OBJECTIVETo evaluate in vitro antibacterial effectiveness of five medicinal plants used by an Indian aborigine, against 8 multidrug-resistant (MDR) enteropathogenic bacteria isolated from clinical samples of under-5 hospitalized children.

METHODSAntibiotic sensitivity patterns of eight clinically isolated strains of enteropathogenic bacteria, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella paratyphi, S. typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, S. sonnei and Vibrio cholerae were assessed by disc-diffusion method. Antibacterial activities of 8 solvent-extracts of leaves and bark of five medicinal plants were monitored by the agar-well diffusion method. The microbroth dilution method was used to assess minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Qualitative phytochemical analyses of active plant extracts were carried out.

RESULTSEthanol, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Holarrhena antidysenterica leaf tissue were most effective against 8 MDR pathogens in vitro. Similarly, acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of Terminalia alata leaf tissue; chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Terminalia arjuna leaf tissue and ethyl acetate, ethanol and methanol extracts of Paederia foetida leaf tissue were most effective in inhibiting in vitro growth of the 8 MDR enteropathogens. Ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of H. antidysenterica bark tissue; acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of T. alata bark tissue and acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of T. arjuna bark tissue were most effective in controlling enteropathogen growth. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values of the 3 most antimicrobial leaf and bark extracts from the five plants were in the range of 1.56 to 50 mg/mL.

CONCLUSIONThese 5 plants exhibited in vitro control over a cohort of 8 enteropathogenic bacterial strains isolated from clinical samples.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; Bacteria ; drug effects ; Child, Preschool ; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the infection of hospital- and community-acquired "erythromycin-induced clindamycin resistant" strains or D-test positives of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) (with and without methicillin resistance) in a hospital.

METHODSStrains of S. aureus isolated from clinical specimens were subjected to D-test and antibiotic profiling.

RESULTSOf the total 278 isolates, 140 (50.35%) were D-test positives and the rest were D-test negatives. Further, of 140 (100%) positives, 87 (62.14%) and 53 (37.85%) strains were from males and females, respectively. Of 140 (100%) positives, 117 (83.57%) were methicillin resistant S. aureus and 23 (16.42%) were methicillin sensitive S. aureus; of 140 strains, 103 (73.57%) strains from persons with and 37 (26.42%) were without related infections; of 140 strains, 91 (65%) and 49 (35%) were from hospital- and community-acquired samples, respectively. In 140 strains, 118 (84.28%) with comorbidities and 22 (15.71%) without comorbidities cases were recorded; similarly, persons with prior antibiotic uses contributed 108 (77.14%) and without 32 (22.85%) positive strains. These binary data of surveillance were analyzed by a univariate analysis. It was evident that the prior antibiotic uses and comorbidities due to other ailments were the determinative factors in D-test positivity, corroborated by low P values, P=0.001 1 and 0.002 4, respectively. All isolates (278) were resistant to 17 antibiotics of nine groups, in varying degrees; the minimum of 28% resistance for vancomycin and the maximum of 97% resistance for gentamicin were recorded. Further, of 278 strains, only 42 (15.1%) strains were resistant constitutively to both antibiotics, erythromycin resistant and clindamycin resistant, while 45 (16.2%) strains were constitutively sensitive to both antibiotics (erythromycin sensitive and clindamycin sensitive). Further, of the rest 191 (68.7%) strains were with erythromycin resistant and clindamycin resistant, of which only 140 (50.35%) strains were D-test positives, while the rest 51 (18.34%) strains were D-test negatives.

CONCLUSIONSIn view of high prevalence of D-test positive S. aureus strains, and equally high prevalence of multidrug resistant strains both in community and hospital sectors, undertaking of D-test may be routinely conducted for suppurative infections.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; Clindamycin ; pharmacology ; Community-Acquired Infections ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Cross Infection ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Erythromycin ; pharmacology ; Female ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; India ; epidemiology ; Male ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; drug effects ; Staphylococcal Infections ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Staphylococcus aureus ; drug effects ; isolation & purification

In the above-mentioned article, the authors want to update the source of Figure 1 both in Figure legend and in the Reference section, which was missing the original article.