Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria pose a big challenge in clinical practices, warranting a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, methanol extract of the marine cyanobacterium Oscillatoria acuminata NTAPC05 was fractionated under bioassay guidance and the fractions were tested against three well-characterized ESBL-producing bacteria E scherichia coli U655, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia B929 and Enterobacter asburiae B938. Out of the four HPLC fractions, fraction 2 showed bactericidal activity against all the three ESBL producers much more efficiently (MIC 100 μg ml −1 ) than the fourth-generation cephalosporin (MIC >125 μg ml −1 ). The active fraction was subjected to time-kill test at concentrations of 1/2 × MIC, 1 × MIC and 2 × MIC, and the results substantiated the bactericidal property of the fraction against the ESBL producers. Spectral analysis revealed monogalactosyldiacylglycerol containing a palmitoyl (MGDG-palmitoyl), being reported for the first time, as the active fraction, and its bactericidal property against ESBL producers was determined. The active fraction appears to damage the bacterial membrane leading to lysis of the cell, as revealed in confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) analysis, that was confirmed in scanning electron microscopic analysis. Cytotoxicity assay revealed the O. acuminata compound to be safe to a normal cell line HEK293 (human embryonic kidney cell). The in silico analysis of MGDG-palmitoyl revealed two successive H-bonding interactions with Leu198 of TEM1 β-lactamase. Taken together, the MGDG-palmitoyl from O. acuminata NTAPC05 offers potential to develop analogs as a therapeutic for bacteremia caused by ESBL producers.

Even though E. coli is a part of the normal human gut flora, there are certain subsets within these species which have acquired virulence genes that enable them to cause diarrhoea and other associated diseases (Wani et al., 2004). Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) are an important group of zoonotic human pathogens. Diarrhoeagenic class includes enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) (Murase et al., 2012). Among all the strains, those which produce shiga toxin ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 5 (2014) pp. 348-361 http://www.ijcmas.com

A variety of foods and environmental sources harbor bacteria that are resistant to one or more antimicrobial drugs used in medicine and agriculture. Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli is of particular concern because it is the most common Gram-negative pathogen in humans. Hence this study was conducted to determine the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of E. coli isolated from different types of food items collected randomly from twelve localities of Hyderabad, India. A total of 150 samples comprising; vegetable salad, raw egg-surface, raw chicken, unpasteurized milk, and raw meat were processed microbiologically to isolate E. coli and to study their antibiotic susceptibility pattern by the Kirby-Bauer method. The highest percentages of drug resistance in isolates of E. coli were detected from raw chicken (23.3%) followed by vegetable salad (20%), raw meat (13.3%), raw egg-surface (10%) and unpasteurized milk (6.7%). The overall incidence of drug resistant E. coli was 14.7%. A total of six (4%) Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) producers were detected, two each from vegetable salads and raw chicken, and one each from raw egg-surface and raw meat. Multidrug resistant strains of E. coli are a matter of concern as resistance genes are easily transferable to other strains. Pathogen cycling through food is very common and might pose a potential health risk to the consumer. Therefore, in order to avoid this, good hygienic practices are necessary in the abattoirs to prevent contamination of cattle and poultry products with intestinal content as well as forbidding the use of untreated sewage in irrigating vegetables.

Background: To describe the socio-demographic profile of HIV patients, who are clinically suspected to have lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and to estimate the prevalence and types of mycobacterial, bacterial and fungal pathogens in these patients.Materials and methods: Sputum samples were collected from ninety-four subjects attending at Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia and examined microbiologically.Results: Ninety-two pathogens were isolated from eighty-nine patients of the total ninety-four patients. Out of all isolates, 45.6% of the isolates constitute bacteria, 38% were Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 16.3% belong to different fungal classes. Mixed infection was identified in two cases. Klebsiella pneumonia and Candida albicans were the most common bacterial and fungal pathogens isolated respectively.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that there is a difference in the incidence rates of bacterial and fungal isolates of this study and of other studies conducted within Africa and outside Africa. (C) 2011 Polish AIDS Research Society. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z.o.o. All rights reserved.

The publisher would like to point out an error in the author affiliations of the paper ‘Mycobacterial, bacterial and fungal pathogens ausing pulmonary complications in patients with HIV infection’. In that paper, N. Thajuddin was mistakenly affiliated with universities a, b and c. However N. Thajuddin is only affiliated with ‘c’. The correct affiliations are displayed for this erratum. The publisher apologises for this error.

Objective:To determine the antimoraxella activity of Ethiopian medicinal plants extracts. Methods:Two clinical isolates of Moraxella cattarhalis(M.cattarhalis) with different antibiotic sensitivity pattern were tested to determine their susceptibility to garlic[Allium sativum(A. sativum)],bark of cinnamon[Cinnamomum zeylanicum(C.zeylanicum)],clove[Syzygium aromaticum(S.aromaticum)],and leaves of avocado[Persea americana(P.americana)], rosemary[Rosmarinus of ficinalis(R.of ficinalis)]and prickly poppy[Argemone mexicana(A. mexicana)].Disk diffusion assay and broth dilution method were used to measure zone of inhibition,minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of plant extracts against M.cattarhalis.Results:Both the strains of M.cattarhalis exhibited similar sensitivities to the extracts of medicinal plants.Antimoraxella activity was exhibited only by garlic,avocado leaves and cinnamon.Garlic was found to be more antagonistic to M.cattarhalis than cinnamon and avocado.Garlic and avocado leaves have shown similar MIC(30 mg/mL) where as their zone of inhibition(15 and 11 mm,respectively) were different. Conclusions:Garlic,cinnamon and avocado leaves extracts represents alternative source of natural antimicrobial substances for use in clinical practice for the treatment of cases of M. cattarhalis.Further research on the effects of these extracts on M.cattarhalis can be rewarding to pursue in the search for new broad spectrum antimicrobial agents.

Objective:To evaluate the detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus（MRSA） and analyze the performance of Mastalex MRSA（Mast,UK）.Methods:Two hundred and ten Staphylococcus aureus（S.aureus） strains were isolated from different clinical samples and were tested for methicillin resistance by Oxacillin（1μg） and Cefoxitin（30μg） disc diffusion, oxacillin agar screen,and minimum inhibitory concentration of oxacillin and cefoxitin.S.aureus isolates were grown on the blood agar and mannitol salt agar with（2 mg/L） and without oxacillin for the analysis of Mastalex MRSA.Results:Out of 210 S.aureus strains tested,103 strains were detected as methicillin resistant by Cefoxitin disk diffusion,Cefoxitin minimal inhibitory concentration（MlC） and Mastalex MRSA test.Whereas oxacillin disc diffusion and oxacillin agar screen detected 91 and 97 MRSA respectively.The Cefoxitin MIC test performance was equivalent to Cefoxitin disc diffusion.103（100%） strains grown on blood agar without and with oxacillin,and 76（74%） and 93（91%） strains grown on mannitol salt agar without and with oxacillin shown positive agglutination with Mastalex MRSA test respectively.Conclusions:The cefoxitin disk diffusion/ Mastalex MRSA is very suitable for detection of MRSA and the tests can be an alternative to PCR for detection of MRSA in resource constraint settings.Mastalex test would be particularly useful when confirmation of resistance is urgently required.

To determine the frequency of nocardiosis in HIV-positive individuals clinically suspected of having tuberculosis (TB), 140 sputum samples were collected and processed by Gram stain, modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining and by culture on Lowenstein Jensen medium. Four (2.85%) patients were positive for nocardia by microscopy and five (3.6%) had positive culture for Nocardia asterioides. In areas where HIV-associated TB is common, some patients diagnosed as smear-negative pulmonary TB will actually have nocardiosis. Clinicians should be aware of this entity in HIV/immunocompromised patients with respiratory infections who fail to respond to antituberculous treatment.

SUMMARY An experimental comparative study was conducted in order to compare the positivity pattern of sputum microscopy using the direct and overnight sedimentation Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) smears, direct and NaOCl pretreated centrifuged ZN smears and overnight sedimentation and NaOC1 pretreated centrifuged ZN smears methods. We examined 660 sputum smeared slides for the presence of acid-fast bacillus from 220 sputum samples. Compared with the direct microscopy method, positivity increased by 91.1% after centrifugation ( P < 0.001, χ2 = 18.27) and by 71.1% after overnight sedimentation ( P < 0.001, χ2 = 11.61). No statistical significant difference was observed between the results of two different concentration techniques ( P > 0.05, χ2 = 0.789). The application of overnight sedimentation (in a laboratory without electricity) and/or the centrifugation technique could make a positive impact on the effectiveness of national tuberculosis control programmes.