Human health care against COVID-19 via environmental management

Although vaccines are successfully developed against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19), and many anticancer, anti-malarial, antibiotic drugs have been repurposed against the disease, it has been just impossible to save valuable human lives in specific conditions. Therefore, medical care has been developed against COVID-19 but not fully able to save human life from the disease. As a result, the third wave is noticed in many countries. Preventive methods such as social distancing, wearing masks, and hand salinization have been accepted as the main strategies to break the chain of the disease. Due to the reduction in pollution under less or no industrial and vehicular operations, water and air ecosystems have been restored in an unseen manner. Especially, NO₂, SO₂ and particulate matters etc. modulated higher expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the receptor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2 in humans have also been emphatically documented. Therefore, along with medical care, environmental protection (especially to regulate NO₂ emissions) along with practicing COVID-19 guidelines is to be maintained fully to combat COVID-19 the disease. Human beings must use this knowledge and experience as a spotlight to save nature in current and future times.

The Effects of Antidepressants Fluoxetine, Sertraline, and Amitriptyline on the Development of Antibiotic Resistance in Acinetobacter Baumannii

In this study, we investigated the effects of antidepressants fluoxetine, sertraline, and amitriptyline on the development of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii. Susceptible clinical A. baumannii isolates were exposed to fluoxetine, sertraline, amitriptyline for 30 days, respectively. After exposure, the bacteria that developed resistance to gentamicin, imipenem, colistin, and ciprofloxacin were isolated and expression levels of some antibiotic resistance genes were compared with test bacteria in initial cultures using the quantitative Reverse-Transcriptase PCR method. The data obtained were analyzed using Student's t-test method. Increases in the MIC values of test bacteria were also determined after the exposure. The number of test bacteria that developed resistance and the MIC values of some bacteria were increased with the extension of exposure time. After exposure to fluoxetine and sertraline, decreases were observed for efflux and outer membrane porin genes in isolates that developed colistin resistance, and increases were observed in isolates that developed ciprofloxacin resistance. These observations suggest that these antidepressants have similar effects on the development of resistance. While the exposure to fluoxetine didn’t result in the development of resistance to imipenem, it was observed after exposure to sertraline and amitriptyline, and a common decrease in ompA gene expression was determined in these isolates. This study is one of the preliminary investigations that demonstrates the role of non-antibiotic drugs on the development of antibiotic resistance. To the best of our knowledge, our findings report the comparative effects of selected antidepressants on the development of antibiotic resistance in A. baumanni for the first time in the literature.

Investigation of Virulence Genes of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Sterile Body Fluid Samples and Their Correlation with Clinical Symptoms and Outcomes

Staphylococcus aureus is the major pathogen causing nosocomial human infections and produces a variety of virulence factors that contribute to its ability to colonize and cause diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the virulence genes in S. aureus isolated from sterile body fluid samples and their correlation with clinical symptoms and outcomes. The VITEK 2® Compact system was used to perform biochemical identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests on 33 S. aureus isolates. Virulence genes were amplified using multiplex PCR. The virulence gene patterns were analyzed by systematic cluster analysis. The frequency of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was 45.45%, and 17 virulence genes were identified. Genes encoding hemolysins showed high frequencies. The frequencies of hla, hlb, hld, and hlgB were 93.94% and that of the luk-F/S-PV was 21.21%. Except for the frequency of splB (51.52%), the remaining genes encoding invasive proteases showed frequencies greater than 81.82%. Among the patients, 100.00% had undergone invasive medical procedures and 24.00% had been treated with more than three types of antibiotic drugs. Invasive medical procedures are the main causes of infection. Resistance to antibiotic drugs and the status of carrying virulence genes were highly related to clinical symptoms and outcomes.

Rational Prescription Pattern of Antibiotics: A Quantitative Analysis Based on Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital (KYAMCH), Sirajganj, Bangladesh

Antibiotics, alternatively known as antibacterial drugs, prevent or reduce the development of germs. A decade has been added to the life expectancy of human beings since the discovery of antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse can result in resistance to a wide spectrum of diseases and bacteria. Antibiotic utility is being jeopardized by the rise of resistance. There aren't enough innovative agents to deal with the problem of resistant strains. The current study targeted to highlight the current status of antibiotic use.The study was designed as a prescription-based survey where the medicines in prescriptions were checked containing antibiotics, whether the drugs were prescribed rationally or not. The study was conducted from February to July 2018 at Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital, Bangladesh. Patient’s data were collected through review of patient medical records and prepared questionnaires. 100 people were interviewed, and their prescriptions were captured as photos and then checked for rationality.The antibiotics are prescribed in the group of 10 to 30 years, 31 to 50 years and more than 50 years of age.The survey demonstrated that 46% of patients know about antibiotics partially, about 74% of patients fulfill their entire course of medication and the rest of the patients stop taking medication after feeling better. Only 21% of patients knew about antibiotic resistance, whereas 37% of patients only heard about antibiotic resistance. According to the age group from low to high, 92.9%, 91.67%, 86.36% prescriptions were rational; 2.4%, 2.78%, 4.55% prescriptions were contraindicated and 4.7%, 5.56%, 9.1% prescriptions where medicines interacted with other non-antibiotic drugs, respectively. The overall rational prescription is 91%, whereas 3% of prescriptions are contraindicated and 6% of prescriptions showed interaction between antibiotics and other drugs (non-antibiotics).The study concluded that lack of knowledge and awareness of patients and inaccurate prescription data by physicians are two key factors that contribute to irrational antibiotic usage.

Atorvastatin does not display an antimicrobial activity on its own nor potentiates the activity of other antibiotics against Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC17978 or A. baumannii AB030

With the current arsenal of antibiotics increasingly becoming ineffective against bacteria, there is an increasing interest in the possibility of using previously approved non-antibiotic drugs as antimicrobials. Statins have recently been investigated for their antimicrobial activity and their ability to potentially synergize with current treatment options. Atorvastatin had been shown previously to be the most promising candidate for effectivity against Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC17978. In this study, we tested atorvastatin for its activity against an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain A. baumannii AB030. However, our data show that atorvastatin has no effect A. baumannii AB030. Intriguingly, atorvastatin was also ineffective against our laboratory’s A. baumannii ATCC17978. This lack of atorvastatin activity against A. baumannii ATCC17978 cannot be attributed to RND efflux pumps as a strain deficient in the three most clinically relevant RND efflux systems in A. baumannii showed no change in susceptibility compared to its parent strain ATCC17978. Further, atorvastatin failed to potentiate the activity of tobramycin and ciprofloxacin. While it is not clear to us why atorvastatin is not active against A. baumannii ATCC17978 used in our study, our study shows that evaluation of compounds for their antibacterial activity should involve multiple strains to account for strain-to-strain variation.

Bis-Thiourea Quaternary Ammonium Salts as Potential Agents against Bacterial Strains from Food and Environmental Matrices

In recent years, the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance in hospitals, communities and the environment has increasingly grown, so antibiotic resistance has become an urgent problem that requires a decisive and global intervention. Incorrect/unnecessary use of antibiotics contributes to increase the ability of microorganisms to develop resistance faster and faster. Research efforts must, therefore, be made to ensure a future in which antibiotic drugs will still be useful in combating infectious diseases. The search for new antibacterial compounds is fundamental. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of the compounds was evaluated against selected bacterial strains from food and environmental matrices by using the Agar Well Diffusion Assay. A total of thirty-six Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were employed to determine the action spectrum and the antimicrobial effectiveness of a small series of thiourea derivatives. Results showed that the highest activities were found for compounds 1 and 4. The important role of the alkyl chain length and/or guanidine moiety in the width of action spectrum was evidenced. Further studies will allow evaluating the efficacy of the inhibiting action and the molecular mechanisms underlying this activity in order to identify compounds capable of counteracting the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance and to identify possible future applications of these newly synthesized compounds that have shown a high bactericidal action potential.

TO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ETIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY PATHOGENSOF INFECTIOUS RESPIRATORY ORGANS IN NEWBORN AFTER ARTIFICIAL PULMONARY VENTILATION

Objective. The study of the etiological structure, properties of pathogens of the Vinnytsia National Medical University named after E. Pirogova, respiratory process in newborns who have underwent artificial mechanical lung ventilation (MLV) and their resistance to antibacterial agents is especially relevant in modern conditions, expands the search for new approaches to pathogens, improves treatment and reduces mortality from this pathology. The purpose of the study - to determine the etiological structure, sensitivity to antibiotics of the leading pathogens of the infectious process of the respiratory system in newborns who were on mechanical ventilation. Materials and methods. In total, the species composition of the leading microorganisms that colonized the airways of 180 newborns treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (VAITN) of Vinnytsia Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital (VRCCH) was studied in 2020. A total of 285 isolates of microorganisms were isolated. 62 patients who underwent mechanical ventilation were involved in a prospective microbiological study, 86 clinical strains of microorganisms were isolated. The susceptibility of microorganisms to 30 antibacterial agents was determined according to the generally accepted method (order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine №167; recommendations). Research results. The etiological significance of opportunistic pathogens (Enterobacter cloacae - 29%, Staphylococcus aureus - 24.4%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa - 18.6%, Candida albicans) was proved in patients who were on mechanical ventilation in VAITN VRCCH in 2020 for pneumonia. Clinical strains of S. aureus are sensitive to vancomycin, oxacillin and clindamycin. Conclusions. Pathogens of the respiratory process in newborns who have been on mechanical ventilation, are resistant to a number of antibiotic drugs (cefepime, gentamicin amikacin, piperacillin).