Browsing by Subject "Länsi-Afrikka"

Constantly increasing level of bacteria becoming resistant to clinically relevant antibiotics challenges the modern medical achievements made over the past century. In global scale, one of the most significant information gaps concerning the occurrence of resistant bacteria is located in West African countries. Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli strains resistant to 3rd generation cephalosporins and carbapenems are a major risk to public health through infections with limited or no available treatment options. The resistance to these antibiotics among Enterobacteriaceae is mainly mediated by hydrolyzing enzymes such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL). The focus of this thesis is to study the genes encoding these enzymes and other resistance factors found in K. pneumoniae and E. coli isolated from human stool and waste water samples in Burkina Faso and Mali. Tree Enterobacteriaceae isolates were selected for whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis based on their phenotypic resistance profiles defined by disk diffusion method. Reads were assembled to draft genomes and the genomes were studied for their antibiotic resistance genes, virulence genes and their associations to mobile genetic elements found in these isolates’ genomes. Additionally a pan-genome was created to investigate species specific features of K. pneumoniae and their role in heavy load of antibiotic resistance genes among these isolates. Pan-genome consisted of two genomes sequenced in this study and 12 genomes from the publically available database. 16-month old Burkinabe child was a carrier of one ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae (isolate Burkina_1) and one ESBL-positive E. coli along with the resistance to multiple other antibiotics. With genome wide analysis the K. pneumoniae strain could be described as sequence type (ST) 45 representing, multidrug resistant and ESBL-gene CTX-M-15 carrying strain with highly similar virulence gene profile to strains previously described as pathogenic K. pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis. K. pneumoniae isolated from the stool sample of an adult living in Burkina Faso was found to be multidrug resistant, though non-ESBL-producer strain (isolate Burkina_2). The isolate showed no similarity to any previously described sequence type. CTX-M-15 encoding E. coli of ST38 (isolate Mali_1) carried by Malian child showed resistance to five different classes of antibiotics in addition to the 3rd generation cephalosporins. At the same time the isolate showed hybrid virulence gene profile with virulence genes associated to many different E. coli pathotypes including neonatal meningitis causing E. coli (NMEC). The exceptional plasticity of K. pneumoniae genome could be recognized as one of the putative explanations for the high number of resistance genes found among the isolates studied in this work. Antibiotic resistance genes were found to be associated to mobile genetic elements (MGE) and as the genetic plasticity is caused by the acquisition of external genetic material via MGEs such as plasmids, this can lead to indirect accumulation of resistance genes in these genomes. The results in this thesis work show alarming examples of pathogens that potentially cause severe infections, have extremely narrow or no treatment options and are carried by infants. These findings are in line with the few data about the level of faecal carriage of ESBL-producing strains by people in Burkina Faso and Mali reported previously.

The dominant discourses on the issue of asylum have placed it on a uniquely higher level of scrutiny as a politically very sensitive area for social research. Today, member states within the EU have implemented stricter policies to control new arrivals, whilst instituting statutory procedures to manage the existing asylum claims. In 2010, the number of applicants for asylum in Finland totalled 5988, out of which 1784 were given positive decisions. This thesis endeavour to highlight asylum seekers in the discourses about them by adding their voices to the discussions of them in contemporary Finland. Studies, which has concentrated on asylum seekers in Finland, uses the living conditions within asylum reception centres to assess the impacts of structural barriers on asylum seekers’ efforts to deal with the asylum process. By highlighting the impacts of the entire asylum process, which I believe starts from the country of origin; I focus on examining narratives of dealing with the experience of liminality whilst waiting for asylum, and then explore areas of possible participation within informal social networks for West African asylum seekers in Finland. The overall aim is to place the current research within the broader sociological discussion of ‘belonging’ for asylum seekers who are yet to be recognized as refugees, and who exist in a state of limbo. Methodologically, oral interviews, self-written autobiographical narratives, and ethnographic field work are qualitatively combined as data in this thesis for an empirical study of West African male asylum seekers in Finland. Narrative analysis is employed to analyze the data for this thesis. The ethnographic research data for the study began in May 2009 and ended in August of 2010. Altogether, ten interviews and four self-written narratives were collected as data. In total seven hours of audio recording were made, along eleven pages of hand-written autobiographical narratives. Field observation notes are employed in the study to provide contexts to the active interactional processes of interpretation throughout the analysis. Findings from the study suggest that within the experience of liminality, which surrounds the entire asylum process, participations within informal social networks are found to be important to the process of re-making place and the sense of belonging. My study shows that this is necessary to countering the experience of boredom, stress and social isolation, which permeate all aspects of life for West African asylum seekers, whilst they wait for asylum decisions in Finland.