Introduction:Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases in clinical practice. The choice of antibiotics for the treatment of UTI is limited by the rising rates of antibiotic resistance. There is an urgent need to discover new effective treatment solutions. Fosfomycin may be an interesting alternative to the currently used treatments of UTIs.Materials and Methods:The study was conducted over 6 months period (January to June 2013) in Department of Microbiology, JNMCH, AMU, Aligarh. A total of 1840 urine samples were submitted. Culture and sensitivity was done as per standard microbiological procedures. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), high-level aminoglycoside resistance (HLAR), extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL), AmpC and metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) production was detected.Results:Culture was positive in 504 (27.4%) cases. Gram-negative etiology was identified in 390 (73%) cases. ESBL production was detected in 154 (37.1%) while 82 (21.6%) were Amp C. No, MBL was detected. Among Gram-positive bacteria, 68 (51.5%) were MRSA, while 4 (13.3%) were vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). HLAR was seen in 53.3% of enterococci. Fosfomycin was effective in 100% of MRSA, VRE, ESBL, HLAR, and overall, susceptibility to fosfomycin in AmpC producers was extremely high (99%). Norfloxacin and cotrimoxazole were not proved effective as only three isolates were sensitive to norfloxacin, while all Gram-negative isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole. Pseudomonas species showed 65% and 75% susceptibility to colistin and polymixin B, respectively.Conclusion:Fosfomycin has emerged as a promising option, especially in cases involving multi-drug-resistant pathogens in which previous antibiotics have failed to cure the infection.

The reemergence of infectious diseases and the continuous development of multidrug resistance among a variety of disease-causing bacteria in clinical setting pose a serious threat to public health worldwide. Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) that mediate resistance to third-generation cephalosporin are now observed all over the world in all species of Enterobacteriaceae, especially Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. In this work, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the sol-gel method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The image of synthesized ZnO NPs appeared spherical in SEM with a diameter of ≈19 nm and as hexagonal crystal in AFM. Clinical isolates were assessed for ESBL production and shown to be sensitive to ZnO NPs by different methods such as minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration, time-dependent growth inhibition assay, well diffusion agar methods and estimation of colony forming units (CFU) of bacteria. The lowest MIC value for E. coli and K. pneumoniae was found to be 500 μg/ml. The results showed that ZnO NPs at 1,000 μg/ml completely inhibit the bacterial growth. The antibacterial effect of ZnO nanoparticles was gradual, but time- and concentration-dependent. The maximum inhibition zone at100 μg/ml for E. coli and K. pneumoniae was 22 and 20 mm, respectively. With the increasing ZnO NP loading, there is significant reduction in the numbers of CFU. At the concentration of 1,000 μg/ml, the decline in per cent survival of E. coli and K. pneumoniae was found to be 99.3% and 98.6%, respectively.

Staphylococcus aureus, particularly methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), is an important cause of pyogenic skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). MRSA is an important pathogen in the healthcare sector that has neither been eliminated from the hospital nor community environment. In humans, S. aureus causes superficial lesions in the skin and localized abscesses, pyogenic meningitis/encephalitis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, invasive endocarditis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and septicemia. Investigations focused in the search of other alternatives for the treatment of MRSA infections are in progress. Among the range of compounds whose bactericidal activity is being investigated, ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) appears most promising new unconventional antibacterial agent that could be helpful to confront this and other drug-resistant bacteria. The aim of present study is to investigate the antibacterial potential of ZnO-NPs against Staphylococcus species isolated from the pus and wounds swab from the patients with skin and soft tissue infections in a tertiary care hospital of north India. ZnO-NPs (≈19.82 nm) synthesized by sol-gel process were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction , and Atomic force microscopy. The antibacterial potential was assessed using time-dependent growth inhibition assay, well diffusion test, MIC and MBC test and colony forming units methods. ZnO-NPs inhibited bacterial growth of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), MRSA and methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) strains and were effective bactericidal agents that were not affected by drug-resistant mechanisms of MRSA and MRSE.