No abstract

Over the last decade, Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as one of the main causes of infections acquired in the hospital setting. Outbreaks associated with this pathogen are caused mainly due to contamination and transmission in hospital territories. However, the natural habitats of A. baumannii of clinical signi cance still remain unclear. In this study, we highlight the isolation and identi cation of multidrug resistant environmental strains of A. baumannii from the soil of Mangaluru city. All the recovered isolates were bio lm formers and two isolates were multidrug-resistant and showed resistance to uoroquinolone, aminoglycosides, sulfonamide, tetracycline, and carbapenems. In addition, they exhibited protease activity, produced phospholipase C and siderophore. To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst study to isolate and identify drug resistant strains of A. baumannii from the soil.

No abstract

Effective cancer treatment is an urgent need due to the rising incidence of cancer. One of the most promising future strategies in cancer treatment is using microorganisms as cancer indicators, prophylactic agents, immune activators, vaccines or vectors in antitumor therapy. The success of bacteria-mediated chemotherapy will be dependent on the balance of therapeutic benefit and the control of bacterial infection in the body. Additionally, protozoans and viruses have the potential to be used in cancer therapy. This review summarizes how these microorganisms interact with tumor microenvironments and the challenges of a ‘bugs as drugs' approach in cancer therapy. Several standpoints are discussed, such as bacteria as vectors for gene therapy that shuttle therapeutic compounds into tumor tissues, their intrinsic antitumor activities and their combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Bug-based cancer therapy is a two-edged sword and we need to find the opportunities by overcoming the challenges.

No abstract