Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in water and meat and meat products and vegetables sold in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and its impact on the diarrhoeic conditions of HIV/AIDS patients
- Authors: Abong'o, Benard Omondi
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Foodborne diseases , Diarrhea , Escherichia coli , HIV infections , AIDS (Disease) , Bacterial diseases
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Microbiology)
- Identifier: vital:11263 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/87 , Foodborne diseases , Diarrhea , Escherichia coli , HIV infections , AIDS (Disease) , Bacterial diseases
- Description: Water and food borne Escherichia coli O157:H7 could be one of the pathogens posing high health risk to patients suffering from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) because of its incrimination in diarrhoea cases in AIDS patients. The present study, which was conducted between March 2005 and August 2006, investigated the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in water, meat and meat products and vegetables and its impact on diarrhoeic conditions of confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients in the Amathole District in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The water samples used in the study were obtained from stand pipes supplying treated drinking water to communities residing in Fort Beaufort, Alice, Dimbaza and Mdantsane whereas borehole waters were sampled from Ngwenya and Kwasaki. The meat and meat products and vegetable samples were purchased from shops, butcheries, supermarkets and open air markets in Fort Beaufort, Alice and Mdantsane. The stool swabs used in the study were obtained from HIV/AIDS and outpatient clinics at Frere Hospital in East London. A total of 180 each of water, meat and meat products and vegetable samples and another 360 stool samples were analyzed for E. coli O157:H7. Presumptive E. coli O157 was isolated from the samples by culture-based methods and confirmed using Polymerase Chain Reaction techniques. Anti-biogram as well as risk assessment were also carried out using standard methods. The viable counts of presumptive E. coli O157 for water samples ranged between 3.3 × 104 and 1.71 × 105 CFU/ml, and between 1.8 × 104 and 5.04 × 106 CFU/g for meat and meat products, whereas those for vegetables ranged between 1.3 × 103 and 1.6 × 106 CFU/g. The counts of presumptive E. coli O157 for the water and vegetable samples were not significantly different whereas those for meat and meat products were found to be significantly different (P ≤ 0.05). The prevalence rates of presumptive E coli O157 in meat and meat products was 35.55 percent (64/180), and 25.55 percent (46/180) and 21.66 percent (39/180) for water and vegetables respectively. Prevalence of presumptive E. coli O157 in the stool samples of HIV/AIDS patients was 36.39 percent (131/360), of which 56.5 percent (74/131) and 43.5 percent (57/131) were from stools of confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients, respectively. Molecular analysis of representative presumptive E. coli O157 indicated that 10.29 percent (4/39) of vegetables; 14.81 percent (4/27) of water and 38.46 percent (5/13) of meat and meat products carried E. coli O157:H7. Also 36 percent (9/25) and 17.24 percent (5/29) of the stool samples were positive for E. coli O157:H7. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile revealed that all of the E. coli O157:H7 isolated from water, meat and meat products and vegetables as well as those isolated from stools of confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients were resistant (R) to gentamycin and erythromycin. However, 75 percent (20/27) of these isolates were resistant (R) to ampicillin and tetracycline whereas approximately 25 percent (6/27) were resistant (R) to nalidixic acid, ceftriaxone, and chloramphenicol. All the isolates (27/27) were susceptible (S) to amikacin. Probability of risk of E. coli O157:H7 infection was high for confirmed HIV/AIDS patients than for the non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients. Estimated probability of risk of E. coli O157:H7 due to ingestion of water was 1.00 for 100 confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients. Risk due to meat and meat products was estimated at 0.27 and 0.20 and for vegetables at 0.21 and 0.15 per 100 confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients. The findings of this study predicted a possible link between E. coli O157:H7 isolated from drinking water, meat and meat products and vegetables and diarrhoeic conditions in both confirmed and non-confirmed HIV/AIDS patients, and concludes that confirmed HIV/AIDS patients can be at higher risk of contracting water and food borne E. coli O157:H7 than nonconfirmed HIV/AIDS patients. It is thus recommended that proper water treatment and food handling, maximum food and water safety and sanitation as well as personal body hygiene should be maintained, in order to prevent E. coli O157:H7 infections. Education initiatives and active surveillance of E. coli O157:H7 should be taken by all the stake-holders working directly or indirectly towards ensuring enduring sound public health.
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- Date Issued: 2008
The inner image: an examination of the life of Helen Elizabeth Martins leading to her creation The Owl House and A Camel Yard as outsider art
- Authors: Ross, Susan Imrie
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Sculptors -- South Africa -- Biography Martins, Helen Elizabeth, 1897-1976 Owl House (Nieu Bethesda, South Africa) Art brut Women artists -- South Africa Nieu bethesda (South africa) -- Description and travel Primitivism in art Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) Artists -- Psychology Symbolism in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2430 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002227
- Description: The Owl House is situated in the Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda, and the person responsible for its creation, Helen Elizabeth Martins (1897-1976), is South Africa's best known Outsider artist. A number of newspaper and magazine articles, television programmes, radio interviews, play, films, short stories, theses and art works have resulted directly from her work. Interest in The Owl House continues to grow, with visitors coming from all over South Africa, and various parts of the world,to visit it. The Owl House was Helen Martins' home for most of her 78 years. During the last 30 or so years of her life she devoted all her time and energy to transforming the interior of her house into a glistening fantasy world of colour and light, using crushed glass stuck to almost every surface, coloured glass pane inserts in the walls, mirrors of many sizes and shapes, and countless paraffin lamps and candles. She called her garden' A Camel Yard', and filled it with over 500 cement statues, structures and bas reliefs. All the labour involved, apart from crushing and sorting the coloured glass, was provided by at least four different men, who assisted her over the years, Johannes Hattingh, Jonas Adams, Piet van der Merwe and Koos Malgas, though Helen Martins was the inspiration and director behind it all. Through a study of Helen Martins' background and life, and their effects upon her psyche, a rigorous attempt has been made to reach some understanding of why she became a recluse, and what caused her to create this unique body of work comprising her entire domestic environment. She became increasingly asocial as her life progressed, and ultimately ended it by committing suicide in 1976. Through the universality of symbolism, the meanings of the subjects, themes and concerns which she chose to depict are studied. Then, together with some knowledge of her life and personal influences, an attempt has been made to deduce what it was that Helen Martins was trying to express and work through in her creations. This study also led to an awareness of the fact that, although each one is unique, there are many examples of Outsider Art throughout the world. Fundamentally, creators of Outsider Art remain asocial in relation to their cultural milieu and cultural context. Some other examples of Outsider Art, both in South Africa as well as in Europe and India, were visited, and are described and compared with The Owl House as well as with one another. The way in which society reacts or responds to Outsider Art and its creators is studied through the comprehensive records of one specific case which caused great controversy in Johannesburg during the 1970s. Ultimately, working alone or with assistance, it is the Outsider artist who is the driving force behind these unique works, and whose indefinable inner fire of passion alone makes it possible to bring them into being. It would seem that the fascination with Outsider Art is that through their work, creators allow others a glimpse into a different sense of reality which is both mysterious and inexplicable.
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- Date Issued: 1996