RESUMO
Fifty-eight clinical Salmonella typhi strains isolated from patients suspected of suffering from typhoid fever were obtained at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, both located in Ghana, Africa. Each isolate was examined for susceptibility to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole by the disk diffusion assay. Five of the isolates were resistant to all five antibiotics while 10 isolates were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, which are considered 'first line' antibiotics in the treatment of typhoid fever. Thirty-four isolates were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested and 62% of these isolates possessed conjugable plasmids belonging to incompatibility group IncHI. Ninety percent of the conjugable plasmids conferred a multiple drug-resistant phenotype on the strains harboring them. Additionally, 14 strains contained plasmids that were transformable and six of them encoded multiple drug resistance. Our findings indicate that multiple drug resistance to the 'first line' antibiotics in S. typhi may be more prevalent in Africa than previously thought.
Assuntos
Farmacorresistência Bacteriana Múltipla/genética , Plasmídeos/genética , Salmonella typhi/efeitos dos fármacos , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Conjugação Genética , Transferência Genética Horizontal , Gana , Humanos , Testes de Sensibilidade Microbiana , Salmonella typhi/isolamento & purificação , Transformação Bacteriana , Febre Tifoide/microbiologiaRESUMO
The basis for managing diabetes mellitus with aqueous extract of Ocimum canum Sim (Lamiaceae), in Ghana was investigated in diabetic and normoglycemic mice. In the diabetic mice, fasting blood glucose decreased by 60% compared to 10% in control mice after 13 weeks of extract administration. Body weight, serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased while serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased in the extract-treated group. In vitro hydroxyl (OH) and superoxide (O2) radical formation, and lipid peroxidation of isolated human LDL and mouse liver homogenates decreased in extract-treated experimental systems. These findings justify the use of O. canum extract as an antidiabetic folk medicine.
