Mubbashir Hussain

Natural occurrence of mycotoxins in medicinal plants: A review

Medicinal plants are widely used as home remedies and raw materials for the pharmaceutical industries. Herbal remedies are used in the prevention, treatment and cure of disorders and diseases since ancient times. However, use of medicinal herbs may not meet the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy. During harvesting, handling, storage and distribution, medicinal plants are subjected to contamination by various fungi, which may be responsible for spoilage and production of mycotoxins. The increasing consumption of medicinal plants has made their use a public health problem due to the lack of effective surveillance of the use, efficacy, toxicity and quality of these natural products. The increase in use of medicinal plants may lead to an increase in the intake of mycotoxins therefore contamination of medicinal plants with mycotoxins can contribute to adverse human health problems and therefore represents a special hazard. Numerous natural occurrences of mycotoxins in medicinal plants and traditional herbal medicines have been reported from various countries including Spain, China, Germany, India, Turkey and from Middle East as well. This review discusses the important mycotoxins and their natural occurrences in medicinal plants and their products.

Evaluation of mycotoxins, mycobiota and toxigenic fungi in selected medicinal plants of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Medicinal plants are used worldwide to treat a variety of ailments. Due to the provenance of medicinal plants, they are subjected to contamination by moulds, which may be responsible for spoilage and production of mycotoxins. The investigation was designed to throw light on mycological and mycotoxicological status of some medicinal plants from Pakistan and the result showed 30 % and 26.7 % samples were contaminated with aflatoxins and ochratoxin A, respectively. Mould contamination was present in 90 % samples, of which 70 % exceeded the permissible limits. Opium poppy, licorice root, and Indian rennet were most contaminated samples. The predominant moulds found were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus parasiticus, and Penicillium spp. and 31 % of the 47 isolates tested were found to be toxigenic. The findings indicate that the contamination in the medicinal plants may contribute to adverse human health problems. This information would prove helpful for regulatory agencies to establish limits for these contaminants in medicinal plants and will explore ways for export of herbal products to countries where more stringent permissible limits of mycotoxins exist. The study is first of its kind in the country reporting natural occurrence of mycotoxins in medicinal plants in Pakistan.

First report on molecular characterization of Leishmania species from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE To report presence of Leishmania major in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, where cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic and was thought to be caused by Leishmania tropica only. METHODS Biopsy samples from 432 CL suspected patients were collected from 3 southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during years 2011-2016. Microscopy on Giemsa stained slides were done followed by amplification of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 gene. RESULTS Leishmania amastigotes were detected by microscopy in 308 of 432 samples (71.3%) while 374 out of 432 samples (86.6%) were positive by ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 PCR. Subsequent restriction fragment length polymorphism confirmed L. tropica in 351 and L. major in 6 biopsy samples. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first molecular characterization of Leishmania species in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It confirmed the previous assumptions that anthroponotic CL is the major CL form present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Furthermore, this is the first report of L. major from a classical anthroponotic CL endemic focus identified in rural areas of Kohat district in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Characterization of dengue virus in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus spp. of mosquitoes: A study in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Dengue is a vector-borne disease caused by dengue virus. According to the recent report of CDC that one-third population of the world are at high risk with Dengue fever. The prevalence of the dengue hemorrhagic fever was found more in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Aedes mosquitoes was reported as the main cause of transmission of dengue virus. So the current study was planned to characterize the virus in Aedes mosquitoes collected from different area of Pakistan. In current investigation, Aedes mosquitoes and larvae were trapped under conducive conditions which are counted as 495 Aedes mosquitoes and 260 Aedes larvae. First of all, adult mosquitoes were identified morphologically under microscopy, counted as 73.3% Ae. aegypti and 26.7% Ae. albopictus. Finally, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses that only 4 adults of Aedes mosquitoes and 10 Aedes larvae as naturally infected with dengue virus with possible source Ae. aegypti. This study basically uncovered the presence of virus in different species of mosquitoes in southern regions of Pakistan. The present study will also give us an insight for vector control programs of dengue virus in the affected area.

Molecular detection of rifampicin resistance by GeneXpert® assay among treated and untreated pulmonary tuberculosis patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

OBJECTIVES Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is an emerging health problem. Rifampicin (RIF) is the major first-line drug against TB. RIF resistance can be used as a marker for the detection of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). The purpose of this study was to determine the RIF resistance pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates among treated and untreated patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. METHODS A total of 349 drug-treated and untreated TB-diagnosed patients were enrolled in this study. RIF resistance was detected using a GeneXpert® assay for amplification of the RIF resistance-determining region (RRDR) region of the rpoB gene. RESULTS The overall prevalence of RIF resistance was 5.2% (18/349). Among 49 untreated TB patients, 3 samples (6.1%) were found resistant to RIF. Among 235 patients with a category 1 treatment regimen, 10 samples (4.3%) were resistant to RIF, whilst among 65 patients with a category 2 (Cat-2) treatment regimen, 5 samples (7.7%) were resistant to RIF. A comparison based on patient sex revealed high RIF resistance among male compared with female patients. RIF resistance was highest (4/21; 19.0%) in the 21-40 years age group among Cat-2 patients. CONCLUSIONS The overall prevalence of RIF resistance was high among treated and untreated TB patients. These findings will be helpful for better monitoring and management of RIF resistance in TB patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.