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Each year, between April and October, many children of school age and some young adults in Nsukka, Nigeria suffer from gastroenteritis. The period covers the rainy season in this part of Africa, when manured farmland occasionally is flooded. In view of the number of people suffering diarrhoea and occasionally low-grade fever, it became necessary to investigate the nature of the bacterial agents responsible. Between April and October (1996-1998), 500 loose or watery stools were collected from patients, the ages of which ranged from one month to 31 years. Stools that contained parasites were excluded from the study. Samples were cultured on 5% blood agar and 1% egg-yolk agar (both containing 10 microg/mL ampicillin), MacConkey agar, Shigella Salmonella agar and in alkaline peptone water. Bacterial growths were identified using standard bacteriological procedures. Drinking water and some fruit and vegetables prevalent during this period of the year also were cultured. Of the 500 stool samples tested, 138 (27.6%) grew a range of organisms including Aeromonas hydrophila (65 [13%]), Salmonella spp. (55 [11%]), Shigella spp. (9 [1.8%]) and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (9 [1.8%]). Drinking water and some vegetables grew Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis, respectively. The highest isolation rate occurred during June and July, corresponding to the period of greatest flooding of arable land. Although no enteropathogens were isolated from the fruit and vegetables examined, they contained E. faecalis--an organism found in faeces. Our findings failed to explain why 72% of the samples grew no bacterial enteropathogens.

This study aims to determine what objects lying in the hospital environment or brought in from outside contribute to the introduction of bacteria associated with nosocomial infections. One hundred swab specimens collected from children's toys, sinks, door handles, telephone handsets and flowers brought into the hospital were plated on different culture media. Colonial growth on the media was purified and identified subsequently using standard bacteriological methods. Of the 100 samples cultured, 61 (61%) grew a range of bacteria including Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=14, 23.0%), Acinetobacter spp. (n=13, 21.3%), Serratia spp. (n=9, 14.7%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (n=9, 14.7%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (n=4, 6.6%), Staphylococcus aureus (n=4, 6.6%), Enterobacter cloacae (n=3, 4.9%), Pantoea sp. (n=2, 3.3%), Chryseobacterium sp. (n=2, 3.3%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=1, 1.6%). Although all the Serratia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and Pantoea species isolates showed varying degrees of resistance to gentamicin, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime and cefotaxime, all were resistant to ampicillin. Chryseobacterium and Stenotrophomonas species isolates were resistant to amikacin, imipenem, gentamicin and ceftazidime, to which only three isolates of Pseudomonas species were resistant. All the staphylococcal isolates were susceptible to methicillin. Although there has been no major outbreak of a nosocomial infection in the hospital, it is strongly recommended that effective control measures (e.g., sampling the hospital water supply, disinfecting children's toys, use of appropriate hand washing and checking some of the disinfectants for presence of bacteria) are needed. These measures are necessary to ensure that the antibiotic-resistant strains identified in this study are not allowed to spread in the hospital.

This study was undertaken to compare the antifungal properties of clove (Syzygium aromaticus) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) oils with the synthetic antifungal agents notably, amphotericin B, itraconazole, fluconazole and ketoconazole against Candida albicans in vitro. This is necessary if oil extracts can replace antifungal antibiotics as agents for the treatment of candidiasis. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the essential oils were determined by first solubilizing them with dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) followed by serial twofold dilutions in Sabouraud's broth using Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) control and other 10 isolates of C. albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the oils, showing no visible fungal growth, varied from 1.0 x 10 3 to 2.5 x 10 3 µg/mL for clove and 4.6 x 10 2 to 9.3 x 10 2 µg/mL for thyme while their minimum antifungal end-points were 2.5 x 10 3 and 1.9 x 10 3 µg/mL, respectively. Thyme oil was more antifungal than clove oil. The mean of the MIC's of the antifungal agents notably amphotericin B, ketoconazole, fluconazole and itraconazole were 0.031, 0.015, 1.9, and 0.168 µg/mL, respectively, indicating that they are more antifungal than the oil extracts. The experiment indicates that, in vitro, the antifungal antibiotics are more antifungal than the essential oils. Perhaps, the mode of extraction of the oils may have contributed to the active agents being suboptimal in the extracts.

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