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BACKGROUND: Cancer patients are prone to infections such as hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), which pose a major public health challenge, especially in developing countries. However, little is known about the magnitude of these infections among cancer patients in Ethiopia. Thus, this study determined the prevalence of HBV and HCV in cancer patients at the Oncology Treatment Center, Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 115 cancer patients from 15 April to 22 July 2023 at the Oncology Treatment Center, Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. Sociodemographic, clinical, and other relevant data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire. Five milliliters of venous blood were collected using a vacutainer tube, serum was harvested and tested for HBV and HCV using a one-step HBsAg and anti-HCV test strip with further confirmation through an ELISA test kit. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and Fisher exact test was used to determine the association between HBV/HCV infection and associated factors. RESULTS: Out of 115 cancer patients, the majority (62.6%) were females. The median age was 50 (IQR; 40-56) years. The overall prevalence of HBV and HCV infections was 4.3% (95% CI; 0.6-8%) and 6.1% (95% CI; 1.7-10.5%), respectively. Sex was significantly associated with the prevalence of HCV (p = 0.011) with higher anti-HCV positivity in males (14%) than in females (1.4%). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the prevalence of HCV was higher and the HBV prevalence was intermediate in cancer patients. To reduce the burden of HBV and HCV infections, it is crucial to provide access to HBV and HCV screening services, strengthen vaccination, and improve prompt treatment in cancer patients.

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Purpose. To evaluate antimicrobial effects of mixtures of Ethiopian honeys and ginger rhizome powder extracts on Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli (R), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (R). Methods. Agar diffusion and broth assays were performed to determine susceptibility of these standard and resistant clinical bacteria isolates using honey-ginger powder extract mixtures. Results. Honey-ginger powder extract mixtures produced the highest mean inhibition (25.62 mm ± 2.55) compared to the use of honeys (21.63 mm ± 3.30) or ginger extracts (19.23 mm ± 3.42) individually. The ranges of inhibitions produced by honey-ginger extract mixtures on susceptible test organisms (26-30 mm) and resistant strains (range: 19-27 mm) were higher compared to 7-22 mm and 0-14 mm by standard antibiotic discs. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of mixture of honeys-ginger extracts were 6.25% (0.625 v/mL) on the susceptible bacteria compared to 75% for resistant clinical isolates. Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of honey-ginger extracts was 12.5% (0.125 g/mL) for all the test organisms. Conclusion. The result of this study showed that honey-ginger powder extract mixtures have the potential to serve as cheap source of antibacterial agents especially for the drug resistant bacteria strains.

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BACKGROUND: Honey is a natural substance produced by honeybees and has nutritional and therapeutic uses. In Ethiopia, honeys are used traditionally to treat wounds, respiratory infections and diarrhoea. Recent increase of drug resistant bacteria against the existing antibiotics forced investigators to search for alternative natural remedies and evaluate their potential use on scientific bases. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effects of different types of honeys in Ethiopia which are used traditionally to treat different types of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. METHODS: Mueller Hinton agar (70191) diffusion and nutrient broth culture medium assays were performed to determine susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and resistant clinical isolates (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), Escherichia coli(R) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (R), using honeys of Apis mellifera and stingless bees in northern and north western Ethiopia. RESULTS: Honey of the stingless bees produced the highest mean inhibition (22.27 ± 3.79 mm) compared to white honey (21.0 ± 2.7 mm) and yellow honey (18.0 ± 2.3 mm) at 50% (v/v) concentration on all the standard and resistant strains. Stingless bees honey was found to have Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of 6.25% (6.25 mg/ml) for 80% of the test organisms compared to 40% for white and yellow Apis mellifera honeys. All the honeys were found to have minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 12.5% (12.5 mg/ml) against all the test organisms. Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) was susceptible to amoxicillin, methicillin, kanamycine, tetracycline, and vancomycine standard antibiotic discs used for susceptibility tests. Similarly, Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) was found susceptible for kanamycine, tetracycline and vancomycine. Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) has not been tested for amoxicillin ampicillin and methicillin. The susceptibility tests performed against Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli (R) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (R) using three of methicillin, erythromycin, ampicillin, Penicillin and amoxicillin discs were resistant. But, these drug resistant strains were susceptible to antibacterial agents found in the honeys and inhibited from 16 mm to 20.33 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Honeys in Ethiopia can be used as therapeutic agents for drug resistant bacteria after pharmaceutical standardization and clinical trials.

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