Indian Journal of Microbiology Research

4-13

Authors: Vijay N. Charde1,*, Shweta M. Bhiwankar2, Pratik M. Bezalwar3

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa has become an important cause of infection, especially in patients with compromised host defense mechanisms. Thus, it is a frequent cause of nosocomial infections. Development of drug resistance in Pseudomonas is worldwide problem and tough challenge to medical practitioners; Methods: Present study involves the isolation of Pseudomonas from the patients suffering from the ailments like respiratory tract infection, UTI, etc. and studying the antibiotic resistant pattern of these isolates and synergistic action of cold and hot water and methanol extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum on the activity of antibiotics by agar diffusion method; Results: Out of 28 isolates of Pseudomonas isolates five isolates exhibiting wide resistance pattern were selected for study. The results showed synergistic effect of Cinnamomum zeylanicum on the antibiotics which are ineffective against the Pseudomonas isolates. Cold methanol and cold water extract showed good synergistic effect with antibiotics AK, CTX, CAZ, PI, G, CPZ, CPM, CB, NET, TCC, CTR, IPM, AT & AZ against Isolate P-19 making it susceptible to these antibiotics. Hot extract of both methanol and water showed no synergistic effect against Isolate P-19. All the extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum have shown no significant synergistic effect on the antibiotics against Isolate P-3, P-4, P-20 and P-26; Conclusions: Cinnamom extract is effective in combination with antibiotic in dealing the drug resistance problem of Pseudomonas and such synergy is important in exploring the new options for drug resistance problem of many pathogens.

37-45

Authors: Sodani Sadhna, Hawaldar Ranjana.

Background: Growing multiple drug resistance in microorganisms is of great importance and so is the knowledge about the current drug susceptibility pattern for deciding the empirical usage of antibiotics. E.coli is one of the commensals in the human intestinal tract and contributes to the maintenance of Health of the person. However when E.coli enters into unnatural sites, it can cause variety of infections, bacteremia, meningitis and other soft tissue infections. The emergence of antibiotic resistance in Ecoli is threatening the effectiveness of many antibiotics which has resulted in increased hospital stay of patients, which in turn causes economic burden. Extended spectrum Beta lactamase (ESBL) producing E.coli has tremendously increased worldwide and it is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality associated with hospital acquired infections. Objective: The present retrospective study highlights the susceptibility pattern of E.coli in clinical specimens obtained at Sampurna Sodani Daignostic Clinic Indore (MP) Microbiology department for the year 2014 from January to July. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study of ESBL producing E.coli in different clinical specimens including urine, blood, pus, vaginal swab, stool, semen, aural swab, BAL fluid and conjuctival swab obtained from out patients at Sampurna Sodani Diagnostic Clinic Microbiology department located in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) from January to July 2014 and reported in fully automated Microscan (Siemens) according to CLSI guidelines. A total of 542 samples were reviewed. A total of 29 antibiotics were assessed for the resistance pattern in E.coli isolates. Results: Out of 542 E.coli isolates grown in the lab from urine, blood, pus, vaginal swab, stool, aural swab, BAL fluid, and conjunctival swab. 420 isolates showed sensitivity to imipenem, amikacin, meropenem, and piperacillin/tazobactum in more than 70 % cases. Conclusion: ESBLs are enzymes that mediate resistance to extended spectrum Beta lactamase (third generation) cephalosporins (eg. Ceftazidime, cefotaxime, & ceftriaxone) and monobactums (eg. Aztreonam) but do not affect cephamycins (eg.cefoxitin) or carbapenems (eg.meropenem or imipenem). 40. 95% isolates of E.coli were ESBL. Among oral antibiotics highest sensitivity was observed to nitrofurantoin (68.33 %) and Amoxy/ Clavulinic acid (44.8%) which can be the drug of choice for E.coli infections specially in UTI. Injectable drugs like Imipenem (90.4%) and Amikacin showed sensitivity in 84.87% isolates but being injectable drugs, should be used with caution.

52-55

Authors: C. Sundaravadivelan, P. Kumar, J. Anburaj, T. Kuberan, S. Sivasubramanian.

Tea is one of the major nonalcoholic beverages in the world. Being a perennial crop, it provides a stable environment for a number of pests and diseases. Pests are important factors limiting the productivity and quality of processed tea. Among the pests, the shot hole borer (SHB), Euwallacea fornicatus (Eichhoff) is a serious pest of tea in south India. These beetles have a symbiotic relationship with the fungus Fusarium bugnicourtii. The fungal spores are carried by the beetles in special organs called mycangia located in the buccal cavity of head. Spores of the ambrosia fungus borne by the female beetles adhere to the walls of the stem galleries. On germination of spores, the grubs and adults feed on the fungus. Hence a novel approach has been attempted to find out the efficacy of pesticides on the fungus, F. bugnicourtii. Results showed 50 % reduction of fungi while tested with Dicofol, Endosulfan, Quinalphos and Lambdacyhalothrin. The high significance was observed in Dicofol and Endosulfan, and no significance was recorded in Lime sulphur, Ethion and control treatments at 0.05 %.

60-71

Authors: Souvik Nath and Abul Kalam.

Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is a term we use to describe the variety of life on Earth. Microbes are one of the dominant life forms in the earth. Their contribution to the earth and human being is beyond the imagination. Their science is concerned with their form, structure, reproduction, physiology, metabolism and classification. It also includes their distribution in nature, their relationship with each other and other living organisms, their effects on human beings, other animals and plants. Biological diversity (biodiversity) encompasses the variety of life forms occurring in nature, from the ecosystem to the genetic level, as a result of evolutionary history (Wilson 1992). Microbial Diversity is an integral part of biodiversity which includes bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, protozoa and protests. Fungi constitute a major portion of natural resources likely to provide innovative applications useful to man. Fungi are one of the major sources of antimicrobial agents and produce a wide range of other important medicinal compounds, industrially important biomolecules, novel enzymes, insecticides the microbial level is beginning to be recognized, but this richness of diversity amongst bacterial, fungal and virus species has yet to be catalogued particularly in West Bengal. The East Kolkata Wetland (EKW) is situated at 880 20’ E - 880 35’ E and200 25’ N -200 35’ N. Climate here is more or less sub-tropical with the annual mean rainfall around 200 cm. The maximum temperature during summer rises around 390 C. while minimum temperature during winter is around 100 C. The average temperature during most part of the year is around 300 C during day time with a fall in temperature of 50-60C at night. East Kolkata Wetland shows an immense diversity of flora and fauna both at the macro and micro level. Microbial richness of a region is its unseen asset that needs to be explored and conserved. Soil samples collected from East Calcutta Wetland shows the presence of various new strains of microbes which are not only ecologically important but also have commercial value. Isolation, characterization, documentation and conservation of these resources are important considering their strategic importance for future generation as well as complimentary economic growth and prosperity. In this present work several fungi were isolated and purified from diverse area of East Calcutta Wetland out of which about 10 organisms was identified by microscopic studies. Among the isolates it is expected that one or two new genus may obtained.

77-83

Authors: Supriya Christopher, P M Giridhara Upadyaya.

Background: Brucella sps are Gram negative, facultative intracellular bacteria causing brucellosis in humans and animals. Since it is a multi-organ disease and symptoms are nonspecific the diagnosis by clinical finding is difficult and can be missed .Many serological tests have been used form the diagnosis of human brucellosis. This study compared the diagnostic value of in-house ELISA and IFA using lipopolysaccharide heat extracted antigen (LPS-HE) and Lipopolysaccharide sonicated extracted antigen (LPS- SE) with STT. Methods: The present study was carried out to evaluate the two different antigenic preparations from smooth strains of Brucella abortus S99 for standardising ELISA and IFA as the alternative test for STT. Standard Tube test antigen and Standard anti brucella serum was obtained from IVRI, Izatnagar were used as controls for standardizing ELISA and IFA. 81 human sera (cases) were collected from people working in organized farms including veterinary staff, 32 animal sera from organized farms mentioned above, 100 human sera (controls) collected from KIMS, Bangalore Blood bank. 100 WIDAL positive samples from Department of Microbiology used to check for cross reactivity. All the serum samples (cases, controls and WIDAL positive samples) were tested with STT. Result: Out of 81 human sera 8 (9.87%) was found to be positive with SAT showing a titre of ≥ 1:80. Whereas by ELISA, 10 (12.34%) & 9 (11.11%) cases showed positive in LPS –SE and LPS –HE coated plates respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for IFA was 77 and 87.5. Conclusion: It was found that ELISA was considered to be better test over IFA and STT. It is cheap and reproducible and a specific assay for the diagnosis of Brucellosis.

91-94

Authors: Vijay Prabha, Harpreet Vander, Sonia Gupta.

Contraception is a well-known conventional method for stabilizing the world population. Traditional contraceptive techniques that have been used for several years are associated with disadvantages and side effects. There is urgent need of improvements in prevailing birth control methods available to us. Various vaginal contraceptive agents marketed today are chemical or detergent based that are accompanied by numerous negative effects on vaginal flora and epithelium. Therefore, novel mode for birth control that is attaining limelight at the present time is the use of microbial products.