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No data exist on the nutrient composition of some important Rwandan staples. The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutrient content of red kidney beans, sweet potato roots, amaranth leaves and carrot roots. About 6 kg of each raw material were cleaned and conditioned prior to mechanical drying, ground and sieved [60-mesh] into flour and then subjected to quantitative analysis for proximate content, energy, calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), vitamin A and vitamin C. Proximate composition determination was done using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), carbohydrates were determined by difference, energy was calculated, mineral analysis was done by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and vitamin analysis was performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) methods. The results showed that red kidney beans, sweet potato roots, amaranth leaves and carrots contain 21.48, 6.66, 29.46 and 13.8% of protein; 2.58, 1.68, 7.89 and 2.08% of fat; 60.86, 79.13, 19.29 and 57.38% of carbohydrate; 2.33, 2.68, 8.98 and 9.63% of fiber; 8.82, 8.74, 10.08 and 8.88% of moisture content; 3.94, 1.11, 24.30 and 5.16% of ash; 357.2, 363.7, 284.0, 322.9 kcal/100 g of energy; and 146.4, 182.7, 26,290 and 1,247 mg/kg of calcium, respectively. Red kidney beans, amaranth leaves and carrots contained 8.54, 30.48, and 15.55 mg/kg of zinc; and 21.36, 219.1 and 8.81 mg/kg of iron, respectively. Zinc and iron were, however, not detected in sweet potato samples analysed. Red kidney beans, sweet potato roots, amaranth leaves and carrot contained 768.0, 10,880, 399.4, and 6,413 IU/100 g of vitamin A; and 2.67, 30.99, 330.3 and 6.76 mg/100g of vitamin C, respectively. In conclusion, the staples analysed contained appreciable amounts of nutrients and could be used to overcome malnutrition and allow dietary diversity. It could be recommended to prepare a Rwandan food composition database in order to improve awareness on local grown crops' quality. Key words: Amaranth leaves, Carrots, Nutrients, Red kidney beans, Sweet potato roots, INTRODUCTION Rwandan food insecure households particularly in rural areas are forced to depend on monotonous and poor diets due to inability to afford a balanced diet, ignorance, postharvest losses of [...]

Milk produced in Rwanda and consumed in cattle keeping households poses undocumented food safety risks including the transmission of the zoonotic brucellosis from animals to humans. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the risk factors of exposure to Brucella species through milk consumption in zero grazing and open grazing cattle keeping households in Rwanda. The study was a cross-sectional study which involved 198 and 132 households practicing zero grazing and open grazing cattle production systems, respectively. To determine the risk factors exposure to Brucella through milk consumption, a questionnaire was used to collect data on milk consumption habits and indirect Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (i-ELISA) was used to collect data on farm bulk milk contamination with Brucella. Collected questionnaire and i-ELISA data were then analyzed using SPSS descriptive statistics and logistic regression. In nearly half (49.1 %; 162/330) of all surveyed households, raw milk was consumed. And overall, 14.2% (47/330) of all surveyed households were exposed to Brucella by having at least one household member consuming raw milk in a household for which the farm bulk milk sample tested positive for Brucella. The proportion of open grazing households in which raw milk was consumed and from which the farm bulk milk sample tested positive for Brucella (34.8 %; 46/132) was significantly high (p < 0.05) compared to the proportion of zero grazing households consuming raw milk and having a Brucella positive farm bulk milk sample (0.5 %; 1/198). While in total 4.8 % (77/1589) of all surveyed individual household members were exposed to Brucella by consuming raw milk in a household for which the farm bulk milk sample had tested positive for Brucella, the cattle keeper was the most exposed household member (OR=50.82, 95 % CI [17.9-143.9], p < 0.05). Practicing open grazing cattle production system was significantly associated with raw milk consumption and raw milk consumption in a household with a Brucella positive farm bulk milk. There is a risk of exposure to Brucella through milk consumption especially in households practicing open grazing cattle production in Rwanda. Educational campaigns are needed to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking raw milk in regards to zoonotic brucellosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives : In clinical practice, neutropenia is frequently accompanied by other cytopenia; isolated non-chemotherapy-induced severe neutropenia is less frequent and its differential diagnosis can be challenging. In this real-world study with data collected over a 5-year period in a tertiary referral hospital, we primarily sought to identify underlying causes of isolated severe neutropenia (<0.5 × 10 9 /L). Secondly, we aimed to analyze its management and outcomes. Materials and Methods : From 444,926 screened patients, after exclusion of patients with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hematological neoplasms, additional cytopenia, and benign ethnic neutropenia, we identified and analyzed data from 70 patients (0.015%) with isolated severe neutropenia. We thus confirmed that the occurrence of isolated severe neutropenia is a rare event, even in a tertiary hospital. Results : The median age at diagnosis was 34 years (range 1-81) and 65% were female. Acute neutropenia was more frequently observed (n = 46/70, 65.7%); the main underlying causes in this group were drugs (n = 36/46, 78%) followed by infections (n = 10/46, 21.7%). We identified 24 (34.3%) patients with chronic neutropenia. The majority of them (n = 12/24, 50%) had an idiopathic form (CIN), 8/24 (33%) were autoimmune (AIN), and 4/24 (17%) were congenital. Conclusions : This study demonstrates the rarity and heterogeneity of isolated severe neutropenia and the steps to consider in its diagnostic work-up and management. Epidemiological characteristics, diagnostic work-up, and management including hospitalizations are described. Due to the high frequency of metamizole-induced neutropenia observed in this study, we want to raise awareness about its use, since this complication generates frequent hospitalizations even in young, otherwise healthy patients. Furthermore, recurrent infections in chronic forms of idiopathic neutropenia were quite common, suggesting a difference in phenotypes and need for therapy consideration depending on the clinical course.

Edible grasshopper, Ruspolia ruspolia , has nutritional and cherished cultural and economic importance to people from diverse cultures, particularly in over 20 African countries. It is consumed at home or commercially traded as sautéed, deep-fried, or boiled products. However, there is limited information on the hygiene practices of the vendors and the implications on the microbial safety of the final product. This research aimed at assessing the food safety knowledge, handling practices and shelf life of edible long-horned grasshopper products among vendors and the microbial safety of ready-to-eat products sold in 12 different markets in Uganda. Samples of raw, deep-fried and boiled grasshoppers were randomly collected from 74 vendors (62% street and 38% market vendors) and subjected to microbial analysis. Over 85% of the vendors surveyed had no public health food handler's certificate and >95% had limited post-harvest handling knowledge. Total aerobic bacteria (7.30-10.49 Log10 cfu/g), Enterobacteriaceae (5.53-8.56 Log10 cfu/g), yeasts and molds (4.96-6.01 Log10 cfu/g) total counts were significantly high and above the acceptable Codex Alimentarius Commission and Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) limits for ready-to-eat food products. Eight key pathogenic bacteria responsible for foodborne diseases were detected and these isolates were characterized as Bacillus cereus, Hafnia alvei, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus aureus, S. xylosus, S. scuiri, S. haemolyticus , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Findings from this study highlight the urgent need to create local and national food safety policies for the edible grasshopper " nsenene " subsector to regulate and guide street and market vending along the value chain, to prevent the transmission of foodborne diseases to consumers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Mugo-Kamiri, Imungi, Njue, Diiro, Ombura, Akutse, Chrysantus, Khamis and Subramanian.)

Hb Mizuho is a very rare unstable hemoglobin; here, we describe the clinical history of three Swiss family members with Hb Mizuho together with a systematic review of the previously six published cases. The clinical history of the adult woman we report here is unique since this is the first Hb Mizuho presenting with Moyamoya complications and the first case reported with long-term erythrocyte exchange. The literature review showed that Hb Mizuho was mainly reported as a de novo mutation, with the exception of children descended from known cases. All published patients with this unstable hemoglobin showed severe hemolytic anemia with the exception of one; all were regularly transfused. Patients with higher HbF levels might require fewer transfusions. All patients underwent splenectomy at a median age of 4 years and had variable clinical improvement; some achieved complete resolution of transfusion dependency after splenectomy. Iron overload in Hb Mizuho patients seems to be mainly attributed to transfusions and has less to do with ineffective erythropoiesis. Diagnosis might be challenging; a normal hemoglobin electrophoresis should not rule out the diagnosis of unstable hemoglobin in patients with otherwise unexplained hemolytic anemia. This series shows the enormous utility of using molecular techniques for diagnosis.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease which is endemic to certain regions of the world including Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this article is to provide a recent and rapid review on brucellosis prevalence in East African Community (EAC) countries. Literature was obtained using Google Scholar search engine and screened for relevancy and fulfilment of criteria to 1, 17, 4, 4, 30 and 29 articles retained for brucellosis prevalence in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Recent literature (published in the last decade 2010 to 2019) was considered for prevalence results in this review. In EAC, livestock had an animal-level prevalence of 0.2% to 43.8%, 0.0% to 20.0% and 0.0% to 13.8% for cattle, goats and sheep respectively. In humans, the prevalence varied mostly between 0.0% and 35.8%. In conclusion, brucellosis is quite prevalent in the region. The reported prevalence calls for plans or more efforts from individual member countries and from EAC, as a region, to control brucellosis., (© 2021 The Authors Veterinary Medicine and Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Competing Interests: The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Background:  Dairy production in Kenya is important and dominated by small-holder farmers who market their produce through small-scale traders in the informal sector. Method : This study aimed to determine the prevalence of aflatoxin (AFM1) in informally marketed milk in peri-urban Nairobi, Kenya, and to assess knowledge of milk traders on aflatoxins using questionnaires. A total of 96 samples were analyzed for AFM1 using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, boiling and fermentation experiments were carried out in the laboratory. Results : All samples had AFM1 above the limit of detection (5 ng/kg) (mean of 290.3 ± 663.4 ng/kg). Two-thirds of the samples had AFM1 levels above 50 ng/kg and 7.5% of the samples exceeded 500 ng/kg. Most of the traders had low (69.8%) or medium (30.2%) knowledge. Educated ( p = 0.01) and female traders ( p = 0.04) were more knowledgeable. Experimentally, fermenting milk to  lala  (a traditional fermented drink) and yogurt significantly reduced AFM1 levels ( p < 0.01) (71.8% reduction in lala after incubation at room temperature for 15 h, and 73.6% reduction in yogurt after incubation at 45ºC for 4h). Boiling had no effect. Conclusion : The study concluded that the prevalence of raw milk with AFM1 was high, while knowledge was low. Fermentation reduced the AFM1 levels.

Background: Meat is amajor source of food and raw materials for a number of industries, yet a lot of meat is wasted each year due to deterioration as a result of spoilage by microorganisms such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Moraxella, Bacillus, Campylobacter, Escherichia, Listeria, Clostridium, Salmonella and Staphylococcus species., Objective: To determine efficacy of antimicrobial activity of garlic extracts on bacterial pathogens commonly found to contaminate meat., Design: A cross sectional study., Setting: The Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Nairobi., Subjects: Garlic from Nganoini farm in Laikipia County, Kenya., Results: The results indicated that garlic absolute ethanol extract had the highest efficacy of antimicrobial activity inhibiting all test micro-organisms., Conclusion: Ethanolic extract can be used as a meat preservative or decontaminant.