Effect of zinc on the antipseudomonal activity of cefoperazone, ciprofloxacin and tobramycin in vivo and in vitro

The effect of zinc sulfate on the in vitro activities of cefoperazone, ciprofloxacin and tobramycin was evaluated against 10 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from patients of cystic fibrosis associated with pulmonary pneumonia. Adding zinc of commercial media deficient to this cation increased the MICs and MBCs of the three tested antibiotics. Concurrent administration of zinc with each of the three antibiotics resulted in significant reduction in the antipseudomonal activity of both cefoperazone and tobramycin, while the activity of ciprofloxacin did not significantly altered. The response of pulmonary arterial rings isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected rabbits to serotonin was significantly reduced when compared to those isolates from control rabbits. Cefoperazone potentiates the response of the pulmonary arterial rings isolated from infected rabbits to serotonin when compared to control rings. Zinc either alone or in combination with cefoperazone significantly reduced the response of the pulmonary rings isolated from infected rabbits to serotonin when compared with control. The results of the present study showed that, zinc reduced the antipseudomonal activities of cefoperazone and tobramycin and did not altered the activity of ciprofloxacin in vivo

Potential interaction and toxicity of concurrently administered gentamicin or cefotaxime with Paracetamol in rabbits

The effect of co-administration of paracetamol with either gentamicin or cefotaxime on the antibiotic blood level was investigated in rabbits. Serum creatinine level and the activities of serum alanine aminotransferase [ALAT] and aspartame aminotransferase [ASAT] were measured before and after 10 days of treatment in case of each combination. Also, the concentration of hemoglobin and the count of RBCs were determined before and after treatment. Body weight was monitored throughout the time of experiment. It was found that concurrent administration of paracetamol with gentamicin resulted in a significant increase in gentamicin level after 1, 2, 18 and 24 hours from drug administration. Similarly, blood level of cefotaxime was also significantly increased at 1, 2, 8 and 24 hours after drug administration. Serum creatinine was increased significantly after gentamicin treatment. However, such increase was not observed in case of treatment with gentamicin/paracetamol combination. Neither cefotaxime alone nor cefotaxime/paracetamol combination produced any significant change in serum creatinine. Concerning the effect on the activities of ALAT and ASAT, only the combinations of gentamicin/paracetamol and cefotaxime/paracetamol were found to produce significant increase, while single treatment with antibiotics did not produce any change. No change was observed in the blood parameters studied or in body weight. From this study, it was concluded that the use of paracetamol in combination with either gentamicin or cefotaxime is almost safe and the observed hepatic effect is mainly due to paracetamol. Also, with antibiotic, blood should be monitored if administered concurrently with paracetamol

Human T-lymphotropic viruses [HTLVs] in mycosis fungoides

The direct or indirect involvement of retroviruses with the development of leukaemia/lymphoma has been well established in animals and human.Mycosis fungoides, a rare form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, is suspected of having a viral etiology on the basis of certain similarities to adult T-cell leukaemia, which is associated with human T-cell leukaemia/ lymphoma virus type I [HTLV-1] infection. We have searched for HTLV-1, HIV-1 and HIV-2 antigens in the skin lesions and the antibodies in the sera of 3patients with mycosis fungoides. In one patient the skin lesion expressed HTLV-1 related antigen and by PCR we could detect HTLV-1 specific DNA in PBMCs of this patient this result could support the causative role of HTLV-1 in mycosis fungoides

Resistant corneal ulcers; Clinico-bacteriological study

This study was carried upon 64 patients of resistant corneal ulceration of two weeks duration. The patients were exposed to thorough clinical examination with searching the possible predisposing factors, scraping the ulcers and Gramstain then inoculation of the scrapings into different bacteriological and fungal media for cultures. The cultures revealed that 453% of the cases were bacterial in origin, 17.2% were fungal, 4.7% of cases were mixed bacterial and fungal and 6.3% of the cases were due to acanthamoeba. Staphylococcus aureus was the common organism and Aspergillus was the common fungus isolated