Introduction Staphylococcus aureus constitutes the most pathogenic species within the staphylococcal genus. Humans remain the major reservoirs of this pathogen which colonizes mostly anterior nares of healthy individuals. Aim To investigate the effect of fennel essential oil (FEO) and trans -anethole ( t A) on antibacterial activity of mupirocin (MUP) against S. aureus strains isolated from asymptomatic carriers. Material and methods The content of the FEO was analysed with use of the GC-MS method. The research done on 43 S. aureus isolates with different resistance patterns, obtained from nasal vestibule. Antibacterial activity of MUP in combination with FEO or t A was examined using the agar dilution method and E-test method. The data analysis was done with the Pearson’s χ 2 test. Results The chemical composition of FEO was consistent with the European Pharmacopoeia (EP) for the main constituent – t A (77.9%) according to the EP recommendations. Macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B resistance phenotype was prevalent among 39.5% of S. aureus isolates. FEO concentrations of 2.0% and 2.5% revealed antibacterial activity against 76.7% of isolates, whereas t A inhibited S. aureus growth at concentrations > 4.0%. The MIC values for MUP combined with FEO as well as for MUP combined with t A were < 0.064 µg/ml for 79.1% and 86.0% of S. aureus isolates, respectively. Conclusions Our experiment revealed FEO and t A influence on MUP effectiveness. The combination of MUP with FEO as well as MUP with t A are worth considering to implement in S. aureus eradication procedures. These findings will be useful in designing efficient antistaphylococcal agents which can limit the emergence of antibiotic resistance.

No abstract

The diverse clinical picture and the non-specificity of symptoms in Lyme disease (LD) require the implementation of effective diagnostics, which should take into account the heterogeneity of Borrelia antigens. According to available guidelines, laboratories should use a two-tier serological diagnosis based on the enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) screening test and confirmation of the immunoblot (IB). The aim of the study was to investigate the immunoreactivity of LD patient sera to Borrelia antigens and to attempt to identify the genospecies responsible for LD using an ELISA–IB assay combination. Eighty patients with suspected LD and 22 healthy people participated in the study. All samples were tested with ELISA and IB assays in both IgM and IgG antibodies. In the case of the ELISA assay, more positive results were obtained in the IgM class than in the IgG class. In the case of the IB assay, positive results dominated in the IgG class. Positive results obtained in the IB assay most often showed IgM antibodies against the OspC and flagellin antigens, whereas the IgG antibodies were against VlsE, BmpA, OspC, p41, and p83 antigens. The IB assay is an important part of LD serodiagnosis and should be mandatory in diagnostic laboratories.

S u m m a r yIntroduction: Staphylococcus aureus is an important etiological agent of skin and soft tissue infections. Due to the increasing resistance of this bacterium to antimicrobial agents, treatment of staphylococcal infections remains a great challenge for clinicians and requires an alternative treatment options. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of essential oils: caraway (CEO), patchouli (PEO) and geranium (GEO) against S. aureus strains isolated from skin lesions in the course of staphylococcal skin infections. Methods: The antibacterial activity of essential oils was tested using the dilution method in Mueller-Hinton broth. Results: The antimicrobial effect of CEO, PEO and GEO was observed. The highest antimicrobial activity showed PEO (MIC = 1.7±0.8 μl/ml), the lower was observed for GEO (MIC = 5.4±2.0 μl/ml) and CEO (MIC = 18.8±10.3 μl/ml). Conclusion: All tested essential oils showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus strains isolated from skin lesions of patients with staphylococcal skin infections. Application of the CEO, PEO and GEO can become an alternative method of treatment of staphylococcal infections, but further microbiological tests and clinical trials should be assessed. key words: Staphylococcus aureus, caraway oil, patchouli oil, geranium oil, staphylococcal skin infections

Recently, methods based on the analysis of arbitrarily amplified target sites of genome microorganisms have been extensively applied in microbiological studies, and especially in epidemiological studies. The range of their application is limited by problems with discrimination and reproducibility resulting from a lack of standardized and reliable methods of optimization. The aim of this study was to obtain optimal parameters of the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) reaction by using an orthogonal array as per the Taguchi and Wu protocol, modified by Cobb and Clark for Candida parapsilosis isolates. High Simpson’s index values and low Dice coefficients obtained in this study indicated a high level of interspecies DNA polymorphism between C. parapsilosis strains, and the optimized RAPD method proved useful in the microbiological and epidemiological study.