A One Health Approach to Child Stunting: Evidence and Research Agenda.

Stunting (low height for age) affects approximately one-quarter of children aged < 5 years worldwide. Given the limited impact of current interventions for stunting, new multisectoral evidence-based approaches are needed to decrease the burden of stunting in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Recognizing that the health of people, animals, and the environment are connected, we present the rationale and research agenda for considering a One Health approach to child stunting. We contend that a One Health strategy may uncover new approaches to tackling child stunting by addressing several interdependent factors that prevent children from thriving in LMICs, and that coordinated interventions among human health, animal health, and environmental health sectors may have a synergistic effect in stunting reduction.

Antimicrobial Profiling of Bacteria Isolated from Fish Sold at Informal Market in Mufakose, Zimbabwe.

The number of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria is rising worldwide. Fish from multisource pollution waters can harbour multidrug-resistant bacteria that can be disseminated to humans through eating or contact of contaminated fish. A cross-sectional study was carried out to (i) isolate and phenotypically identify bacteria from 36 fish samples from informal market in Mufakose, Harare, and (ii) determine the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolated bacteria against ten available antibiotics (ampicillin 10 µg, gentamycin 30 µg, penicillin G 10 µg, erythromycin 15 µg, tetracycline 30 µg, kanamycin 30 µg, neomycin 10 µg, cloxacillin 5 µg, lincomycin 15 µg, and sulfamethoxazole 25 µg) using the Kirby-Bauer disk agar diffusion method. Eight bacterial genera were isolated and identified, and they were Escherichia, Aeromonas, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Proteus. Among the isolates, Escherichia coli was isolated most frequently (44%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (19%), Enterobacter aerogenes (7%), Aeromonas spp. (5%), Proteus mirabilis (5%), Citrobacter (5%), and coagulase-negative Staphylococci (5%) and the least frequent were Klebsiella (3%) and Pseudomonas (3%). All isolates were susceptible to gentamycin. Varying antibiotic resistance rates were observed to lincomycin (100%), ampicillin (81%), penicillin (67%), erythromycin (65%), tetracycline (63%), neomycin (61%), cloxacillin (43%), kanamycin (24%), and sulphamethoxazole (13%). All the isolates were multidrug-resistant (resistant to at 3 or more drugs tested) except Proteus mirabilis. Proteus mirabilis has multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of 0.2, and the other isolated bacteria had MAR indexes greater than 0.2 ranging from 0.3 to 0.7. Those MAR indexes above 0.2 showed that the bacteria isolates are from a high risk source where antibiotics were frequently used, possibly from sewage effluents. Isolation of enteric bacteria such as Escherichia coli is an indication of faecal contamination, and this poses a high risk to animal and human health. These significant findings call for effective risk assessment models and management plans that protect human, animal, and environmental health.