Method: A total of 89 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) [pus (n = 55), blood (n = 27), respiratory (n = 5), eye (n = 2)] isolates and 109 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) [pus (n = 79), blood (n = 24), respiratory (n = 3), eye (n = 2) and urine (n = 1)] isolates were subjected to spa typing with sequences analysed using BioNumerics version 7.
Results: The spa sequence was successfully amplified from 77.8% of the strains (154/198) and 47 known spa types were detected. The distribution of known spa types in MRSA (36.2%, 17/47) was less diverse than in MSSA (70.2%, 33/47). The most predominant spa types were t032 (50%) in MRSA, and t127 (19%) and t091 (16.7%) in MSSA, respectively. spa type t091 in MSSA was significantly associated with skin and soft tissue infections (p = 0.0199).
Conclusion: The previously uncommon spa type t032 was detected in the Malaysian MRSA strains, which also corresponded to the most common spa type in Europe and Australia, and has replaced the dominant spa type t037 which was reported in Malaysia in 2010.
Materials and Methods: The whole plant of C. roseus was extracted using methanol extraction method. Phytochemical qualitative screening was carried out for C. roseus extract according to standard procedures used to test for the presence of alkaloid, saponin, terpenoid and steroid. Cytotoxicity was assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Plaque reduction assays were carried out to evaluate the antiviral activity of C. roseus extract against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). These include post-treatment, pre-treatment and virucidal assays.
Results: C. roseus extract contain secondary metabolites such as alkaloid, saponin and terpenoid but does not contain steroid. Cytotoxicity screening against Vero cells using MTT assay showed that the CC50 values for crude extract of C. roseus was 0.5 mg/mL. The extract prepared from C. roseus possesses phytochemical compound that was non-cytotoxic to the cell with potential antiviral activity. Plaque reduction assays against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) showed that the selective indices (SI = CC50 / EC50) of C. roseus extract in post-treatment, pre-treatment and virucidal assays were 36, 20 and 4.7 respectively. The results revealed that the extract prepared from C. roseus possesses phytochemical compound that was non-cytotoxic to the cell with potential antiviral activity.
Conclusion: This study showed that C. roseus extract has promising potential to be explored as anti-HSV-1 agent regardless of the mode of treatment.