Introduction: Microbial diseases are increasing year by year and they are becoming a big threat to public health. There are more than 200 known diseases transmitted by bacteria, fungi, viruses, prions, rickettsia and other microbes to humans. The emergence of drug resistance to chemical drugs is the biggest threat in controlling human pathogens. Hence novel antimicrobial agents from actinomycetes are timely needed for the control of several human pathogens. Aim: The aim was to find some actinomycetes with antimicrobial metabolites. Methods: Soil samples were collected from Nilgiris district in Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Actinomycetes were isolated using serial dilution and plating techniques on actinomycetes isolation agar. Streptomycin and ketoconazole (25 lg/disc) were used as reference controls. The active strains were identified by 16S rRNA and phylogenetic tree was constructed; the sequences were submitted in the GenBank. Results: Totally 106 actinomycete strains were isolated and cross streaked against various human microbial pathogens. Only 44 (41.50%) exhibited good antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic microbes. Five isolates (FMS-20, TGH-30, TGH-31, TGH-31-1 and IS-4) were chosen for secondary screening using filtrate. Among them FMS-20 filtrate showed good inhibition on the 16th day against all tested microbial pathogens. Further the intracellular methanol extract of FMS-20 showed maximum zone of inhibition against A. brasiliensis (22 mm) at 5 mg/disc. Similarly the extracellular ethyl acetate extract of FMS-20 showed maximum zone of inhibition against B. subtilis (25 mm).

ObjectivesTo evaluate the ovicidal and oviposition deterrent activities of five medicinal plant extracts namely Aegle marmelos (Linn.), Limonia acidissima (Linn.), Sphaeranthus indicus (Linn.), Sphaeranthus amaranthoides (burm.f), and Chromolaena odorata (Linn.) against Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Three solvents, namely hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol, were used for the preparation of extracts from each plant.MethodsFour different concentrations—62.5 parts per million (ppm), 125 ppm, 250 ppm, and 500 ppm—were prepared using acetone and tested for ovicidal and oviposition deterrent activities. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significance of the treatments and means were separated by Tukey's test of comparison.ResultsAmong the different extracts of the five plants screened, the hexane extract of L. acidissima recorded the highest ovicidal activity of 79.2% and 60% at 500 ppm concentration against the eggs of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti, respectively. Similarly, the same hexane extract of L. acidissima showed 100% oviposition deterrent activity at all the tested concentrations against Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti adult females.ConclusionIt is concluded that the hexane extract of L. acidissima could be used in an integrated mosquito management program.

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Aedes aegypti (Linn.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) are widespread vector mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of various disease-causing viruses to human including dengue virus (DENV). India is endemic for dengue disease and both of these vector mosquitoes are well established throughout India. Since, Aedes mosquitoes breeds in containers, WHO recommends to do a regular immature surveillance and implement appropriate control measures. Owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic, most of the countries have implemented continuous shutdown/lockdown, which affected the routine Aedes surveillance and vector control measures. In India, the first nation-wide lockdown was implemented on 24 th , March 2020. As of now, Government of India has extended the lockdown till 30th, June 2020. In the present study, two rounds of Aedes surveillance was carried out in two localities of Bangalore City (urban) of Karnataka State, India during the COVID-19 lockdown days and results were compared with pre- lockdown surveillance data to assess the impact of lockdown on Aedes larval indices, breeding habitats and dengue vector control programme. The recorded house index (HI) and Breteau index (BI) were 6.6 and 9.3 in K.P. Agrahara and 4.0 and 5.3 in Palace Guttahalli during pre-lockdown survey. The house index (HI) and Breteau index (BI) were found to be increased to 26.6 and 34.6 in K.P. Agrahara and 21.3 and 28.0 in Palace Guttahalli during the COVID-19 lockdown second survey. Aedes immature density has drastically increased in both the localities due to temporarily discontinued Aedes surveillance, larval control activities like source reduction and anti-larval measures during COVID-19 lockdown. The high indices show that the dengue virus transmission will be increasing in the coming days. The results highly recommend to implement the Aedes vector control programme with limited health staffs following the physical distance and other protectives measures to prevent dengue outbreaks.

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