Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an ecological imbalance of the vaginal microbiota affecting mostly women of reproductive age group. This study was carried out among 160 nonpregnant women registered at the Outpatient Department of Gynaecology/Obstetrics of KIST Medical College Teaching Hospital, Imadol, Lalitpur, Nepal, from November 2014 to May 2015. The aim of the study was to assess the association of the risk factors with BV and analyze the type of bacteria associated with BV. Nugent's scoring method was used for diagnosis of BV in this study. The overall prevalence of BV was 24.4% among symptomatic patients. Douching was statistically related to BV (P = 0.015). Also, BV was significantly associated with consistency (P = 0.0001), odor (P = 0.02), and amount of abnormal vaginal discharge (P = 0.09). Contraceptives users on anatomical sites were found more prone to BV than those who did not use contraceptives on anatomical sites. Pseudomonas spp., Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter spp., Proteus spp., Klebsiella spp., Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Enterobacter spp., Citrobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci (CoNS), and Streptococcus agalactiae were associated with BV and out of those Lactobacillus spp. was the predominant organism. The higher prevalence of BV among symptomatic patients indicates interventions should be applied to reduce the incidence of stillbirth, abortion, and sterility.

Antibiotic residues in livestock products are the burning issue in animal production as well as public health sector. Imprudent use of antibiotics in poultry production increases the risk of antibiotic resistance thus increasing risk in both animals and humans. To determine the trend of antibiotic residues presence in poultry meat, a study was conducted from June 2016 to May 2017 in Kathmandu, Kaski, and Chitwan districts of Nepal. A total of 92 breast samples of broilers ( Kathmandu-30, Kaski-40 and Chitwan-22) were collected randomly from different selling outlets of the study areas and tested for residues of commonly used antibiotic viz. Enrofloxacin (EX), Ciprofloxacin (CIP), Streptomycin (STR) and Chloramphenicol (CHL) using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. Out of 92 samples, 57 (62%) samples were found positive for antibiotics residue of which 38% samples were positive for STR residue, 15.2% for CIP and 8.7% for EX. However, none of the samples showed positivity for CHL residue. The level of STR was determined to be higher in all districts in comparison to other antibiotics. The meat samples from Kaski were found to contain higher level of STR (56.1%) while highest percentage of CIP (16.1%) was detected in Kathmandu. Also, presence of EX was found highest in Kathmandu compared to other districts. The study concluded that antibiotics residues have been abundantly found in poultry meat which can have serious effect in human health. Hence, to mitigate this, routine antibiotics residues monitoring and surveillance programmes in food animal products should be conducted to ensure the consumer safety.

Tuberculosis (TB) in humans is primarily caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), with millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. It creates a substantial economic burden on the community. Unlike M. tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis infects cattle and causes bovine TB, also known as zoonotic TB. People can contract zoonotic TB after consumption of unpasteurized dairy products, handling the sick animals, and via occupational exposures. The association between the zoonotic TB in humans and cattle is not well known in Nepal. The study examined the associated risk factors, including exposure to infected cattle, that contribute to TB's development in human beings in Nepal. The study consists of human and animal subjects. Firstly, a retrospective matched case-control study was conducted at the National Tuberculosis Center (NTC), Bhaktapur, Nepal. A total of 290 people (equal numbers of TB cases and control subjects) were interviewed to obtain information on socio-demographic, behavioral, and occupational risks, including the history of cattle related exposures. Secondly, a cross-sectional study was performed among the cattle owned by the TB-confirmed patients. Comparative tuberculin skin test, rapid antibody test, and ELISA were used in parallel to detect M. bovis infection in cattle. The risk factors for the development of TB in humans were smokers (OR = 4.6, 95% CI: 2.1–10.0, p < 0.001), previous history of TB (OR = 7.9, 95% CI: 3.0–20.6, p < 0.001) and history of cattle exposures (OR = 3.9, 95% CI: 2.1–7.4, p = 0.001). Out of 123 cattle sampled, 12 cattle (9.76%, 95% CI: 5.37–16.76, p < 0.0001) were positive by the tuberculin test, 46 (37.4%, 95% CI: 28.97–46.62, p = 0.007) were tested positive by the rapid test, and 7 (5.7%, 95% CI: 2.52–11.80, p < 0.0001) by ELISA test. The inter-test agreement between the tuberculin and ELISA was very strong (κ = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.48–0.95, p < 0.01). This study indicates that exposure to infected cattle and socio-demographic risk factors can contribute to the development of TB in human beings.

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