Bacterial contamination of Vhuswa--a local weaning food and stored drinking-water in impoverished households in the Venda region of South Africa.

Bacterial contaminants of Vhuswa--a traditional maize-based weaning food, and domestic drinking-water stored in impoverished rural households in Venda of Limpopo province, South Africa, were determined. One hundred and twenty-five samples of Vhuswa fed to children aged less than five years were assessed for Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella, and Shigella. The microbiological quality of 125 drinking-water samples was also evaluated using total coliforms, faecal coliforms, and faecal streptococci as indicators. The frequency of isolation of E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and C. jejuni from the Vhuswa samples was 70%, 5%, 5%, and 2% respectively. The geometric mean counts of total coliforms, faecal coliforms, and faecal streptococci in tap-water stored in household containers ranged from 4.9x10(2) to 5.8x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1), 2.6x10(2) to 3.7x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1), and 3.1x10(3) to 5.8x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1) respectively, and for stored spring water it was 5.1x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1), 3.2x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1), and 5.1x10(3) cfu 100 mL(-1) respectively. The frequent contamination of water and food samples in this study has important implications for the health of children from impoverished communities.

Diarrhoeagenic bacterial pathogens in HIV-positive patients with diarrhoea in rural communities of Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Potential enteric bacterial pathogens in 60 HIV-positive patients with chronic diarrhoea in rural communities of the Limpopo Province, South Africa, were identified using standard microbiological methods. The Kirby-Bauer disk-diffusion method was employed to determine antibiograms of isolated bacteria. Results revealed that diarrhoeagenic bacterial agents were isolated from 48 (80%) of the 60 HIV-positive patients with diarrhoea. Forty-four (73.3%) and 16 (26.7%) of the 60 patients were female and male respectively in the age range of 17-55 years with a mean of 34 years. Bacterial pathogens isolated comprised Campylobacter species (20.0%), Plesiomonas shigelloides (16.6%), Aeromonas species (13.3%), and Escherichia coli, Shigella and Salmonella species (10.0% each). No attempts were made to isolate parasites, fungi, or viruses. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles revealed resistance of the isolates to ampicillin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, and streptomycin. However, all (100%) of P. shigelloides and Salmonella species were sensitive to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin. Most isolates were susceptible to nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, and gentamicin, indicating the usefulness of these drugs, although antibiograms may not always correlate with clinical usefulness.