The use of medicinal plants as natural antimicrobial agents is gaining popularity. Sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is widely used for the treatment of diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of sorrel on Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolates from food, veterinary, and clinical samples. Phenolics of the calyces were extracted from 10 g of ground, freeze-dried samples using 100 mL of 80% aqueous methanol. Concentrations of 10%, 5%, and 2.5% methanol extract of sorrel were investigated for its antimicrobial activity. Inhibition zones were indicated by a lack of microbial growth due to inhibitory concentrations of sorrel diffused into semisolid culture medium beneath the sorrelimpregnated disk. The results of this experiment showed that the most potent sorrel concentration was 10%, then 5%, and finally 2.5%. The overall mean zone of inhibition for the sorrel extract was 12.66 mm for 10%, 10.75 mm for 5%, and 8.9 mm for 2.5%. The highest inhibition zones (11.16 mm) were observed in veterinary samples, and the lowest (10.57 mm) in the food samples. There were significant (P < .05) differences among mean zones of inhibition found in the food, veterinary, and clinical sources. Based on the source of samples and concentration of sorrel extract, the lowest mean inhibition was 7.00 -0.04 mm from clinical samples, and the highest was 15.37 -0.61 mm from a food source. These findings indicated that sorrel was effective at all levels in inhibiting E. coli O157:H7; thus it possesses antimicrobial activity and hold great promise as an antimicrobial agent.

Experimental as well as epidemiologic studies in human populations provide evidence that consumption of phytochemicals reduces the incidence of degenerative diseases. Green tea (GT) catechins are known for their antioxidative potential. Phytic acid (PA) also acts as a natural antioxidant and may have numerous health benefits. This experiment was designed to investigate the inhibitory effects of combinations of 1% and 2% GT, PA, and inositol (I) in reducing the incidence of azoxymethane-induced colon tumors in Fisher 344 male rats. After an acclimatization period of 1 week, nine groups of rats (15 rats per group) were initially assigned to consume AIN 93 G diet and later AIN 93 M diet after 20 weeks of age. Treatments were given in drinking water. All rats received azoxymethane injections (16 mg/kg of body weight) subcutaneously at 7 and 8 weeks of age. Rats were killed at 45 weeks of age by CO(2) euthanasia. Tumor incidence (93.76%) and the number of tumors per tumor-bearing rat ratio (2.25) were significantly (P<.05) higher in the control group compared with treatment groups. Glutathione S-transferase activity was significantly (P<.05) higher in rats fed combinations of 2% GT+PA+I and GT+PA (33.25 ± 1.23 and 29.83 ± 1.10 μmol/mL, respectively) compared with other groups. These findings suggest that the synergistic effect of the 2% level of GT, PA, and I may reduce the incidence of colon tumors and therefore have potential as a chemopreventive agent.

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Foodborne illness is an escalating concern upon public health. The prevalence of Yersinia enterocolitica was assessed in chitterlings, raw milk and swine fecal from North Carolina. Uncleaned thirty chitterling samples procured from a local grocery store, forty-five swine fecal samples, and forty unpasteurized cow milk samples supplied by the University farm were evaluated for the presence of Y. enterocolitica. Isolates identified as presumptive positive were characterized as colonies with a pink or deep-red center on MacConkey and CIN agar, and verified further through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of 16S rRNA gene for the Yersinia genera. Results showed that 4.4% swine fecal samples, 7.5% milk samples and 11.3% chitterling samples were presumptive positive for Y. enterocolitica by the direct plating method on selective agars. Of the thirty-chitterling samples examined by PCR for the 16S rRNA gene, 26% samples contained the identification gene for the bacteria of interest. After conducting virulence tests, the fecal samples were revealed as non-pathogenic. Only one of the milk samples were considered pathogenic and consisted of the following virulent genes: Yersinia heat-stable toxin (yst), invasion (inv), attachment invasion locus (ail), virulence regulon transcriptional activator (virF), Yersinia adehesin A (yadA), and the O:3 antigen gene (rfbC). Seven out of the eight (87.5%) chitterling samples were shown to be pathogenic. Disc diffusion was conducted to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates. Over half (55.5%) of the antimicrobial agents were found effective, with isolates being completely susceptible to ciprofloxacin, kanamycin, trimethoprim, cefotaxime, and gentamycin. Ampicillin was determined to be least effective, where 84.6% of the samples presented resistance to the drug. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and ERIC-PCR techniques were used to evaluate genetic similarity among the Yersinia isolates.

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