Inhibition of virulence potential of Vibrio cholerae by natural compounds.

The rise in multi-drug resistant Vibrio cholerae strains is a big problem in treatment of patients suffering from severe cholera. Only a few studies have evaluated the potential of natural compounds against V. cholerae. Extracts from plants like ‘neem’, ‘guazuma’, ‘daio’, apple, hop, green tea and elephant garlic have been shown to inhibit bacterial growth or the secreted cholera toxin (CT). However, inhibiting bacterial growth like common antimicrobial agents may also impose selective pressure facilitating development of resistant strains. A natural compound that can inhibit virulence in V. cholerae is an alternative choice for remedy. Recently, some common spices were examined to check their inhibitory capacity against virulence expression of V. cholerae. Among them methanol extracts of red chili, sweet fennel and white pepper could substantially inhibit CT production. Fractionation of red chili methanol extracts indicated a hydrophobic nature of the inhibitory compound(s), and the n-hexane and 90 per cent methanol fractions could inhibit >90 per cent of CT production. Purification and further fractionation revealed that capsaicin is one of the major components among these red chili fractions. Indeed, capsaicin inhibited the production of CT in various V. cholerae strains regardless of serogroups and biotypes. The quantitative reverse transcription real-time PCR assay revealed that capsaicin dramatically reduced the expression of major virulence-related genes such as ctxA, tcpA and toxT but enhanced the expression of hns gene that transcribes a global prokaryotic gene regulator (H-NS). This indicates that the repression of CT production by capsaicin or red chili might be due to the repression of virulence genes transcription by H-NS. Regular intake of spices like red chili might be a good approach to fight against devastating cholera.

Detection of integron structure and sequence of drug resistance gene cassette in clinical multidrug resistant Shigella dysenteriae strains / 中华传染病杂志

Objective Clinical strains of Shigella dysenteriae isolated from eastern parts of India in 1988, 1995 and 2002 were examined for the presence of class 1, 2 and 3 integrons which closely related with drug resistance and the distribution of resistance gene cassette in order to clarify the influence of integron system on drug resistance of Shigella dysenteriae. Methods Susceptibility to antimicrobial agents was tested by the disk agar diffusion method. Class 1, 2 and 3 integron genes (intI) were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 16 clinical strains with drug resistance.The variable regions of gene cassette of positive strains were sequenced. Results All 16 isolates were resistant to at least 4 agents including β-lactams, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, sulfonamides,chloramphenicols and quinolones. Class 1 integron gene was detected in 13 strains and all isolates carried class 2 integron which indicated that strains with two integron structures were detected simultaneously and class 3 integron was not detected. Class 1 integron inserted gene cassette was mainly blaara30 -aadA 1 family, conferring resistance to β-lactamase, spectinomycin and streptomycins isolates carried class 2 integron were mainly dfrAl-satl genes cassettes conferring resistance to methoxybenzyl aminopyrimidine and streptothricin, while dfrA\-sat\-aadA\ genes were present only in 4 isolates. Conclusions These data indicate that class 2 integrons are widespread in Shigella dysenteriae strains, and closely associated with multidrug resistance of Shigella.

Molecular typing of Vibrio cholerae O1 isolates from Thailand by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

The aim of the present study was to genotypically characterize Vibrio cholerae strains isolated from cholera patients in various provinces of Thailand. Two hundred and forty V. cholerae O1 strains, isolated from patients with cholera during two outbreaks, i.e. March 1999-April 2000 and December 2001-February 2002, in Thailand, were genotypically characterized by NotI digestion and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). In total, 17 PFGE banding patterns were found and grouped into four Dice-coefficient clusters (PF-I to PF-IV). The patterns of V. cholerae O1, El Tor reference strains from Australia, Peru, Romania, and the United States were different from the patterns of reference isolates from Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, India, and Thailand, indicating a close genetic relationship or clonal origin of the isolates in the same geographical region. The Asian reference strains, regardless of their biotypes and serogroups (classical O1, El Tor O1, O139, or O151), showed a genetic resemblance, but had different patterns from the strains collected during the two outbreaks in Thailand. Of 200 Ogawa strains collected during the first outbreak in Thailand, two patterns (clones)--PF-I and PF-II--predominated, while other isolates caused sporadic cases and were grouped together as pattern PF-III. PF-II also predominated during the second outbreak, but none of the 40 isolates (39 Inaba and 1 Ogawa) of the second outbreak had the pattern PF-I; a minority showed a new pattern--PF-IV, and others caused single cases, but were not groupable. In summary, this study documented the sustained appearance of the pathogenic V. cholerae O1 clone PF-II, the disappearance of clones PF-I and PF-III, and the emergence of new pathogenic clones during the two outbreaks of cholera. Data of the study on molecular characteristics of indigenous V. cholerae clinical isolates have public-health implications, not only for epidemic tracing of existing strains but also for the recognition of strains with new genotypes that may emerge in the future.