African Journal of Parasitology Research

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Potential of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cord Factor Antigen for Laboratory Diagnosis of Tuberculous Meningitis

Mathai A1, Neelima R1, Nair MD2 and Radhakrishnan VV1 *

1Departments of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum- 695 011; Kerala State, India.
2    Departments of Neurology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum- 695 011;

Kerala State, India.

Accepted 14 January, 2025

In this retrospective study, an indirect enzyme- linked - immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was standardized to measure the IgG antibody titers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens against cord factor antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and evaluated its application for the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). ELISA with cord factor antigen was specific and did not yield false positive result in any one of the 80 CSF specimens of patients with non-tuberculous neurological diseases. The assay showed an overall sensitivity of 86.66 % in 50 patients with a clinical diagnosis of TBM. Based on the results of this study, it is being recommended that cord factor antigen of M tuberculosis has potential application for the diagnosis particularly in patients in whom the bacteriological methods in CSFs did not confirm the diagnosis of TBM.

Key words: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM); Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Cord factor-Trehalose 6- 6’ dimycolate (TDM); Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); Enzyme-Linked- Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).
 

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (2), pp. 001-004, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Seroprevalence and Viremia of HHV-6 in Saudi Renal Transplant Recipients

Obeid E Obeid

Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Dammam, P.O. Box 2114,  Dammam # 31451, Saudi
Arabia.

Email: [email protected]. Phone: 00966509929487

Accepted 20 October, 2024

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a ß-herpesvirus that is characteristically T-lymphotropic. It is regarded to be a major pathogen in transplant recipients. Very little is known about the prevalence of HHV-6 in Saudi transplant recipients . The aim of the current study was to determine the HHV-6 antibodies (IgM and IgG) and viral DNA in Saudi renal transplant recipients. The study was conducted a tertiary hospital in Eastern Saudi Arabia over a period of 12 months. All kidney transplant recipients who regularly attended the nephrology clinics were included (n=150) (blood donors). Randomly selected control individuals, age and sex matched were recruited to serve as a control group in this study (n=158). Seropostivity for HHV-6 was determined by testing for IgG and IgM antibodies employing HHV-6 EIA and IFA. HHV-6 viral DNA was assessed by real time PCR (Sacace Biotechnologies, Italy). Of the 150 Saudi kidney transplant recipients included in this study, 145 had detectable level of Anti-HHV-6 IgG antibodies (96.7%). Anti-HHV-6 IgG antibodies were detected in 122 out of 158 blood donors (control group; 77.2%). Of the 145 HHV-6 IgG positive transplant recipients, only 4 were found to have detectable levels of anti-HHV-6 IgM antibodies (2.7%). None of the HHV-6 IgG positive blood donors had detectable anti-HHV-6 IgM antibodies. HHV-6 viral DNA was detected by real time PCR in all the 4 HHV-6 IgM-positive individuals (100%). There is a high frequency of detectable HHV-6 in the studied population of renal transplant recipients. Further investigation to monitor HHV-6 primary infection reactivation in graft recipients may prove to be important in improving the outcome for these patients.

Key words: HHV-6, transplant recipients, antibodies, DNA
 

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (2), pp. 001-006, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Air Quality and Fungal Control in Dry Food Production: The Role of Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume Essential Oil in Suppressing Penicillium spp. 

Patrícia Pinheiro Rafael de Sousa*, Fillipe de Oliveira Pereira, Roque de Sousa Lima, Edeltrudes de Oliveira Lima

Laboratório de Micologia, Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58051-970, João Pessoa - PB, Brazil.

Accepted 15, November, 2024

The environment microbiota is a potential contamination source in the food industry, including Penicillium spp. By contrast, industry has used chlorinated solutions for the control of microbial species, but the potential antimicrobial and antifungal activity of the essential oil of Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume (OE) has been reported in the literature. Thus, it is justified to study this chemical activity on Penicillium strains isolated from the environment of a food industry located in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba. Tests were conducted to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), assess the effect on mycelial growth and spore germination by using the OE and a Vega® chlorine solution (VG), commonly used. MIC values obtained rangeed from 256 to 512µg/mL for both OE and VG. The observed effect on the radial growth was concentration dependent for both products. On the spores germination, OE showed higher effectiveness compared to VG, interfering with conidia germination. The OE is emerging as an excellent alternative to be used in the control of Penicillium, once VG needed a higher concentration of application and still not had the same EO effectiveness.

Key words: Cinnamomum zeylanicum, essential oil, Penicillium spp, environment air, food industry.

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (2), pp. 001-007, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Investigating the Impact of Natural Musk and Probiotics on Microbial Pathogens

Amna A. N. Saddiq

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, K.S.A.
Email: [email protected]

Accepted 6 October, 2024

This study investigates the isolation and identification of beneficial bacterial strains from Musk. Also, the antagonistic effect of different natural animal Musk concentrations and the filtrates produced from the growth of bacterial which isolated from it on some pathogenic microorganisms was studied. Five isolates were selected and identified, namely Lactobacillus acidophilus (a1), Lactobacillus acidophilus (a2), Latctococcus lactis sub sp lactis (b1), Latctococcus lactis sub sp lactis (b2) and Streptococcus thermophilus. Results also indicated that Musk extract and filtrates of its strains growth has an inhibition and bactericidal effects on the growth of some pathogenic microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus and Penicillium puberulum fungus. Musk itself is more effective on the growth of pathogens than the effect of strains isolated from it. Antagonistic effect of P.puberulum showed more pronounced inhibitory effect than S. aureus. Results also showed that the filtrates have the ability to inhibit the growth of tested microorganisms.

Keywords: Natural animal Musk, Antagonism, Pathogens, bactericidal, inhibition.
 

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Interferon Response and HLA-II Alleles in Chronic HCV Infection among Egyptians

Olfat M Hendy1, Elhamy Abd Elmonean1, Maha Allam1, Mohamed A Rady²,
Helmy M El Shazly²,  Maha Sabawy², El Sayed Tharwa²

Departments of Clinical Pathology1, Hepatology², National Liver Institute-Menoufyia University,Egypt.

Accepted 20 November, 2024

Interferon (IFN) therapy of hepatitis C virus (HCV) comprises a high economic burden in developing countries. However, depending upon variations in their human leukocyte antigen (HLA), some patients do not respond well. This study aimed to determine association between HLA class II polymorphisms, HCV infection and disease outcome. HLA alleles were evaluated in 56 chronic HCV (CHC) infected patients and 30 healthy volunteers as a control group. HLA was typed by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) procedure for HLA-DRB and DQB alleles from peripheral blood. The frequency of HLA DRB1*07 allele was significantly higher in CHC patients (35.7%) than healthy controls (13.3%). But, other HLA DRB1 alleles were not significantly different. The HLA DQB1*02 allele frequency was significantly increased in CHC patients (55.4%) compared to controls (30%), while other HLA DQB1 alleles showed no significant difference. Only 26 (46.4 %) of CHC patients showed a sustained virological response to combined ribavirin and peg interferon (IFN) therapy, whereas 30 (53.6 %) did not. The viral clearance is mainly associated with HLA DRB1*01, DQB1*03 and DQB1*05 alleles, while DRB1*7, and DQB1*02 alleles were associated with viral persistence. These data support the role of HLA class II alleles in immune response to HCV and the associations of HLA class II with HCV persistence or clearance will be beneficial in deciding the therapeutic regimen. Therefore, recognition of HLA racial differences is likely important in studying HCV outcome and avoid bearing costs of ineffective treatment. Future studies in this regard with larger number of HCV patients are recommended.

Key words: HLA-II, HCV, Interferon, P53, Polymorphism
 

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 13 (1), pp. 001-011, January, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Analysis of malaria transmission intensity by using serological markers in an endemic setting Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire

AKA NL^{1, 2}*, KOFFI D³, YAO SS1, N’Dri KTB⁴, DIBI KSD^{1, 2}, Kouman KBA^{1, 2}, Kouadjo KF³, Ako AAB¹, TUO K⁴, N’GUESSAN TL⁴, TOURE OA¹, BLA KB², BEOUROU S¹

¹Malaria Unit, Department of Parasitology-Mycology, Pasteur Institute of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
²Biosciences Training and Research Unit (UFR), Felix Houphouët-Boigny University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
³Mycology Unit, Department of Parasitology-Mycology, Pasteur Institute of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
⁴Parasitology Unit, Department of Parasitology-Mycology, Pasteur Institute of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Abstract

Accepted 19 December, 2024
    
To eradicate malaria, it is essential to understand its transmission dynamics and to evaluate control strategies. Serological markers are valuable tools for assessing transmission in low-endemicity areas, but there is no consensus on which are the most effective. This study examined IgG antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum antigens (Glurp, CSP, LSA1, LSA3, AMA1, SALSA, and total schizont extract) in Bouaké to assess the impact of interventions and identify high-risk areas. The surveys involved 634 participants aged between 2 and 79 years, divided between the dry season (310) and the rainy season (324). ELISA tests were used to measure IgG levels against these antigens. The results showed that antibody levels increased with age and were significantly higher during the rainy season. Seroprevalence was higher in areas south of Bouaké. Surprisingly, people using mosquito nets had high antibody levels, suggesting persistent exposure to the parasite. High antibodies to specific antigens were correlated with a higher risk of infection. These results underline the potential of serological markers for tracking malaria transmission, offering a precise and adaptive method for guiding interventions. By targeting high-risk areas, this approach could improve malaria control strategies and accelerate progress toward eradication, optimizing the impact of interventions in endemic regions.

Keywords: Antigen panel, Bouaké, Plasmodium falciparum, ELISA serology, Transmission dynamics.