Treatment with some anti-inflammatory drugs reduces germ tube formation in Candida albicans strains.

Candida albicans is an opportunistic dimorphic fungus that inhabits various host mucosal sites. It can cause both superficial and serious systemic disease. Conversion from the yeast to the hyphal form has been associated with increased virulence and mucosal invasiveness.

Susceptibility testing of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Viridans streptococcal isolates against: quinolones, oxazolidinones and glycopeptides.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to test the susceptibility of 100 strains (pneumococci and viridans streptococci) isolated from oral and respiratory tract infections and their complications, against one antibiotic of each of the following classes: quinolones, oxazolidinones and glycopeptides.

Material And Methods: The Etest has been used in order to investigate the susceptibility of the isolates against levofloxacin, linezolid and vancomycin.

Results And Conclusions: As expected, the results of the study indicated that all isolates were susceptible to linezolid and vancomycin.

Contribution towards developing a new semi-selective medium for Streptococcus anginosus group.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to develop a new selective medium for isolation of Streptococcus anginosus group (SAG) strains, by adding sulphamethazine and aztreonam as selective agents at Mitis-Salivarius agar (MSA), the medium commonly used for recovery of oral streptococci from oral samples.

Material And Method: The evaluation of Mitis-Salivarius--sulphamethazine--aztreonam agar (MSSAA) for SAG selectivity was performed by testing the growth of type strains and laboratory-stored clinical isolates of different oral streptococcal species on this medium and also by investigating the SAG recovery on MSSAA in comparison with MSA and the growth inhibition of non-SAG strains from 100 saliva and 11 pus samples (collected from healthy young subjects and from paediatric patients with upper respiratory tract infections, respectively) on MSSAA.

Results: The same SAG recovery rate was obtained on both MSSAA and MSA, while non-SAG strains failed to grow on the novel medium, except for enterococci.