MARKHOR (The Journal of Zoology)

Monkey Pox: Health Care System in Pakistan

Tallat Anwar Faridi — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Zoonotic viruses have been a threat to the health care systems in all around the globe. The spread was pandemic with high mortality and morbidity rates [1]. The zoonotic viruses like small pox and monkey pox is included in orthopox genus of poxviridae family and is public health concern all around the world. The newly emerging zoonotic diseases have the potential to cause epidemics and have high mortality, have long been a threat to the security of global health [2, 3]. Prior to 2003, the first human monkey pox case around the Africa was identified and the monkey pox was endemic to nations such as western and central African. There has been a lot of upheaval recently because to the monkey pox outbreak that has affected 18 non-African nations, totaling 103 sure diseases cases and about 106 cases who had a little suspicion or early signs related [4, 5]. The worldwide epidemic of this illness has shown no fatalities have been recorded yet. Following a warning from the World Health Organization regarding an increase in cases of monkey pox in non-endemic nations, the National Institute of Health (NIH) Pakistan’s health authority, issued a warning to provincial and national health organizations advising them to intensify surveillance of the occurrence [3, 6]. Pakistan now is attempting to deal with the COVID-19 difficulties in this dire political and economic scenario. Another health and economic catastrophe rose in the next days as a result of the brittle healthcare system, inability to prevent fatal illnesses, and lack of resources [7]. A sensitive people are more vulnerable to subsequent epidemic cycles because of the ecological void left by the rising number of people lacking poxvirus protection after the smallpox vaccination programme was discontinued. In light of these challenges, Pakistan must make proactive plans in advance to prevent any disastrous events. The smallpox vaccine has historically demonstrated cross-protective immunity against monkey pox; however, Pakistan stopped administering the smallpox vaccine after the WHO proclaimed the globe free of the disease in 1980. Given that there are presently no monkey pox diagnostic tests accessible in Pakistan, the likelihood of an epidemic is even more concerning [8]. As a result, urgent action is required to stop the spread of the monkey pox virus [9]. The monkey pox infection spreads slowly as compared to Covid and requires the isolation and immunization to health care professionals before and after the exposure. No stigma should be attached to the distribution of health advice. The medical and allied professionals in the clinical practice may interact with suspected or confirmed case of monkey pox and advised to practice a maintained distance and limitation in contact, including proper maintained handling of all equipment and other things like contaminated syringes, garbage, and clothing. The disinfection of the surfaces of equipment and surrounding should be performed [10]. Public health emergency and control teams should be constituted as soon as the existence of a disease in the nation is confirmed in order to oversee and coordinate the response. Surveillance should involve an active search rather than depending on medical personnel's passive disease reporting. Monkey pox case identification and increased surveillance are crucial tools for comprehending the dynamic epidemiology of this emerging disease [11, 12].

Human monkeypox's Evolving Epidemiology: Is it a Threat?

Farooq Hassan, Muhammad Amjed Ismail, Madiha Khan Niazi — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Monkeypox is a rare zoonotic disease that is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the Poxviridae family. Avoid close contact with animals, whether they are living or dead, especially in endemic areas where this could be a source of infection transmission to healthy people. Separate sick people from those who might be contaminated. Frontline medical staff should be instructed and trained to rigorously adhere to traditional safety practices when dealing with verified or suspected cases. At the nation's entry and exit points, vaccination booths should be placed in order to stop the global spread of this contagious disease. Through extensive public awareness initiatives, people should be informed about sickness prevention, risk factors, and treatments. The public health departments of every nation should be alert for any signs that someone may be suffering from an unusual rash.

Conservation, Management and Threats to Markhor population in Pakistan: An Overview

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Markhor is a national animal of Pakistan. It is present in different regions of KPK, Baluchistan and Sindh with majority of the population in KPK region. Generally, five species of Markhor are present in different areas of Pakistan and they differ from each other on the basis of their location and their horns. Its status is endangered in Pakistan and major reasons for its decline are habitat loss, hunting and poaching etc. An increase in hunting has been observed in last few decades due to its skull and meat importance. Although a lot of conservations programs are involved for the protection of this animal and various different national and international agencies are also working on it such as NWFP wildlife department etc. The agencies are collecting funds from different sources like tourism to protect this animal. The present review highlights the importance of Markhor along with its distribution, major threats and conservation strategies adopted to protect Markhor in Pakistan.

Medical Importance of Insects

Nadeem Sheikh — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Around the globe, human societies have employed insects and the compounds collected from them as a source of therapeutic resources. These creatures have not only been used medically, but also mystically and magically in a variety of civilizations to cure various diseases. For pharmaceutical study, insects seem to be an almost limitless resource. Medicinal potential of insects makes a substantial contribution to the debate over biodiversity preservation.

Bee venom treatment is common in conventional medicine to cure ailments including rheumatism, arthritis, discomfort, malignant tumors, and skin. Several peptides with a range of medicinal benefits are present in bee venom including Melittin, apamin, ado lapin, the mast cell degranulating peptide, enzymes (phospolipase-A2) and amines including histamine and adrenaline. Melittin and phospolipase-A2 may be used to treat cancer cells, which can include leukemia and cancer cells of the kidney, liver, prostate, lung, and mammary gland. Bee venom may cause cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, according to a recent study by Moon et al. In rheumatoid synovial cells, bee venom promotes apoptosis by decreasing the expression of BCL2 and increasing the expression of BAX and caspase-3. In synovial fibroblasts from rheumatoid arthritis patients, bee venom causes apoptosis by activating caspase-3 [1].

Human immunodeficiency virus can be eliminated by a toxin present in bee venom (HIV). Melittin, which surrounds the HIV virus among other viruses, is present in bee venom. Nanoparticles in this melittin are abundant and target a crucial component of the virus' structure. For use in upcoming clinical studies, nanoparticles are simple to produce in large numbers [2]. Maggot treatment is a kind of biotherapy that includes injecting live, sterilized maggots (fly larvae) into the nonhealing skin and soft tissue wounds of a person or an animal in order to debride the wound of necrotic (dead) tissue and disinfect it. Maggot treatment has been shown to aid in wound healing. The Pseudomyrmex sp. often known as the samsum ant, is a species of South American tree ant. Its venom has a wide range of therapeutic benefits, including the treatment of hepatitis and the protection of the liver [3].

The utilization of insects as a natural product has the potential to provide a treatment that is effective in both treating and preventing illnesses. Development of insects as significant new alternative medicines has advanced significantly in recent years. Since insects are very diverse and have long used a wide variety of natural chemicals to adapt to environmental changes, this is an intriguing and quickly growing new field to study in medicine

Street Vended Juices as A Risk Factor of Microbial Diseases in District Mardan, Pakistan

Asma Waheed Qureshi, Hadia Tila — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In public spaces like streets and other outdoor areas, merchants prepare and sell foods and drinks for sale. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 2.5 million individuals eat street food every day. Objective: To study the assessment of microbial contamination of juices vended in streets in District Mardan of Pakistan. Methods: 315 samples comprising juices of sugarcane, pomegranate, jaggery, plum, mango, banana and apples were aseptically collected from three Tehsils of district Mardan including Katlang, Takht Bhai and Mardan. Results: Analysis of the samples revealed that 96% of juices had high loads of bacterial pathogens such as Coliforms (96.82%), Staphylococcus (81.90%), Salmonella (64.76%). In Tehsil Katlang and Takht Bhai all collected samples were contaminated while in Mardan Tehsil 87.6% bacterial contamination was observed. Very high number of coliforms were observed in sugarcane, apple juices and Jaggery, Salmonella counts were highest 21.05x10² cfu/ml in Jagerry and Staphylococcus growth was highest in sugarcane 1.22x10³ cfu/ml. Conclusions: It was noted that coliforms contamination is significantly higher as compared to other two bacteria indicating sewage water mixing in water used for preparation or handling of these juices. To prevent future food-borne infections, it is advised that frequent inspection of the quality of juices sold on the street be done.

Study of Various Ectoparasites from Sperata Sarwari (Singharee) Obtained from Various Areas of Lahore, Pakistan

Tahira Batool, Asma Abdul Latif, Sadia Sarwar — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Singhari Sperata sarwari is an Indus catfish (family Bagridae) present in Pakistan and Indus drainage system in India. Objective: To check the Prevalence of ectoparasites on Singhari (Sperata sarwari) fish. Methods: A sample of 30 specimens of a freshwater catfish, Sperata sarwari was collected from different areas of Lahore, Pakistan, during December 2017 to May 2018. Total 30 fish were examined for ectoparasites. Out of 30 fish, only 08 were diseased with Lernaea. Results: The total prevalence of Lernaea was 26.66%. Lernaea had highest prevalence (37.5%) in 1000-1200g body weight of fish group, while it was lowest (16.66%) in 100-300g body weight fish group. Lernaea showed highest prevalence (33.33%) in fish length group of 66-85cm, while the least prevalence (14.28%) existed in 25-45cm fish length group. It was also observed that Lernaea showed seasonal variations and it was maximum in winter, (33.33%) in January and minimum in spring and summer (20%) in March and (0%) in April. Conclusions: The results indicated that Singhari fish with more weight and long length had more prevalence of infection as compared to less weight and shorter length. This could be due to access of greater area available to parasites for anchoring and hiding on the large sized fish.

Characterization of Vomeronasal Receptor Class 2 in Danio rerio

Sabeen Zahra — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The best three distinct families of putative pheromone receptors have been identified in the vomeronasal organ (V1Rs, V2Rs and V3Rs). All are G protein-coupled receptors but are only distantly related to the receptors of the main olfactory system, highlighting their different role. Objective: To characterize the Vomeronasal receptor 2 gene family in Zebra Fish (Danio rerio). Methods: Extensive survey was done to choose top V2R genes. Different software and tools were used to characterize those genes including Eggnog 2.0, MAFFT, ITOL, Weblogo and SOSUI Signal. Results: In order to get insights into this gene family in Zebra fish, we performed an extensive survey of V2R derived datasets. We identified 62 genes distributed among Danio rerio encoding putative vomeronasal proteins. V2R gene family was found to be highly conserved in this study by using Weblogo. It evolved at the level of eukaryotes. The V2R is involved mainly in olfaction. Conclusions: The basic repertoire of V2R genes seems to be larger for most of the species including Danio rerio and gene duplication still plays a role in lineage-specific increases in diversity. V2R gene family is very ancient, has high duplicability suggesting its essentiality.

Antimicrobial Activity of Moringa oleifera Tea Leaves and Seeds Concentrated in Di Ethanol against E. coli Isolated from Ostrich Feces

Uzma Rafi, Masoom Majid, Roheela Yasmeen, Syeda Shazia Bokhari — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Ostriches are frequently infected with viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases. This disease does not require airborne transmission and does not involve the respiratory system. Objective: To determine the antimicrobial activity of Moringa oleifera tea leaves and seed against bacteria in Ostrich feces. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from captive ostriches at the W.A Apparel factory. E. coli was isolated after the samples were inoculated on EMB. The antimicrobial activity of Moringa oleifera seeds and tea leaves was investigated. The antimicrobial activity of Ostrich feces was tested against E. coli. Results: The results showed that tea extract had no antimicrobial activity against E. coli. Moringa oleifera seeds extract prepared in ethanol on the other hand, were effective against E. coli. Conclusion: Moringa oleifera seeds (di ethanolic extract) have the potential to be effective against E. coli.

Antibiotic Susceptibility and Resistance of Clinical Isolates against Various Antibiotics

Ansar Abbas, Sadia Sarwar — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Antibiotics are essential for treating bacterial infections, but their overuse and misuse have led to the development of antibiotic resistance. Objective: To evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility and resistance of clinical isolates against various antibiotics. Methods: A total of 1000 clinical isolates were collected from patients at the Fatima Memorial Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Identification of bacteria was performed using conventional culture and biochemical tests. Antibiotic susceptibility was assessed using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method with 26 commercial antibiotic discs, including amikacin, amoxycillin, ampicillin, and others. Results: The study found that the most common Gram-positive isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (40.0%) and Streptococcus pyogenes (5.0%). The most effective antibiotics against these isolates were amikacin, cefotaxime, and meropenem. In contrast, high levels of resistance were observed against commonly prescribed antibiotics, including amoxicillin, ampicillin, and cefixime. Conclusion: These findings highlight the need to promote appropriate antibiotic use and to monitor antibiotic resistance patterns to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections