New Insights into Cutaneous Asepsis: Synergism between Pfaffia and Rosemary Extracts.

(1) Background: In hospitals, medical and dental clinics, antiseptics or disinfectants play an essential role in the control of nosocomial infections. This study aimed to evaluate R. officinalis and P. paniculata glycolic extracts regarding: (I) their antimicrobial action on planktonic and biofilm (monotypic and cutaneous biofilm model-S. aureus, S. epidermidis and C. acnes); and (II) their cytotoxicity on human keratinocytes (HaCaT). (2) Methods: Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were performed (CLSI protocol M7-A6 and M11-A8). MTT analysis was used to evaluate the antibiofilm activity of the extracts on biofilms and their cytotoxicity on human keratinocytes. (3) Results: The combined glycolic extracts MIX A (75% P. paniculata + 25% R. officinalis); MIX B (50% P. paniculata + 50% R. officinalis); and MIX C (25% P. paniculata + 75% R. officinalis) promoted MBC values by 50 mg/mL on S. aureus, absent on S. epidermidis, and ranged 6.25-50 mg/mL for C. acnes. The cutaneous biofilm model was reduced more than 90%. In addition, it showed biocompatibility with human keratinocytes, resulting in percentages of viability greater than 50%. (4) Conclusions: The combination of extracts promoted antimicrobial action on planktonic cultures, and monotypic and heterotypic biofilms of skin pathogens. Additionally, these extracts are biocompatible against human keratinocytes.

Saliva culture as a predictive indicator for current blood infections and antimicrobial resistance in the ICU setting.

Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide health problem and patients in intensive care are more vulnerable, requiring strict control measures and early identification. Currently, clinical culture materials are used to identify the bacterial agent, but saliva culture is not validated, which has great clinical relevance because it participates in several pathophysiological processes. The aim of this study was to validate saliva culture in an intensive care unit environment, determining its diagnostic value for infection. For this purpose, the results of the 39-month surveillance cultures, from the database of a private hospital were evaluated. A total of 323 cultures were paired between saliva, tracheal secretions, blood and urine from patients who were hospitalized for more than 5 days. The search for correlations between the results was performed using the Spearman correlation test. Severity and evolution data were also correlated. It was possible to correlate the presence of Klebsiella spp. between blood culture and saliva culture in 25% of the results (r = 0.01) and the correlation between saliva and tracheal secretion was 33% (r = 0.33447) with p < 0.0001. In conclusion, saliva can be an excellent discriminator of systemic infections, and can be considered a useful culture in clinical practice.