COVID-19 vaccines uptake: Public knowledge, awareness, perception and acceptance among adult Africans.

INTRODUCTION: The willingness of Africa's population to patronise the COVID-19 vaccines is critical to the efficiency of national immunisation programmes. This study surveys the views of adult African inhabitants toward vaccination and the possibility of participating or not participating in governments' efforts to get citizens vaccinated. METHOD: A cross-sectional online survey of adult Africans was undertaken from December 2020 to March 2021. Responses were anonymised. The Pearson Chi-square test was performed to determine whether or not there were any variations in knowledge, awareness, perception and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccines among the participants. Binomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the factors associated with willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccines and participate in immunisation programmes. RESULTS: The results indicate that COVID-19 vaccines are more likely to be used by adult Africans over the age of 18 who are largely technologically savvy (55 percent) if the vaccine is made broadly available. A total of 33 percent of those who responded said they were unlikely to receive the vaccine, with another 15 percent stating they were undecided. Aside from that, we found that vaccine hesitancy was closely associated with socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education and source of information. We also found that there were widespread conspiracies and myths about the COVID-19 vaccines. CONCLUSION: More than one-third of African adults who participated in the survey indicated they would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine, with majority of them expressing skepticisms about the vaccine's efficacy. It is possible that many of the people who would not be vaccinated would have an impact on the implementation of a COVID-19 immunisation programme that is meant for all of society. Majority of the respondents were unwilling to pay for the COVID-19 vaccines when made available. An awareness campaign should be focused on promoting the benefits of vaccination at the individual and population levels, as well as on taking preemptive actions to debunk misconceptions about the vaccines before they become further widespread.

Evaluation of knowledge, impacts and government intervention strategies during the COVID - 19 pandemic in Nigeria.

The SARS-CoV-2 is a novel strain of coronavirus which is ravaging many countries, and this has become a global public health concern. With the increasing number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths in Nigeria, the pandemic has led to massive public reactions. This data attempted to evaluate the knowledge, impacts, and government intervention during the pandemic. An online survey was conducted using a questionnaire shared via social media using a Snowball sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). A total of 387 responses was received. Results show that a significant number of respondents had adequate knowledge about COVID-19 modes of transmission, symptoms, and preventive measures. Respondents maintain personal hygiene as 67% wash their hands with soap. The pandemic has caused worry (65%), anxiety (42%), panic (35%), and depression (16%) among respondents, even as government intervention is seen as inadequate by 70%. There is a need for mental health support and increased information campaigns about COVID-19.

Aerobic microbe community and necrophagous insects associated with decomposition of pig carrion poisoned with lead.

This study investigated the effects of pig feed contaminated with lead (Pb) on the decomposition rate of pig carrion, identified the aerobic microorganisms and necrophagous insects associated with decomposing pig (Sus scrofa) carrion (above ground), and explored their potential use in the determination of post-mortem interval (PMI). The study profiled the decomposition of Sus scrofa carrion over a period of 40 days to record the effects of lead during decomposition. Fungi were identified by sub-culturing on prepared solidified potato dextrose agar and microbial identification was carried out using biochemical characterization. The decomposition rate of pigs fed with lead-contaminated feed (0.18 and 0.2 ppm) attracted insects and increased the rate of hair fall, hence at day 35, these carrion were skeletonized. The aerobic bacterial communities identified were Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus sp. and Salmonella paratyphiwhereas the fungi identified include Fusarium sp., Cylindrocladium sp Cephalosporium sp., Scopolariopsis sp., Aspergillus sp, Mucor sp., Circinella sp., Pythium sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Geotrichum sp., Phytophthora sp., and Saccharomyces sp. The necrophagous insects collected consisted of three orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera which included insects like Chrysomya chloropyga Wiedemann, 1818, Musca domesticaLinnaeus, 1758, Sarcophaga exuberansPandelle, 1896, Necrobia rufipesDe Geer, 1775, Dermestes maculatusDe Geer, 1774, Camponotus sericeusFabricius, 1798 and Camponotus perrisiiForel, 1886. The activity of insect on treatments was well matched but the decomposition rate differs. Spectrophotometric analysis of insect larvae collected from decomposing pigs revealed they had presence of lead. Insect larvae and microbes identified are good entomotoxicological tools in crimes associates with lead poisoning.

Biodegradation of Pollutants in Waste Water from Pharmaceutical, Textile and Local Dye Effluent in Lagos, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Discharged effluents from industry have been responsible for the deterioration of the aquatic environment in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries. Increasing industrialization and urbanization have resulted in the discharge of large amounts of waste into the environment, resulting in high pollution loads. Utilization of microbes such as fungi and bacteria have been used for pollution degradation. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to utilize microbial agents such as fungi and bacteria to reduce pollutant loads such as heavy metals in effluent samples. METHODS: Three types of effluent (pharmaceutical, textile effluent, and dye) were obtained from Surulere in Lagos Metropolitan Area, Nigeria. Heavy metals analysis was carried out using a flame atomic adsorption spectrophotometer according to standard methods. Samples were cultured for microbes and identified. Bacteria samples were inoculated on nutrient agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. Fungi counts were carried out using potato dextrose agar and incubated at 28°C for 3-5 days. The isolated organisms were identified based on their morphological and biochemical characteristics. Then 100 mL of the effluents was dispensed into 250 mL flasks, and the pH of the medium was adjusted to 7.2 by the addition of either sodium hydroxide or hydrogen chloride and autoclaved at 121°C for 15 minutes. The autoclaved flask was inoculated with 1 mL of bacteria and fungi for 21 days and pH was recorded properly every 48 hours. RESULTS: The results of the physicochemical parameters indicated that conductivity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand for all the three industrial effluents were higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits. Heavy metal analysis results show that the effluents had high values for cadmium, above the WHO limit of 0.003 mg/L. Concentrations of zinc ranged from 0.136-1.690 mg/L, and nickel ranged between 0.004-0.037mg/L for the three effluents, within the WHO limit. The identified bacteria were Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Bacillus cereus and isolated fungi were Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium chrysogenum. All the physicochemical parameters and heavy metal concentrations were reduced after the biodegradation study in the effluents. CONCLUSIONS: The responses observed in the various microbes indicated that the use of microbes for the reduction of environmental pollutants has an advantage over the use of other methods because it is environmentally friendly, low cost, and no new chemicals are introduced into the environment. This method should be encouraged for pollution reduction to bring about ecosystem sustainability advocated for Ghana.