Antibacterial activity of eight Iranian plant extracts against methicillin and cefixime restistant Staphylococcous aureus strains

Objective:To assess the antibacterial activity of eight Iranian plant extracts against Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus) strains which were isolated from infected patients.Methods: The studied strains were isolated from urine,stool,blood and wound of infected patients and identified by biochemical tests.In further,the antibacterial activity of 8 ethanolic local plant extracts including Querqus brantii(Q.brantii),Ziziphus spina-christi(Z.spina-christi),Peganum harmala(P.harmala),Oliveira decumbens(O.decumbens),Galium tricornutum(G.tricornutum), Vitex pseudo negundo(Vi.pseudo negundo),Salvia officinalis(S.officinalis),Vaccaria pyramidata (V.pyramidata) were then evaluated using agar disc diffusion method.Results:A total of 9 isolates were isolated and identified as S.aureus.Antibacterial profile of the strains showed that the strains were resistant to methicillin and cefixime.The highest antibacterial activity against the studied strains were belong to Q.brantii,P.harmala,Z.spina-christi and O.decumbens vent extracts with 11-40 mm,15-28 mm,8-26 mm and 10-20 mm of diameters,respectively. Intermediate antibacterial activity was exhibited by G.tricornutum and Vi.pseudo negundo against some of the studied strains with 7-20 mm and 7-13 mm of diameters,respectively. Noteworthy,out of 9 studied strains;6 and 2 of them were resistant to the G.tricornutum and Vi. pseudo negundo extracts,respectively.The S.officinalis and Va.pyramidata,however,showed no antibacterial activity against the studied strains.Conclusions:The Q.brantii,P.harmala,Z. spina-christi and O.decumbens extracts were shown to possess strong antibacterial activity against methicillin and cefixime resistant S.aureus strains and can be considered as the promising natural antibiotics for treating the studied strains.

The high incidence of acute hemolysis due to favism in Ahvaz,Iranclinical features and laboratory findings

Objective:To collect comprehensive information about the features of favic patients in Ahvaz (Capital of Khouzestan,Iran) and analyze the extent of the differences with their corresponding in other regions.Methods:A total of 103 patients with acute hemolysis admitted to pediatric division of Abouzar Hospital located in the city of Ahvaz,Iran during 21st of June 2008 to 20th of June 2009 were analyzed retrospectively.Results:95.14% of the patients had favism while 4.86% of them underwent hemolysis due to other reasons.These patients were male(68.93%) and female children(31.06%) admitted mostly during the spring season.The three main symptoms were urine discoloration,jaundice and vomiting.At the admission time,the main hematologic findings were as follows:G6PD sufficient status(45.63%),G6PD deficient status(54.36%) and hemoglobin concentration:2.5-11.8(mean±SD:6.45±2.12) g/dL.Conclusions:In conclusion,Ahvaz was determined as a black zone for favism in which the disease can be considered a life threatening health problem.Moreover,slight differences were observed in the three main symptoms compared with favic patients in other regions.