Dataset Information

Opportunistic pathogenic fungi isolated from feces of feral pigeons in Mafikeng, North West Province of South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Background and Aim:Pigeon feces are increasingly being implicated in the spread of bacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria, and Chlamydia. Fungi are rarely investigated except for Cryptococcus that has emerged as an important pathogen in old people and immunosuppressed patients. This study investigated fungi in pigeon feces collected from Mafikeng, the North West Province of South Africa. Materials and Methods:Freshly dropped feces were collected and enriched in phosphate-buffered saline overnight at 48°C and then subcultured on Sabouraud's dextrose agar and incubated at 48°C for 2 weeks observing any fungal growth from day 2. The growths were picked up, DNA extracted, and polymerase chain reaction was done using the internal transcribed spacer primers. Results:Fungi isolated included: Aspergillus (Aspergillus tubingensis), Cryptococcus (Cryptococcus albidus and Cryptococcus randhawai), Fusarium spp., and Rhodotorula (Rhodotorula mucilaginosa and Rhodotorula kratochvilovae). Most of these isolates are known opportunistic pathogens and have been isolated in clinical conditions elsewhere. Other isolates such as Graphium dubautiae, Myrmecridium schulzeri, Naganishia albida, Paecilomyces lilacinus, and Zygopleurage zygospora were not found to be of any human health significance. Conclusion:We, therefore, concluded that the presence of these opportunistic pathogens is a significant human health risk, especially in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that results in immunosuppression.

SUBMITTER: Syakalima M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6702576 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Opportunistic pathogenic fungi isolated from feces of feral pigeons in Mafikeng, North West Province of South Africa.

Syakalima Michelo M Ramatla Tsepo T Lubanza Ngoma N

Veterinary world 20190718 7

<h4>Background and aim</h4>Pigeon feces are increasingly being implicated in the spread of bacterial pathogens such as <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Campylobacter</i>, <i>Salmonella</i>, <i>Listeria</i>, and <i>Chlamydia</i>. Fungi are rarely investigated except for <i>Cryptococcus</i> that has emerged as an important pathogen in old people and immunosuppressed patients. This study investigated fungi in pigeon feces collected from Mafikeng, the North West Province of South Africa.<h4>Materials and ...[more]

PMID: 31528034

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Project description:Building a successful combination prevention program requires understanding the community's local epidemiological profile, the social community norms that shape vulnerability to HIV and access to care, and the available community resources. We carried out a situational analysis in order to shape a comprehensive HIV prevention program that address local barriers to care at multiple contextual levels in the North West Province of South Africa.The situational analysis was conducted in two sub-districts in 2012 and guided by an adaptation of WHO's Strategic Approach, a predominantly qualitative method, including observation of service delivery points and in-depth interviews and focus groups with local leaders, providers, and community members, in order to recommend context-specific HIV prevention strategies. Analysis began during fieldwork with nightly discussions of findings and continued with coding original textual data from the fieldwork notebooks and a select number of recorded interviews.We conducted over 200 individual and group interviews and gleaned four principal social barriers to HIV prevention and care, including: HIV fatalism, traditional gender norms, HIV-related stigma, and challenges with communication around HIV, all of which fuel the HIV epidemic. At the different levels of response needed to stem the epidemic, we found evidence of national policies and programs that are mitigating the social risk factors but little community-based responses that address social risk factors to HIV.Understanding social and structural barriers to care helped shape our comprehensive HIV prevention program, which address the four 'themes' identified into each component of the program. Activities are underway to engage communities, offer community-based testing in high transmission areas, community stigma reduction, and a positive health, dignity and prevention program for stigma reduction and improve communication skills. The situational analysis process successfully shaped key programmatic decisions and cultivated a deeper collaboration with local stakeholders to support program implementation.

Project description:BackgroundThe protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis, one of the most prevalent parasitic zoonotic diseases with significant economic and public health implications worldwide. Infection with the parasite has a significant adverse effect on sheep and goat production and can frequently go undetected in the herd, resulting in abortions and weak or dead offspring. Although there are few studies on seroprevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii infections in livestock in other provinces of South Africa, there is no data in the North West province. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the seroprevalence of T. gondii and risk factors associated with exposure in sheep and goats of the North West province of South Africa. Sera from 439 livestock (164 sheep and 285 goats) were collected and analysed for the presence of T. gondii IgG antibodies using indirect ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). An assessment of potential risk factors in farms associated with seropositivity was also conducted using a structured questionnaire.ResultsOut of the 439 tested sheep and goats, 13.9% (61/439) were positive for IgG antibodies against T. gondii. Sheep and goats had seroprevalences of 19.5% (32/164) and 10.5% (29/275) respectively. In the multivariable logistic regression model, the risk of acquiring T. gondii was significantly higher in the mixed breed [Odds ratio (OR) = 71.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 266.8-1893.1; p < 0.011)] animals than white dorper sheep and in farms that burn or bury aborted material (OR = 42.04; CI: 179.9-982.5; p = 0.020) compared to those that only burn aborted material. The risk was lower for the farms in Kagisano-Molopo (OR = 0.00; CI: 0.0-25.4; p = 0.015) and Mahikeng (OR = 0.00; CI: 0.0-4.9; p < 0.001) local municipalities than Greater Taung local municipality, and for the animals that drink water from dams (OR = 0.03; CI: 0.2-58.8; p = 0.021) than those that drink from boreholes.ConclusionThe seroprevalence and risk factors associated with transmission observed show that T. gondii infection is widespread in sheep and goats of the North West province.

Dataset Information

Opportunistic pathogenic fungi isolated from feces of feral pigeons in Mafikeng, North West Province of South Africa.

Publications

Opportunistic pathogenic fungi isolated from feces of feral pigeons in Mafikeng, North West Province of South Africa.

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