The Effect of Curcumin on Staphylococcus aureus Resistant to Aminoglycosides Isolated from Burn and Wound Infections

Abstract Background: Thermal injury destroys the skin, the natural barrier to the external environment. As a result the burned area is prone to infection and colonization of microorganisms. The most common pathogenic colonizing bacteria are Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus is both a human commensal bacterium, as it is carried by a significant amount of individuals, and a possible infectious pathogen. Other prevalent bacteria in burn wounds are Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumonia . All these pathogenic species of bacteria can contribute to the inflammatory immune responses induced by thermal injuries. Objectives: This study was carried out to study the effect of curcumin on S. aureus bacteria resistant to aminoglycosides isolated from wounds and burns of patients attending to the Imam Sadiq Hospital and Specialized Burn Center in Medical City of Baghdad and Kufa. Materials and Methods: A total of 230 burn wound swab samples were taken from hospitalized patients who presented invasive burn wound infection from both sex. All swabs were subjected to conventional cultural methods for microbial enumeration by using blood and manitol salt agar and performed by the Vitek 2 Advanced Expert System. The most predominant bacterial isolate was S. aureus , and the rate of resistance in this isolates was determined by disk diffusion method on Molar Hinton Agar. Results: Bacteriology results showed 63 S. aureus isolates from 230 clinical specimens obtained from patients with burn and wound infection. And their resistance to antibiotics was kanamycin 63.3%; tobramycin 75.1%; gentamicin and amikacin 47%; and streptomycin and neomycin 54%. Curcumin aqueous extract showed inhibitory effects for S. aureus . Curcumin extract was viability on some cell lines such as Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 and the human hepatic cell line (human normal liver cell [WRL]) with IC50 108.1 and 158, respectively. Conclusions: The curcumin extract was found to have an antimicrobial effect on S. aureus that can give resistance to aminoglycosides antibiotics. The cytotoxic effect of curcumin made using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) was very little or non-existent and this encourages its use as an antibiotic in humans. It also had an effective and powerful biological role against cancer cell line.