The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has posed serious health and economic threats, particularly in developing countries. The presentation of the disease is highly variable and could be easily confused with other respiratory tract infections.1 In Africa, tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top causes of mortality and has a presentation conspicuously similar to the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. During the past coronavirus epidemics like SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERSCoV), co-infections with TB had posed a major threat to the spread of the disease. Hence, the association between COVID-19 and TB cannot be ruled out, and more evidence should be gathered to increase our understanding of the dynamics of both diseases during the spread of the pandemic.2 Therefore, it is important to understand the distribution and aggregation degree of TB and COVID-19 and to follow up the spatial trends of both of them during the pandemic period. In this study, we aimed to analyze the spatiotemporal variation and the trends of TB and COVID-19 during the pandemic at the national and regional levels. This will provide more information and thus help implement proper strategies to combat the burden of the pandemic
Daw MA, Ahmed MO, ET AL.(11-2020)

A potential pathological role for spirochaetes in bovine digital dermatitis (bovine DD) and severe virulent ovine foot rot (SVOFR) has been considered and a treponeme isolate obtained from each disease in the UK. In this work, we have investigated the hypothesis that the two diseases may have a shared (common) spirochaetal aetiology. Experiments were designed to identify serological similarities and differences between the two spirochaetes; an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect anti-treponeme antibodies in the sera of cows and sheep against the two-treponeme isolates. Sera were further tested for antigen reactivity by Western blotting. Cattle and sheep with bovine DD and SVOFR, respectively, had increased seropositivity rates to both treponeme isolates, with different patterns of reactivity between farms. In some cattle herds, significant correlations were shown between antibodies to bovine DD treponemes and SVOFR treponemes (P0.05); sheep showed strong evidence of reactivity to one or the other treponeme antigens, but never to both. Western blotting against both treponeme antigens showed that they frequently displayed different antigen epitopes, although some minor bands were common to both organisms. The data suggest that there are a number of spirochaetes in UK farms, which could be involved in the pathogenesis of either bovine DD or SVOFR. arabic 13 English 83
Abdulgader Dhawi Alfitouri Dhawi(1-2021)

In this study, antibacterial, antioxidant and phenolic compounds of raisin extracts was evaluated. Different solvent extraction methods were utilized to extract phenolic compounds from raisin. The phenolic compounds of raisin extracts was determined using HPLC and three compounds were found, catechin, quercetin and rutin. The antibacterial activity of the acetonic extract was tested against four bacterial pathogens viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli using both disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods. The acetonic extract exhibited the highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus with zone of inhibition of 14mm and the MIC of 25 mg/ml. However, there was a little activity against E. coli and S. typhimurium. The methanolic extract showed good antioxidant activity as indicated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical assay (DPPH). In conclusion, raisin contains potent phenolic compounds and their application might function as promising natural preservative and antimicrobial agents in food industry and also good antioxidant food that helps to minimize the risk of degenerative diseases. arabic 11 English 86
Abdulgader Dhawi Alfitouri Dhawi(1-2021)