Evaluation of antibacterial, antifungal and modulatory activity of methanol and ethanol extracts of Padina sanctae-crucis

Background: Multi-resistant microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida tropicalis e Candida krusei are the main causes of microbial infections. Padina sanctae-crucis is a seaweed often used to check the contamination of ecosystems by materials such as heavy metals, but studies of the antimicrobial activity of the same seaweed were not found.Methods: The tests for the minimum inhibitory concentration and   modulation of microbial resistance, with the use of ethanolic and  methanolic extracts of Padina Sanctae-cruces combined with drugs of the class of aminoglycosides and antifungal were used to evaluate the activity against the cited microorganisms.Results: Was observed a modulation of antibiotic activity between the natural products and the E. coli and S. aureus strains, indicating a synergism and antagonism respectively.Conclusions: The results showed a moderate modulatory effect against some microorganisms studied.Keywords: multi-resistant microorganisms, modulation, Padina Sanctae-crucis, antimicrobial activity

Virulence in Murine Model Shows the Existence of Two Distinct Populations of Brazilian Vaccinia virus Strains

Brazilian Vaccinia virus had been isolated from sentinel mice, rodents and recently from humans, cows and calves during outbreaks on dairy farms in several rural areas in Brazil, leading to high economic and social impact. Some phylogenetic studies have demonstrated the existence of two different populations of Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains circulating in nature, but little is known about their biological characteristics. Therefore, our goal was to study the virulence pattern of seven Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains. Infected BALB/c mice were monitored for morbidity, mortality and viral replication in organs as trachea, lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, brain and spleen. Based on the virulence potential, the Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains were grouped into two groups. One group contained GP1V, VBH, SAV and BAV which caused disease and death in infected mice and the second one included ARAV, GP2V and PSTV which did not cause any clinical signals or death in infected BALB/c mice. The subdivision of Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains into two groups is in agreement with previous genetic studies. Those data reinforce the existence of different populations circulating in Brazil regarding the genetic and virulence characteristics