Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli have been identified as an emerging foodborne pathogen which portends serious risk to human health. Cow milk and its products are potential sources of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. A relatively small number from the family of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are pathogenic. It becomes necessary that Cow milk and milk products are regularly screened for the presence of virulence genes in microbes. The study aimed to genetically determine the presence of virulence genes that are characteristic of Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli in 600 milk samples. The E. coli isolates were recovered from the milk samples (n=35), biochemically examined and genetically screened for virulence genes by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The results of the molecular profiling revealed that (stx2) was detected in 17(60.7%), (hlyA) 11(39.3%) and eae genes 8(28.6%) of the E. coli isolates respectively, while (stx1) was not detected. The results indicated a high prevalence of virulent shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in the milk samples. Priority attention should be given to this microbe as it will demand stringent steps in the detection given that they are known to be rigorous in identification.

Background: Antibiotic resistance has remained a global concern. Food pathogens that carry resistance genes will cause public health threat irrespective of their pathogenicity, as this pool of resistance genes are disseminated via food chain. The antibiotic susceptibility of E. coli isolates to different antibiotics were investigated and resistance genes were genetically identified by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The study aimed to determine the phenotypic antibiotic resistance pattern of the E. coli isolates and characterize the antibiotics resistance genes in the E. coli isolates from the Cow milk and milk products. Results: The study showed that the E. coli isolates were Multidrug resistant (MDR) to several antibiotics with resistance pattern of four to ten combinations of antibiotics and the antibiotics resistance occurred mostly in three classes of antibiotics, namely: β-lactams, Amphenicol and Tetracycline.   The antibiotics resistance genes  expressed in the multidrug resistant E. coli isolates were tetA 22(78.6%), dfrA1 9(32.1%), blaCITM and blaSHV 3(10.7%), tetB and blaTEM 1(3.6%), qnr 0(0%) and aac (3)-iv 0(0%). Conclusion: The study showed that the cow milk and its products sold on the streets of Abuja are contaminated with resistant E. coli that can pose health risk to the consumers.  Monitoring and screening for resistant food pathogens in food especially of animal origin is vital to mitigate the prevalence of antibiotics resistance.

<p><span>Studying the replication pattern of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is essential to understand modalities that could halt its survival <em>in-vivo</em>.  The CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) is exploited by HIV to gain entry into CD4+ cells. There are several polymorphisms in CCR5; the major coreceptor of HIV that has major influence on HIV transmission and progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). CCR5 genes that code for the CCR5 differ in humans, some individuals acquire mutant form of this genes with 32 base pair deletion through mendelian inheritance pattern. Individuals who are homozygous for this gene are completely resistant to HIV infection while heterozygous individuals had extended life span while being infected for an average of 2 to 3 years. CCR5delta32 allele is young in evolutionary time, yet it has reached relatively high frequencies in Caucasians but very low among native Africans. These properties indicate that the mutation has been under intense pressure selection. Surprisingly, there has not been any categorical explanation for this genetic selection. The absence or rare occurrence of CCR5delta32 allele among native Africans may be an explanation for the high HIV transmission rate and disease burden in this race. There are very limited CCR5delta32 studies from Africa thus, justifies the need for researchers to embark on more CCR5delta32 projects in order to establish full range of mutant CCR5 genes that may exist in our societies.</span></p>