Point-of-care diagnosis and risk factors of infantile, rotavirus-associated diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria.

Background: Rotaviruses are the primary cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children worldwide and a significant proportion of these infections occur in Africa.

Objectives: In the present study, we determined the prevalence and risk factors of rotavirus infection among children younger than age 5 years with or without diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria, using a rapid point-of-care test.

Methods: Two hundred infants younger than age 5 years presenting with acute gastroenteritis and a control group of 200 infants without diarrhoea were tested for rotavirus.

SELECTIVE INHIBITION OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS REPLICATION BY ALPHA-ZAM, A SEED FORMULATION.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection became curable because of the development of direct acting antivirals (DAAs). However, the high cost of DAAs has greatly impeded their potential impact on the treatment of HCV infection. As a result, hepatitis C will continue to cause substantial morbidity, and mortality among chronically infected individuals in low and middle income countries.

Value of routine dengue diagnosis in endemic countries.

Dengue is one of the most common arthropod-borne viral diseases in humans and it is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is thought to account for 400 million cases annually among approximately 3.97 billion people at risk of infection in 128 endemic countries.

Role of noroviruses as aetiological agents of diarrhoea in developing countries.

Diarrhoea is considered to be the second leading cause of death due to infections among children  < 5 years of age worldwide that may be caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and non-infectious agents. The major causative agents of diarrhoea in developing countries may vary from those in developed countries. Noroviruses are considered to be the most common cause of acute diarrhoea in both children and adults in industrialized countries.

High dengue NS1 antigenemia in febrile patients in Ibadan, Nigeria.

We conducted a dengue seroprevalence survey among febrile patients positive or negative for malaria in Ibadan, Nigeria. Dengue IgG and NS1 seroprevalence of 73% and 35%, respectively, was observed, and 43% of those with malaria had acute dengue infection (NS1 determination). On the other hand, all participants with malaria were IgG dengue seropositive consistent with the endemicity of both arthropod-borne infections in the region.

Molecular characterization of diverse species enterovirus-B types from children with acute flaccid paralysis and asymptomatic children in Nigeria.

Non-polio enteroviruses (NPEVs) have often been identified in association with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in most polio surveillance studies worldwide. In a polio endemic country like Nigeria, there is need for distinction of AFP due to poliovirus and those potentially due to NPEVs. This study was undertaken to characterize the enterovirus (EV) types circulating in both children with and without AFP in Nigeria.

Natural occurrence of aflatoxin residues in fresh and sun-dried meat in Nigeria.

Introduction: In recent times, food safety and security have generally remained basic human needs, therefore because of the largely unregulated nature of the Nigerian markets, coupled with the poor housing and feeding conditions to which animals are subjected in the abattoirs, a survey for assessing potential mycotoxin exposure through meat consumption was undertaken.

Methods: Eighty Samples of meat bought randomly from 5 major markets distributed in 5 local government areas of Oyo state , Nigeria were analysed for contaminating mycoflora using the plate count and micromorphological methods, while aflatoxin detection and quantification was by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC).

Results: Mycological analysis of samples revealed a higher contamination level in the sun-dried samples.