heavy metals

The present study was conducted to determine the concentration of heavy metals in some selected    sediment samples from traditional gold mining area at Elabdeia Berber city Nile State Sudan. In addition, soil samples were collected from the site   of the study to serves as control. The heavy metals were analyzed using X-Ray Fluoresce. The results were treated statistically by ANOVA analysis and multivariate analysis such as cluster.  Based on obtained results, the average concentrations for Fe, Mn, Ni, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were very high in the sediment.  The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cr, and Cu were very higher in the soil (control) than in sediment, but the concentration of Pb and Zn were higher in sediment and this attributed to industrial and extraction of gold mining. The results of this study were compared with previous literature. 

Heavy metal toxicity can result in damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function, lower energy levels and damage to several internal organs. Several bacteria have naturally developed tolerance to a wide range of toxic heavy metals. Some bacteria have also evolved mechanisms to detoxify heavy metals. Among several metals, silver has been reported to possess medicinal property and hence used as an antibacterial agent. Inspite of this few silver resistant bacteria have been reported in clinical and environmental samples. Prevalence of silver resistance among several isolated strains provided the basis of the current investigation to determine the prevalence of silver resistance in clinical isolates. The goals of this study were 1) to isolate the uropathogens 2) to investigate the presence and prevalence of silver resistance of urine isolates taken from urinary tract infected patients and 3) to obtain the antibiogram pattern and 4) to determine the maximum tolerance range of silver by the isolated uropathogens, thereby standardize the concentration of silver as antibacterial agent.

  With an intention to screen for bacterial isolates from wound infection exhibiting resistance to antibiotics, we also checked for the resistance to heavy metals, since both may be plasmid borne. Several bacteria have naturally developed tolerance to a wide range of antibiotics and toxic heavy metals. Some bacteria have also evolved mechanisms to detoxify heavy metals. Tolerance of zinc and copper by these bacteria were studied and it was found that gram positive bacteria were more resistant than gram negative bacteria. We could determine the common pattern of resistance of the isolates to both antibiotics and metals. Key words: antibiotics; heavy metals; copper; zinc; metal tolerance