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Background and study aim: Globally, Hepatitis-A Virus (HAV) is a major etiology of acute hepatitis. Though, enterically transmitted, there is evidence HAV being transmitted through of blood transfusion. The presence of HAV antibodies may indicate infectious threat to blood transfusion safety. In view of these, the present study was aimed to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of HAV among blood donors in three tertiary Hospitals in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from one hundred and sixty eight (168) blood donors >20 years. Sera from these samples were investigated for anti-HAV specific IgG and IgM antibodies using a commercial enzyme immunosorbent assay (ELISA) Kits. Structured question-naires were used to access socio-demographic variables of subjects. Results: Seroprevalence of HAV- specific IgG and IgM were 86.3.1% and 0.0%, respectively. Of 168 blood donors, 145 had previous exposure to HAV [IgG (+) IgM (-), and none had recent infection [IgG (-) IgM (+)], 23 were susceptible to HAV [IgG (-) IgM (-). There was no significant association between sero-prevalence and any of the risk factors and sociodemographic variables studied (p>0.05). Findings from this study revealed that larger proportion of blood donors are already immune to HAV infection, while none of them had active HAV infection. Conclusion: The high prevalence of Hepatitis A antibodies among the studied subject reflects a high HAV transmission rate in this area. Hence, determination of HAV should be taken into consideration before blood transfusion.

Background: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are potentially pathogenic agents, playing aetiologicroles in both genital infections and infertility. In human in-vitro fertilization systems, the presence of U. urealyticum in either semen or female genital tract results in a decline of pregnancy rate per embryo transfer as well as neonatal infections. M. hominis has been associated with bacterial vaginosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, postabortal fever, and a number of gynecological infections. Aim: The aim of this study is to isolate, characterize and determine the antibiotic susceptibility of M. hominis and U. urealyticum isolates from infertile and pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The samples were collected from Obstetrics and Gynaecology clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital and 68 Nigerian Army reference hospital Yaba. A total of 270 specimens of urine and HVS were collected from 135 women attending the clinics for routine consultations. One hundred and eighty HVS and urine specimens were from 90 married infertile women attending the clinics as part of a work-up for fertility investigations after failing to conceive for at least one year of unprotected sexual intercourse. Ninety HVS and urine specimens were from 45 pregnant women attending the clinics for routine antenatal care. None of the subjects expressed any symptom of genitourinary tract infections. All the specimens were inoculated into Mycoplasma broth and subsequently Blood Agar plates, incubated appropriately and identified. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were carried out on the 52 isolates. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the organisms in all the collected specimens. Results: Of the 90 HVS specimens collected from infertile women, 9 (10.0%) were positive for M. hominis, while 21 (23.3%) were positive for U. urealyticum. For the pregnant women using HVS specimens, 6 (13.3%) were positive for M. hominis while 5 (11.1%) were positive for U. urealyticum. The first void urine specimens gave lower values in both the infertile and pregnant women. Prevalence of U. urealyticum was higher in infertile women than in pregnant women (pMycoplasma/Urealyticum species. The antibiotic susceptibility test showed that all the isolates of M. hominis (n=18) were sensitive to Tetracycline (100%) and Ciprofloxacin (100%) while all the isolates of U. urealyticum (n=34) were sensitive to Tetracycline (100%) and Erythromycin (100%). Conclusion: The significantly higher prevalence of U. urealyticum infection in infertile women (23.3%) compared to the lower prevalence in pregnant women (11.1%) may suggest that U. urealyticum can be incriminated in infertility. HVS specimen is preferred over urine specimens for the detection of Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma. Application of the PCR method, where affordable, is recommended for rapid and sensitive detection of Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma in HVS specimens. Tetracycline may be the antibiotic of choice, unless contraindicated, for the treatment of the infections, although the sample size was small.

Plasmodium identification represents the crucial factor in malaria diagnosis and treatment across developing countries. Conventional microscopy and the use of rapid diagnostic kits have been extensively applied towards human malaria diagnosis. Recombinant DNA techniques have been applied towards malaria diagnosis as well as in the species specific identification using Plasmodium 18s-rRNA gene. This study was undertaken amongst patients attending the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano. Blood samples were collected from 350 malaria suspected patients. Microscopic analysis via Giemsa-staining revealed that 220 patients were positive for malaria. RDT analysis showed that 248 test samples were positive for Plasmodium infection. DNA products obtained from the blood samples were analyzed by nested PCR to amplify the 18S ssrRNA Plasmodium gene with genus and specific primers rPLU1/5, rPLU3/4, rVIV1/2, rFAL1/2, rMAL1/2 and rOVA1/2. Data obtained showed that 58.64% of specimens tested by microscopy were false positives while 60.62% of false positives were obtained using RDTs in comparison to nPCR which proved that on 91 out of 350 patients were infected with Plasmodium falciparum, representing 26% of tested specimen. Comparative analysis of nPCR to microscopy showed that the sensitivity and positive predictive values of the nPCR were determined as 100 and 41.36%, respectively, while against RDTs it was 100 and 39.38% respectively. nPCR was determined to be more sensitive and specific than either microscopy or RDTs. This study revealed that the accurate diagnosis of malaria by nPCR was compulsory in malaria-prone regions of Nigeria such that nPCR should be applied routinely in laboratory studies.