acriflavine and Gram-Negative-Bacterial-Infections

Worldwide, healthcare is facing enormous problems with the continuing rise of drug-resistant infectious diseases. In view of the scarcity of new antimicrobial agents and the withdrawal of many pharmaceutical houses from the fray, alternative approaches are required. One of these is photoantimicrobial chemotherapy, which is highly effective across the range of microbial pathogens and does not suffer from resistance. However, there is a lack of uptake of this approach by healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry alike. It is seldom recalled that, unlike anticancer photodynamic therapy, the development of photoantimicrobial agents has evolved from the antiseptic 'dye therapy' in common use until the widespread introduction of the penicillin class in the mid-1940s. Cationic biological dyes such as methylene blue, crystal violet and acriflavine were effective in local wound therapy and today provide a sound basis for light-activated antimicrobial therapeutics. It is proposed that such 'safe' dyes are introduced as locally administered photoantimicrobials, especially in order to conserve valuable conventional antibacterial drugs.

Topics: Acriflavine; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Coloring Agents; Gentian Violet; Gram-Negative Bacteria; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections; Gram-Positive Bacteria; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Humans; Methylene Blue; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases; Photosensitizing Agents; Wound Healing; Wounds, Penetrating

Virulence factors were compared in 15 Aeromonas spp. isolated from faeces of patients with Aeromonas-associated gastroenteritis and in 81 strains isolated from food. Strains from food did not show differences in the distribution of virulence factors when compared with strains isolated from faeces. However, 88.8% of Aeromonas strains isolated from food were capable of producing possible virulence factors. Characterization of 28 autoagglutinating (AA+) Aeromonas spp. indicated that the human strains differed from the food strains in hemagglutinating and hemolytic capacities. These results suggest that autoagglutination associated with hemagglutinating and hemolytic capacities in food strains may be a helpful indicator of potential pathogenicity.

Topics: Acriflavine; Aeromonas; Agglutination; Animals; Bacterial Adhesion; Feces; Food Microbiology; Gastroenteritis; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections; Hemagglutination; Hemolysis; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Rabbits; Species Specificity; Virulence