Physicochemical properties of water quality of Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho communities located along Otamiri-oche River in Etche Ethnic Nationality of Rivers State, Nigeria

Some physiochemical properties of water quality of Otamiri-oche River which runs through Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho Communities in Etche ethnic nationality of Rivers State, Nigeria were investigated. Samples were collected in triplicate from the three different locations along the river in both rainy and dry seasons. Each sampling points is located 500m away from the successive one, and the samples were taken from the open river at the zone extending beyond the shoreline. Samples were stored in ice packs and immediately taken to the laboratory to investigate some selected physico-chemical characteristics. Also, bacteriological study was carried out on the samples. The laboratory results of the selected physico-chemical parameters when compared with the world health organization (WHO) standard showed that all the selected physico-chemical parameters were within the world health organization (WHO) permissible in both rainy and dry season except pH. For rainy season, the pH values were 5.00±0.00, 5.40 ±0.40, and 5.40± 0.30 for Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho respectively. For the dry season, the pH values were 5.83± 0.01, 5.56±0.01, 5.90±0.01 for Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho respectively. Also magnesium hardness exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limit in rainy season only. The results of bacteriological study showed that all the sampling locations contained high numbers of coliform bacteria in both rainy and dry seasons. The number of coliform bacteria during rainy season was 25.00±0.00, 25.00±0.00, and 35.00±0.00 for Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho respectively. Those of dry season were 93.00±3.55, 56.66±4.49, and 35.60±4.17 for Imeh, Edegelem and Chokocho respectively. The difference between the rainy and dry season was tested statistically using the t-test. The results of the statistical analyses showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between the rainy and dry seasons.

Current status of malaria parasite among blood donors in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria parasite among blood donors at the Police Clinic Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The standard parasitological techniques using both thick and thin blood films from the donors for the detection of malaria parasite was followed. Venous blood was collected from 200 blood donors and films were made on clean greese-free glass slide and stained with 10%Giemsa stains and viewed under the microscope using the oil immersion objective. Of the 200 samples examined, 56 (28.00%) were positive with Plasmodium falciparium . The highest prevalence among the males 53(26.50%) and between the ages 21-30years and only 3 (1.50%) of females were positive. Donors having the blood group O were more infected (60.70%) than the other blood groups and the lowest was blood group AB (5.40%). This result shows that there is a relatively high prevalence of malaria parasite among the blood donors in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It is, therefore, recommended that malaria parasite screening test be included among other blood screening tests before any transfusion to avert the deleterious effects of malaria on recipients.

Bioprospecting for culturable actinobacteria with antimicrobial properties isolated from rivers in Colombian Orinoquia

Purpose: To Isolate and characterize Actinobacteria with antimicrobial activity from Guaviare River (Colombia). Methods: Water and sediment samples were collected from Guaviare River. Direct plating, heat and CaCO3 methods were used to isolate Actinobacteria. Six bacterial strains were tested using T-Streak method: Escherichia coli ATCC 23724, Staphylococus aureus ATCC 25923, Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 21556, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603, Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 31532. Strains of Fusarium sp. H24, Trichoderma harzianum H5 and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides were tested using Kirby-Bauer method. Isolates with high antimicrobial activity were selected for further taxonomic identification. Results: A total of 374 actinobacteria isolates were obtained. Seven isolates exhibited high antimicrobial activity (p < 0.05) and were confirmed as members of Streptomycetaceae family. Of these, three isolates showed differential phenotypic and genotypic profiles, indicating that they may represent new species. Conclusions: To date, this is the first study of this type in Colombian Orinoquia and indicates that this promising source of Actinobacteria from aquatic sediments with the ability to produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites.