[Antimicrobial effect of Ruta graveolens extract on pathogenic bacteria]

Ruta graveolens is a plant used in traditional medicine with variety of therapeutic effects. This study was done to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of hydro and alcoholic extracts of Ruta graveolens on 8 species of pathogenic bacteria. In this descriptive study, standard strains of Enterococcus faecalis, Staphilococcus aureus, Staphilococcus epidermis, Strptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia Coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Enterobacter Cloace were obtained from Iranian institute of scientific and industerial research center. The effect of hydro and hydroalcholic extracts of Ruta graveolens on the growth of bacteria was determined by disc diffusion and serial macro dilution methods. Minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] for each extract was determined and the findings were compared with 8 common antibiotics including Co-trimoxazole, Oxycycline, Vancomycin, Erythromycin, Furazolidon, Tetracycline, amoxicillin / clavulanic acid and Ampicillin/sulbactam. Hydro and hydroalcoholic extracts of Ruta graveolens did not show any inhibitory effect on growth of the pathogenic bacteria even in the presence of high concentration [3mg/ml]. The extracts of arial organs of Ruta graveolens had no inhibitory effect on growth of the common human pathogenic bacteria

Detection of leptospires serogroups, which are common causes of human acute leptospirosis in Guilan, northern Iran

This study is performed to reveal most common species and subspecies of leptospires that are main causes of human leptospirosis in Guilan, Northern Province of Iran. We performed IgM-ELISA and MAT on 282 blood samples from patients who attended to 3 hospitals in the flat area of Guilan Province with clinical symptoms consisted with leptospirosis. All specimens with titers >/= 160 against at least one pathogenic strain in MAT and with titers >/= 160 in IgM-ELISA were regarded confirmed positive cases indicative acute disease. For any confirmed positive cases, we determined the strains, which had the highest titer to determine the frequency of most common serovars and serogroups. Seventy of 282 sera had titers >/= 160 against at least one pathogenic strain in MAT and titers >/= 160 in IgM-ELISA. We determined frequency of common causative serogroups which had highest titers in 70 positive cases and only cases which had high titers in MAT and in IgM-ELISA were selected which is a reliable criterion to detect acute disease and to determine causative serogroup. Nine serogroups including sejroe, grippotyphosa, mini, ictero haemorrhagiae, celledoni, autumnalis, cynopteri, pomona, and javanica were more responsible of acute leptospirosis in Guilan

Isolation and serotyping of endemic leptospires of west and central regions of the flat areas of Guilan province

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis which is more widespread in the tropical and semi tropical regions, and is endemic in the flat area of Guilan province, north of Iran. Surface waters are sources of saprophytic and carier animals are reservoirs of pathogenic agent. In each endemic region only a limited number of pathogenic serovars are common, and characterization of them is a very important step in detecting the main reservoirs of the disease. This study is performed to isolate endemic leptospires from rice farms, irrigation canals, and rivers of west and central parts of the area, which accounted for a significant annual incidence of the disease. In this cross-sectional study, 500 specimens were taken from 13 cities of the area, between May to September of 2007. One ml of each water sample was inoculated in EMJH liquid medium with 200 micro g/ml 5-flurouracil after filtration by 22 micro m syringe filter. All speciments were incubated in 30°C for 3 months and were checked by darkfield microscope every 2 weeks. All positive samples were characterized by using 30 types antisera. One hundred thirteen of 500 specimens were positive. Saprophytic serogroups were Andamana and Semaranga, belonging to biflexa species. Pathogenic serogroups were icterohaemorrhagiae, pomona, canicola and pyrogenes [interrogans Specie], hardjobovis and sejroea [Borgpeterseni specie], grippotyphosa [Kircshneri]. Pathogenic species were common in the rice paddies and saprophytic species were common in the rice farms, rivers and irrigation canals, respectively. It seems that higher frequency of pathogenic serogroups in rice farms is due to high traffic of animals and rodents, and the long time stay of water in the farms. Isolation of saprophytic serogroups in all types of surface waters was expected. Increasing farmers' knowledge about the ways of the disease transfer, and avoiding of unprotected contact with surface waters might help with decreaseing the incidence of the disease in the area

epidemiology of ieptospirosis in guilan provice 2003

Leptospirosis is most widespread Zoonosis in the world and is more prevalent in tropical and temperate regions. In most Of Iran, climatologic and ecological conditions are unfavorable for leptospirosis to play an important role as a public health problem. However this does not count for the neglected flat area of Guilan province which presumably represents a region with a high incidence of human leptospirosis. This area has a subtropical climate with mainly farmers as inhabitants. By far the most important agricultural activity is rice farming. Most of farmers used to keep domestic animals in their houses and rodents are abundant. To find evidence for a high incidence of leptospirosis in the Guilan province, we collected blood samples from patients who attended one of the three big general hospitals in the province with clinical symptoms consistent with leptospirosis in 2003. All sera were stored at -20°C until examination by ELISA and MAT. All patients whose serum had titers