CSB stain is a better stain for rapid diagnosis of dermatophytoses because of ease of performance, rapidity of detection, better appreciation of morphology of fungal elements, and cost effectiveness.

Abstract:Medicinal properties are present in different parts of Ocimum sps. like leaves flowers, root, stem etc. and have been used by traditional medical practitioners. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of cold and hot water extract of leaves of Ocimum sanctum against clinical bacterial isolates by disc diffusion method. Cold and hot water extract of leaf of Ocimum sanctum were prepared at 250µg/ml, 500µg/ml, 1000µg/ml concentrations, impregnated into discs of 6mm diameter and tested on S.aureus, B.subtilis, E.coli, Proteus mirabilis, Shigella dysentriae, Salmonella typhimurium . There was no significant difference between the zone of inhibition of the test organisms to cold and hot water extracts. S. aureus and S. typhimurium had the zone size of 1.2 cm, 1.1 cm and 1.0 cm zone of inhibition for B. subtilis and Shigella dysentriae respectively. The inhibition was the greatest at concentration of 1000 µg/ml for both cold and hot water extracts against all test organisms. The antimicrobial activity was the maximum for E. coli i.e. 1.4 cm in both cold and hot water extracts. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of leaf extract of Ocimum sanctum was found to be more or less active against all tested pathogenic strains for both cold and hot water extracts; it may be due to the presence of tannins, essential oils, flavonoids, alkaloids and eugenol present in varying proportions. The plant contains important bio-active compounds and hence has found use as essential plant species in traditional medicine for treatment of various diseases.

Introduction: The street food provided in ready-to-eat form are prepared and sold by vendors and hawkers in the street and other public places are a major source of foodborne diseases. Aim: The present study was undertaken to detect the causative agents in street foods and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Settings and Design: Crosssectional study. Materials and Methods: Food samples and Ice-creams collected from street vendors, fast food joints were homoginized, serially diluted up to 10-5 and 1ml was seeded on to Blood agar, MacConkey agar and other bacteriological media. Results: Eighty Percentages of samples had pathogens. Salads were highly contaminated in 19 food outlets, followed by cut fruits, fast food-1(pani-puri, bhel-puri, masala puri), fast food-2 (noodles, fried rice, lemon rice). The antibiotic sensitivity pattern revealed Staphylococcus aureus (27.08%) were resistant to ampicillin gentamicin (23.95%), ciprofloxacin (18.75%). Escherichia coli were resistant to ampicillin, ciporofloxacin. Salmonella sps isolated were resistant to ampicilin, gentamicin (20.88%), ciprofloxacin, amikacin and co-trimoxazole (13.54%). The resistance exhibited by Shigella sps were only (2.08%). Vibrio sps showed resistance to ampicillin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, amikacin and co-trimoxazole Discussion: Salads had the highest number of pathogens (19.79%) followed by cut fruits, fast food-1 and 2. Staphylococcus aureus (7.26%), E.coli and Salmonella sps (5.20%) respectively were isolated. High counts of Staphylococcus aureus could be due to poor personal hygiene of the food handlers and lack of heat processing steps during preparation. Conclusion: Education of the public and eating establishments is crucial to the control of food borne illness.

Aims:Emergence of resistant isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has resulted in failure of clindamycin therapy. The prevalence of inducible clindamycin resistance in S. aureus isolated from nursing students and pharmacy students (representing carriers exposed and not exposed to hospital environment respectively) was evaluated.Materials and Methods:Nasal, throat, and palmar swabs were collected from 119 nursing students and 100 pharmacy students. S. aureus was identified and antibiogram obtained by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Inducible clindamycin resistance was detected by the D-test.Results:36 and 34 individuals in the exposed and non-exposed groups respectively were carriers of S. aureus. 16.7% and 5.9% isolates showed inducible clindamycin resistance in exposed and non-exposed groups, respectively. The percentage of inducible clindamycin resistance was higher among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (27.8%) compared to methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (5.8%).Conclusion:S. aureus isolates resistant to β-lactams can also show inducible clindamycin resistance. Exposure to hospital environment was not found to be a risk factor for carriage of S. aureus with MLSBi phenotype.

Introduction:Staphylococcus have become common cause of skin and soft tissue infections. Resistance to a number of drugs have increased and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and inducible clindamycin resistance (iMLSB) have become a major problem for the treatment of Staphylococcal infections. This study was undertaken to detect MRSA and iMLSB and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates. Materials and Methods: 150 isolates of Staphylococcus were studied for detecting the antibiotic resistance pattern and also to detect MRSA using cefoxitin disc and oxacillin E test. iMLSB resistance among MRSA strains was detected using D test. Results: Out of 150 isolates of Staphylococcus, 117(78%) isolates were of Staphylococcus aureus and 33(22%) isolates were of Coagulase negative Staphylococci. Staphylococcus was most sensitive to vancomycin followed by linezolid and clindamycin. Penicillin was the least sensitive antibiotic. 29 (24.7%) strains of Staphylococcus aureus were MRSA. Among them, 16(44.8%) were erythromycin resistant and 4(13.7%) of erythromycin resistant strains were found to be inducible clindamycin resistant. Conclusion:Testing of all the isolates of Staphylococcus for antibiotic resistance and to test Staphylococcus aureus for MRSA and for iMLSB resistance is important in determining the antibiotic sensitivity which will prevent treatment failure.