction with 0.5 mM isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside). Solubilization was achieved with mild solubilization buffer containing 2M urea using the freeze-thaw method. The DSF guided refolding method identified the proper refolding conditions (50 mM Tris-HCl, 100 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 400 mM Arginine, 0.2 mM GSH and 2 mM GSSG; pH 8.0) for Lp16-PSP, with a melting transition of ~58°C. A final yield of ~16 mg of purified Lp16-PSP from 1 L of culture was obtained following dialysis and concentration by PEG 20,000. A Cell Counting Kit-8 assay revealed the selective cytotoxic effect of Lp16-PSP. The HL-60 cell line was demonstrated to be most sensitive to Lp16-PSP, with an IC50value of 74.4±1.07 μg/ml. The results of the present study suggest that Lp16-PSP may serve as a potential anticancer agent; however, further investigation is required to characterize this anticancer effect and to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the action of Lp16-PSP.