BackgroundStaphylococcus aureus causes variety of infections in humans and animals worldwide and predominates in surgical wound infections. This study assessed the antimicrobial potential of the stem bark extract of Chrysophyllum albidum against an array of vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) isolated from clinical samples.MethodsThe methanolic crude extract of the plant was preliminary screened for the presence of phytochemicals; after then, the extract was partitioned into n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions. A range of concentrations of the plant extract fractions was prepared to assess its antimicrobial potency; the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs); the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs); the rate of killing; the potassium ion leakage potential and nucleotides leakage ability against the VRSAs.ResultsThe phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, reducing sugars and terpenoids as major phytoconstituents resident in the crude plant extract. The two active fractions (n-hexane and butanol) at a concentration of 10 mg/ml exhibited antibacterial activities with the MIC and MBC values for the fractions ranged between 0.63–10 mg/ml and 1.25–10 mg/ml respectively. The time kill assay revealed that the antibacterial action of the two fractions are time and concentration dependent; the n-hexane and butanol fractions achieved 100 % kill on the test isolates at a concentration of 3 × MIC and 2 × MIC respectively after 120 min of reaction time. Varying amount of potassium ions as well as nucleotides were leaked from the test cells by n-hexane and butanol fractions.ConclusionsThis study has established the possibility of developing antimicrobial agents of natural origin to manage possible infection from vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus that are now developing multi-resistance against many antibiotics.

This study investigated the antibacterial and antioxidant potentials of Chrysophyllum albidum leaf extract against selected enteric bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris). Fresh leaves of Chrysophyllum albidum were shade air-dried and ground into fine powder. Thereafter, the leaves powder was cold extracted using methanol and sterile distilled water in ratio 3:2(v/v). The mixture obtained was concentrated in vacuo using a rotary evaporator and lyophilized. The crude extract was screened for antibacterial, phytochemicals and antioxidant properties. The antibacterial properties were determined using agar well diffusion and agar dilution methods while the antioxidant and phytochemical assay were analyzed using standard methods. The phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, reducing sugar and cardiac glycosides. The zones of inhibition shown by the extract at 10 mg/mL against the bacterial isolates ranged between 10 mm and 22 mm. The highest zone of inhibition (22 mm) was expressed against Escherichia coli at a concentration of 10 mg/mL. The MICs ranged between 1.25 mg/mL and 5mg/mL while MBCs ranged between 2.5 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL. The antioxidant assay of leaf extract showed appreciable antioxidant potential when compared with ascorbic acid used as standard. The leaf extract exhibited percentage of 92.03% at a concentration of 500 µg/mL while ascorbic acid exhibited percentage of 96.54% at the same concentration. This study, therefore showed that leaf extract of Chrysophyllum albidum exhibited significant antibacterial and antioxidant activities against the test isolates.

Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the globe. However, there is little information on the prevalence and antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of microbes associated with diarrheic patients within Katsina Metropolis, Nigeria, hence, the need for this study. Forty (40) stool samples were collected from Federal Medical Center, Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria. Isolation and identification of the bacteria from the stool samples were carried out using standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotics sensitivity testing was carried out on all the bacterial isolates using disk diffusion method. Seventeen (17) bacterial isolates were isolated from three different genera. These include: Escherichia coli (58.82%), Salmonella typhi (29.41%) and Shigella dysenteriae (11.77%). The results of antibiotics sensitivity test showed a high (100%) resistance to amoxicillin, 70.59% resistance to streptomycin, 41.18% resistance to nalixidic acid and least (17.65%) resistance to imipenem. Multi drug resistant Escherichia coli and Shigella species were also detected. The high level of antibiotic resistance among bacterial isolates obtained from stool samples of diarrheic patients is quite alarming and requires urgent public health attention. Hence, further studies are required for the molecular detection of the resistant genes in these bacteria.

Suya is a cherished food delicacy which can serve as a source of infection as it can harbor pathogens of clinicalimportance. However, there is paucity of data on mycological assessment and proximate analysis of suya soldwithin Kabuga area, Kano State, Nigeria. Therefore, this study examined the proximate composition andmycological qualities of suya sold within this area in Kano State. A total of thirty-six samples were randomlycollected from selected suya spots from the study area and microbiologically analyzed. Total fungal counts,identification of fungi and proximate analysis were NH determined using standard microbiological techniques. Atotal of fifty-one (51) fungal isolates were obtained from all the suya samples collected. The highest frequency ofoccurrence was shown by Aspergillus spp (16) while Fusarium spp had the lowest frequency of occurrence (10).Proximate analysis revealed the mean percentage of moisture as 24.00 - 48.00%, crude protein (24.64 - 46.32%), crudefiber (5.25 - 8.75%), fat (8.80 - 17.30%), carbohydrate (0.11 - 14.58%) and ash (1.05 - 2.45%) contents. This studyshowed the presence of Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium and Rhizopus spp in suya samples examined and hencethe need to improve on good hygiene practice by the suya vendors to control associated health risk.

This study was designed to determine the antibacterial potential of Gum Arabic Tree (Acacia nilotica) pod extracton some pathogenic bacteria which could have health implications. Powdered pods of Acacia nilotica wereextracted with ethanol and distilled water separately. The extracts were tested for antibacterial activities against thetest isolates using Agar Well Diffusion method. The extracts were further subjected to qualitative phytochemicalscreening to detect secondary metabolites present using standard procedures. The minimum inhibitory andminimum bactericidal concentrations of the extracts were also detected using standard procedures. Thephytochemical screening revealed certain metabolites (steroids, saponins, terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, andalkaloids) in the ethanol and aqueous extracts, except for steroids, which were present only in ethanol extract. Theresult of the sensitivity test showed that ethanol pod extract produced the highest and least zone of inhibition againstPseudomonas aeruginosa (22 mm) and S. typhi (15 mm) respectively at 50mg/ml while the aqueous extract of thepod exhibited activity against S. typhi (20 mm) and E. coli (12 mm) at 50 mg/ml. This showed that the A. niloticapod extracts could serve as potential antibacterial agents against pathogenic bacteria.