The study aimed to determine the antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile), Malva sylvestris, and Capsella bursa-pastoris against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from clinical specimens. Methods: The plants were collected from Ziarat Village, southern heights of Gorgan, and the required parts were separated and then thoroughly dried in the shade. After grinding, extraction was performed by the maceration method. The extract was dried at 37°C for 24 h. A concentration of 50 mg/ml of each extract was obtained in 10 ml 5% dimethyl sulfoxide and sterilized. For the antibacterial assay, agar well diffusion and broth microdilution methods were used. Results: Our results showed no inhibitory effect for the ethanolic extracts of M. sylvestris and C. bursa-pastoris against the MRSA isolates in both antibacterial assays. The chamomile flower extract showed antibacterial activity against the 20 MRSA isolates at 50 and 25 mg/ml concentrations. The extract from chamomile leaves demonstrated an inhibitory effect on the 7 MRSA isolates. The extracts from chamomile flowers demonstrated MIC and MBC at a concentration of 6.25 and 12.5 mg/ml for most MRSA isolates, while these values for the extracts from chamomile leaves were 12.5 and 25 mg/ml for a few MRSA isolates, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, the ethanolic flower extract of chamomile showed significant antibacterial activity against the MRSA isolates. Hence, this extract may be an alternative to antibiotic therapy and a good option to control infections caused by MRSA and pathogenic bacteria.

In this study, three different diagnostic tests for parvovirus were compared with vaccination status and parvovirus genotype in suspected canine parvovirus cases. Faecal samples from vaccinated (N17) and unvaccinated or unknown vaccination status (N41) dogs that had clinical signs of parvovirus infection were tested using three different assays of antigen tests, conventional and quantitative PCR tests. The genotype of each sample was determined by sequencing. In addition to the suspected parvovirus samples, 21 faecal samples from apparently healthy dogs were tested in three diagnostic tests to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the tests. The antigen test was positive in 41.2% of vaccinated dogs and 73.2% of unvaccinated diseased dogs. Conventional PCR and qPCR were positive for canine parvovirus (CPV) in 82.4% of vaccinated dogs and 92.7% of unvaccinated dogs. CPV type-2c (CPV-2c) was detected in 82.75% of dogs (12 vaccinated and 36 unvaccinated dogs), CPV-2b was detected in 5.17% dogs (one vaccinated and two unvaccinated) and CPV-2a in 1.72% vaccinated dog. Mean Ct values in qPCR for vaccinated dogs were higher than the unvaccinated dogs (p = 0.049), suggesting that vaccinated dogs shed less virus, even in clinical forms of CPV. CPV-2c was the dominant subtype infecting dogs in both vaccinated and unvaccinated cases. Faecal antigen testing failed to identify a substantial proportion of CPV-2c infected dogs, likely due to low sensitivity. The faecal samples from apparently healthy dogs (n = 21) showed negative results in all three tests. Negative CPV faecal antigen results should be viewed with caution until they are confirmed by molecular methods.

The objective of this study was to detect Mycoplasma bovis specific antibodies using a recently reported MilA ELISA with the aim to detect M. bovis antibodies in milk. An indirect ELISA, based on a recombinant fragment of the Mycoplasma immunogenic lipase A (MilA) protein, was conducted on 291 milk samples for the detection of M. bovis antibodies. Samples were also tested with conventional Mycoplasma culture and M. bovis PCR. Samples were collected from individual cows from 2 commercial dairy herds in South Australia. Of 291 samples tested, 68 (23.4%) were detected positive for M. bovis antibodies, 150 (51.5%) were positive for M. bovis in PCR and 166 (57.0%) in bacterial culture. These results indicate that MilA indirect ELISA can be utilized for the detection of M. bovis antibodies in milk.

Background: This study aimed to determine antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile), Malva sylvestris, and Capsella bursa-pastoris against multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methods: The plants were collected from Ziarat village of Gorgan, Iran in April 2019. The required parts of the plants were separated and completely dried in the shade. After grinding, extraction was performed by maceration method. The extract was dried at 37°C for 24 hours. To obtain a concentration of 50 mg/mL of each extract, 500 mg of the dried plant extract was dissolved in 10 mL 5% dimethyl sulfoxide and sterilized by filtration through a 0.45 µm membrane filter. For the antibacterial assay, agar well diffusion and broth microdilution methods were used. Results: Based on the results, ethanolic extracts of M. sylvestris and Capsella bursa-pastoris did not show any antibacterial activity against MDR P. aeruginosa isolates in both antibacterial assays. No inhibitory effect was observed for ethanolic extract of chamomile against P. aeruginosa isolates in agar well diffusion method as well. In broth microdilution method, the extract of chamomile leaves showed inhibitory effect and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined as 12.5 and 25 mg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: In this study, the extract of ethanolic chamomile leaves showed antibacterial activity against the MDR P. aeruginosa isolates. Thus, it can be used in the production of antibacterial agents, and it is a good option for protection against pathogenic microorganisms, as well as P. aeruginosa.

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