Ayodeji Oluwadare Olarinmoye

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) that raged between 2014 and 2016 in the West African sub-region was one of the global epidemics that spiked international public health concern in the last decade. Since the discovery of ebolavirus in 1976, the 2014-2016 epidemics have been the worst with significant case fatality rates and socioeconomic impact in the affected countries. This review looks at important health determinants that directly accounted for the spatial events of rapid spread and severity of EVD in West Africa, with consequent high fatality rates. It also brings up a time-point health determinant model to conceptualize understanding of this important outbreak with a view to enlightening the public andproviding valuable recommendations that may be crucial to preventing or curtailing any future outbreak of the disease.

The prospect of using small ruminants as food has not been fully exploited.Small ruminants produce food and fiber for man at a relatively low cost as they graze on pasture and feed on farm by -products.There are documentations on the benefits that can be derived from goat products regardless, of the breed or region.Goat meat is a source of high quality protein and low saturated fats which is good for human health.The use of goat meat and milk as therapeutic aids in heartrelated diseases and other ailments is unknown to many.This paper therefore, seeks to present goat as a good source of protein to help alleviate the protein nutritional deficiency of humans.The utilization of goat as experimental animal in researches, for medical purposes and other uses were also highlighted.

BACKGROUND: There is sufficient epidemiological and biological evidence of increased human susceptibility to viral pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus and influenza virus, in cold weather. The pattern of outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China during the flu season is further proof that meteorological conditions may potentially influence the susceptibility of human populations to coronaviruses, a situation that may become increasingly evident as the current global pandemic of COVID-19 unfolds. MAIN BODY: A very rapid spread and high mortality rates have characterized the COVID-19 pandemic in countries north of the equator where air temperatures have been seasonally low. It is unclear if the currently high rates of COVID-19 infections in countries of the northern hemisphere will wane during the summer months, or if fewer people overall will become infected with COVID-19 in countries south of the equator where warmer weather conditions prevail through most of the year. However, apart from the influence of seasons, evidence based on the structural biology and biochemical properties of many enveloped viruses similar to the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 (aetiology of COVID-19), support the higher likelihood of the latter of the two outcomes. Other factors that may potentially impact the rate of virus spread include the effectiveness of infection control practices, individual and herd immunity, and emergency preparedness levels of countries. CONCLUSION: This report highlights the potential influence of weather conditions, seasons and non-climatological factors on the geographical spread of cases of COVID-19 across the globe.

The increasing incidence of enterobacteriosis in poultry birds in Nigeria lately necessitated the study which aimed at enumerating the Enterobacteriaceae in 58 commercially available poultry feeds, studying their antibiotic susceptibility pattern, confirming plasmid as the determinants of resistance and tracing the relationship between multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates in the feed and those in morbid birds. Fifty-three enterobacteria belonging to 5 genera: Escherichia, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Yersinia; were obtained from the feed samples. Escherichia coli was the most distributed enterobacteria in the feed types (80%). There was a significant (P broiler starter > broiler finisher > growers mash > layers mash. Augmentin, nitrofurantoin and amoxicillin showed the least overall potency (<30%) against all isolates while sensitivity to fluoroquinolones was above 70%. Multidrug (MD) resistance was limited to 32.1% of the isolates. The plasmid DNA profiles showed that 71.4% of the analyzed MDR strains possessed extrachromosomal determinants with relative sizes of 6.4 to 23.0 kb. The similarity studies showed that there was a direct relationship between MDR E. coli strains from the feed samples and those from morbid birds (Si = 78.9%).   Key words: Enterobacteriaceae, poultry feed, antibiogram, multidrug resistance, plasmid.