Prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria in intensive care units at Tripoli University Hospital, Tripoli, Libya.

Among hospitalized patients worldwide, infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to isolate MDR bacteria from five intensive care units (ICUs) at Tripoli University Hospital (TUH). A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted over a seven-month period (September 2022 to March 2023) across five ICUs at TUH. A total of 197 swabs were collected from Patients', healthcare workers' and ICUs equipment. Samples collected from patients were nasal swabs, oral cavity swabs, hand swabs, sputum specimens, skin swabs, umbilical venous catheter swabs, and around cannula. Swabs collected from health care workers were nasal swabs, whereas ICUs equipment's samples were from endotracheal tubes, oxygen masks, and neonatal incubators. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test was confirmed by using MicroScan auto SCAN 4 (Beckman Coulter). The most frequent strains were Gram negative bacilli 113 (57.4%) with the predominance of Acinetobacter baumannii 50/113 (44%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 44/113 (40%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6/113 (5.3%). The total Gram positive bacterial strains isolated were 84 (42.6%), coagulase negative Staphylococci 55 (66%) with MDRs (89%) were the most common isolates followed by Staphylococcus aureus 15 (17.8%). Different antibiotics were used against these isolates; Gram- negative isolates showed high resistance rates to ceftazidime, gentamicin, amikacin and ertapenem. A. baumannii were the most frequent MDROs (94%), and the highest resistance rates in Gram-positive strains were observed toward ampicillin, oxacillin, ampicillin/sulbactam and Cefoxitin, representing 90% of total MDR Gram-positive isolates. ESBL and MRS were identified in most of strains. The prevalence of antibiotic resistance was high for both Gram negative and Gram positive isolates. This prevalence requires strict infection prevention and control intervention, continuous monitoring, implementation of effective antibiotic stewardship, immediate, concerted and collaborative action to monitor its prevalence and spread in the hospital.

Identification of phenolic compounds, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of raisin extracts.

In this study, antibacterial, antioxidant and phenolic compounds of raisin extracts was evaluated. Different solvent extraction methods were utilized to extract phenolic compounds from raisin. The phenolic compounds of raisin extracts was determined using HPLC and three compounds were found, catechin, quercetin and rutin. The antibacterial activity of the acetonic extract was tested against four bacterial pathogens viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli using both disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods. The acetonic extract exhibited the highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus with zone of inhibition of 14mm and the MIC of 25 mg/ml. However, there was a little activity against E. coli and S. typhimurium. The methanolic extract showed good antioxidant activity as indicated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical assay (DPPH). In conclusion, raisin contains potent phenolic compounds and their application might function as promising natural preservative and antimicrobial agents in food industry and also good antioxidant food that helps to minimize the risk of degenerative diseases.