ABSTRACT
African scientists need more bioinformatics training in order to make innovative contributions to global biotechnology. To address the bioinformatics skills gap in West Africa, various training initiatives have been established in the sub-region. We present the activities of the West African Biotechnology Workshops (http://www.wabw.org/) in the past three years, and report on a symposium on bioinformatics and applied genomics in West Africa. To establish and sustain regional and national networks, stronger and increased government commitment by way of financial and infrastructural support for bioinformatics capacity building in West Africa is required.
Subject(s)
Computational Biology/organization & administration , Genomics/organization & administration , Africa, Western , Biotechnology/organization & administration , Computational Biology/education , Developing Countries , Genomics/education , Humans , NigeriaABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence, species distribution and genetic diversity of zoonotic Arcobacter species. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Drainage system of a cosmopolitan chicken abattoir in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS: One hundred and fifty drainage water samples were enriched in a minimal antibiotics-containing medium at room temperature and bacteria then isolated by use of a membrane filtration method. RESULTS: Twenty six (14%) of samples were positive for Arcobacter spp. Of these, 20 were examined by a comprehensive probabilistic identification scheme for Epsilobacteria and all strains identified as A. butzleri. AFLP analysis of these strains revealed considerable genetic diversity among the strains, with 12 genotypes defined at the 90% similarity level. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of A. butzleri in Nigerian poultry abattoir effluent indicates this species may constitute a public health problem in this country. AFLP profiling could be a useful tool for molecular epidemiological and population genetic studies of this organism. This is the first known report of A. butzleri in Nigeria, and first application of AFLP analysis for genotyping the species.
Subject(s)
Abattoirs , Arcobacter/genetics , Arcobacter/isolation & purification , Poultry/genetics , Animals , NigeriaABSTRACT
Infections of domestic and wild animals that are transmitted directly or by an arthropod vector to humans are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and particularly in Nigeria. With a population of over 100 million and the need for improved health care delivery, Nigerians are at considerable risk considering the seriousness of these infections. Zoonotic infections that are endemic in Nigeria include tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, taeniasis, rabies, lassa fever and yellow fever. Zoonotic food-borne infections (caused by Campylobacter, Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7) and cryptosporidiosis are emerging. Sporadic cases such as strongyloidiasis, ascariasis, leptospirosis, scabies, pentastomiasis and African histoplasmosis have been reported. There is a need to determine the prevalence of tick-borne zoonoses. Prevention and control of zoonoses in humans is by vaccination, treatment and health education. As a first measure to improve control, the link between veterinary and medical officers, which is presently very weak, needs to be strengthened. Furthermore, regional multidisciplinary approaches to the control of zoonotic infections should be adopted in West Africa, which take into consideration the huge inter-border traffic.
