Current Microbiological Research in Africa

Dr. Abia is an Applied and Environmental Microbiologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa with over 10 years of experience in microbiology. He holds a Doctor Technologiae in Water Care from the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. Dr Abia currently leads the Molecular and Environmental Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance section of the Antimicrobial Research Unit (ARU), UKZN. His current research focuses on triangulating the molecular epidemiology of antibiotic resistance between humans, animals, and the environment. He also serves as a specialist panel member at the South African Water Research Commission and the National Research Foundation for the review of research grants.Dr. Lanza has been involved in research, teaching, curriculum development, and consulting in the environmental sciences for more than 35 years including ecotoxicology, environmental impact assessment, applied and environmental microbiology, aquatic ecology, and water quality.  He has worked as a research scientist in industry, for environmental consulting firms, for international environmental advocacy organizations, and major educational institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Mahidol University and Burapha University in Thailand, New York University, the University of Texas, the University of Massachusetts where he was the Director of the Environmental Science Program. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and served on the US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. Dr. Lanza is currently Research Professor of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY.

• Preface.- Foreword.- Antibiotics used in aquaculture and their biological effects in fish.- Socio-political challenges facing microbiology research in Africa.- Low-Cost Household Water Treatment (HWT) Technologies for Microbiological Contaminants.- Microbial pathogens in water resource sediments: towards setting up guidelines for microbial sediment quality.- Some bacterial pathogens of public health concern in water and wastewater.- Understanding the development and structure of biofilms in water distribution systems and household water storage containers.- Enrichment versus non-enrichment methods of biodegradation of hydrocarbons.- Emerging viral diseases, resistance and impact in the environment.- Fermented foods and beverages in Africa and their potential health benefits.- Use of effective and competitive native strains of Rhizobium inoculants for sustainable agricultural productivity.- The Significance of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Africa.- Vibrio cholerae and Cholera.- The use of biosurfactants in the bioremediation of oil-polluted water.- The era of bacterial genomics in antibiotic research in Africa.- Environmental risk related to Bacterial predation on Cyanobacteria.- Next-generation sequencing as a tool for profiling soil microbial communities in South Africa.- Biocidal activity of Algerian plant extracts on selected bacteria of public health concern.- Emerging and re-emerging bacterial pathogens of humans in environmental and hospital settings.- Prevalence of pathogenic E. coli genes on toilet sears from rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa.- Index.