[Study of antibacterial effects of hydro - alcoholic extract of 8 medicinal herbs against vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus]

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the leading bacterial species causing infection in human. This species is or becoming resistant to many antibiotics, including vancomycin. As vancomycin is one of the antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of the infections caused by S. aureus, therefore identification and application of new effective antibacterial compounds is of utmost importance. In this study, the anti VRSA effects of the hydro alcoholic extracts of 8 Iranian medicinal plants including bulb of Allium ascalonicum, Allium sativum, leave of Utica dioica, Falcaria vulgari, Achillea millefolium and Trigonella foenum and seeds of Trigonella foenum and Brassica alba were surveyed. The effects were studied using disk diffusion method and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration was determined using micro dilution broth methods against 15 VRSA strains. Among the extracts, the most effective was Allium ascalonicum bulb: MIC 50: 128 micro g/ml and Achillea millefolium had the least effect: MIC 50: 1000 micro g/ml. As VRSA strains are widespread in the world and treatment of the causative infections is becoming a major problem in medicine, these results, especially results of anti VRSA effects of Allium ascalonicum bulb extract, might be very helpful but clinical application of these extracts and identification of the fractions need further study

[ MIC study of antibiotics used in the treatment of children with urinary tract infections caused by E.coli using E-test and its comparison with disk diffusion]

Urinary tract infection [UTI] is one of the most common bacterial infections in the childhood which could result in chronic renal failure and hypertension. Antibiotic resistance is increasing due to widely using of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to determine the MIC of antibiotics which are using in the treatment of UTI in children by E-test. In this descriptive study, 87 E.coli strains were isolated from the urine samples of the patients with UTI. E.coli antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using E-test. The MIC for each antibiotic was determined and classified using NCCLS criteria. Eighty seven urine samples were collected from 57 girls [65.5%] and 30 boys [34.5%]. The mean age for girls was 61 months and for boys was 41 months [p=0.015]. The MIC [50 and 90 percentiles] for each antibiotic was as fallow: Ampicillin [256, 256], Amikacin [1/5, 4/8], Gentamycin [0.38, 32], Nalidixic Acid [1/5, 256], Ceftriaxon [0.023, 32], Cefixim [0.19, 256] and Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole [32, 32]. The antibiotic susceptibility rate for each antibiotic was as fallow: Ampicillin [21.8%], Amikacin [92%], Gentamycin [75.5%], Nalidixic Acid [64/4%], Ceftriaxon [72/4%], Cefixim [65/5%] and Trimethoprim- Sulfamethoxazole [41/4%]. This study showed that the antibiotic resistance of E.coli was very high. Due to increasing rate of E.coli resistance to Ampicillin and Cotrimoxasole in children, it is better to reconsider the empirical therapy with these antibiotics. Since in this study a lower resistance rate of E.coli was observed for Amikacin and Gentamycin therefore, we could suggest these antibiotics as alternatives in the treatment of children with urinary tract infection