ABSTRACT
Aims: This study aimed at establishing the prevalence of some viral Transfusion Transmissible Infectious (TTI) agents among blood donors in the Kintampo North municipality of Ghana. Study Design: A retrospective cross-sectional hospital based study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Laboratory unit of the Kintampo Municipal Hospital between May and August, 2013. Methodology: Archived results (from January 2010 to December 2012) on blood donation from the hospital’s laboratory were reviewed manually. Data comprising age, sex and results on HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV tests of blood donors were reviewed. The data were analyzed using Microsoft excel 2007 statistical package. Results: A total of 3402 people were screened for blood donation. Out of this number 3139 (92.3%) were males while 263 (7.7%) were females. The combined sero-prevalence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV was 19.5% (643/3139) and 11.4% (30/263) for males and females respectively. Hepatitis B surface antigen year-on-year prevalence was 9.6%. Anti-HCV and anti-HIV recorded year-on-year prevalences of 4.4% and 4.9% respectively. Donors younger than 20 years recorded the highest prevalence of HBsAg [15.9% (34/214)] followed by those in age group ≥20<30 [10.3% (170/1652)]. The highest prevalence rates of 6.1% and 5.0% for anti-HIV and anti-HCV were observed in age groups ≥50 and ≥30<40 years respectively. The commonest co-infection occurrence was HBV-HCV [45.5% (10/22)]. Conclusion: The prevalence of the viral TTI agents studied among blood donors in the Kintampo municipality is relatively high. Co-infection with HBV and HCV was also high.
ABSTRACT
Aims: This study investigated the antimicrobial effect of aqueous and ethanol extracts of the flower buds of Eugenia caryophyllata (Myrtaeae) against a wide range of bacteria and yeasts cells isolated clinically from patients. Methodology: The agar diffusion method was used to establish the antimicrobial activity and the zones of inhibition caused by the extracts. The antimicrobial effects of 16% and 32% aqueous and ethanol extracts of Eugenia caryophyllata were investigated against 111 pathogenic bacteria and yeasts cells. The microbes used consisted of 11 Proteus mirabilis, 20 Salmonella typhi, 15 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 18 Escherichia coli, 19 Staphylococcus aureus, 12 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 16 Candida albicans species. Results: The ethanol extracts inhibited the growth of all the microbes employed in the study with inhibition zones ranging from 8.00±0.00 mm to 24.00±0.00 mm. The aqueous extracts however exhibited different degrees of antimicrobial activity with zones of inhibition ranging from 6.00±0.00 mm to 13.33±0.29 mm. Conclusion: Our study concludes that the aqueous and ethanol extracts of the flower buds of Eugenia caryophyllata have relatively good antimicrobial activity against a wide range of medically important pathogenic bacteria and Candida albicans in vitro.