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Natural-Based Medicine vs Conventional Medicine in Microbial Infections: Insights in Public Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2020) | Viewed by 24131

Special Issue Editor

Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: infectious diseases; pharmacology and toxicology of natural products; analytical methods for isolation and identification of natural products; molecular mechanisms of pharmacological action; pediatric infectious diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microbial infections are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi; the diseases can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another. Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases of animals that can cause disease when transmitted to humans. In recent years, antimicrobial-resistant microbes and their antimicrobial resistance genes have become a global concern. Ensuring universal access to hygiene, safe water, food, health facilities, and preventive medications remains a priority preventive public health measure to prevent many infections, including those that require antibiotic treatment. Over the past decades, great advances in microbial diagnostics and antimicrobial drug development have been made. Despite these advances, the increased used of antibiotic/antimycotic/antiviral drugs has led to the problem of drug-resistant strains and undesirable side effects, which is in return has led to the failure of current treatment regimens for microbial infections. Therefore, there is a crucial need to develop new drugs with less resistance, less undesirable side effects, and diverse mechanisms of action.

For decades, natural-based medicine plays a vital role in drug discovery development. Since the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for the discovery of the natural drug Artemisinin, natural product-derived medicines have been delivered into the spotlight, in terms of their value and a re-evaluation of their application in clinical practice for the treatment of several diseases.

The aim of this Special Issue is to shed light on the recent advances in natural-based medicine and Western medicine research for the treatment of microbial infections. We encourage the submission of original research articles, reviews, method articles, and perspectives that make a novel and substantial contribution to the scientific community.

Dr. Sherif T. S. Hassan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Microbial infections
  • Natural-based medicine
  • Western medicine
  • Anti-microbial drug development
  • Resistance
  • Public health

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2488 KiB  
Article
Biogenic Nanoparticle‒Chitosan Conjugates with Antimicrobial, Antibiofilm, and Anticancer Potentialities: Development and Characterization
by Muhammad Bilal, Yuping Zhao, Tahir Rasheed, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Sherif T.S. Hassan, Muhammad Zohaib Nawaz and Hafiz M.N. Iqbal
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(4), 598; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph16040598 - 19 Feb 2019
Cited by 59 | Viewed by 3737
Abstract
In the 21st century, with ever-increasing consciousness and social awareness, researchers must tackle the microbial infections that pose a major threat to human safety. For many reasons, the emergence/re-emergence of threatening pathogens has increased and poses a serious challenge to health care services. [...] Read more.
In the 21st century, with ever-increasing consciousness and social awareness, researchers must tackle the microbial infections that pose a major threat to human safety. For many reasons, the emergence/re-emergence of threatening pathogens has increased and poses a serious challenge to health care services. Considering the changing dynamics of 21st-century materials with medical potentialities, the integration of bioactive agents into materials to engineer antibacterial matrices has received limited attention so far. Thus, antimicrobial active conjugates are considered potential candidates to eradicate infections and reduce microbial contaminations in healthcare facilities. In this context, eco-friendly and novel conjugates with antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and anticancer potentialities were developed using biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from Convolvulus arvensis (C. arvensis) extract and chitosan (CHI). A range of instrumental and imaging tools, i.e., UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), were employed to characterize the freshly extracted C. arvensis AgNPs. Biogenic AgNPs obtained after a 24-h reaction period were used to engineer CHI-based conjugates and designated as CHI‒AgNPs1 to CHI‒AgNPs5, subject to the C. arvensis AgNPs concentration. After the stipulated loading period, 92% loading efficiency (LE) was recorded for a CHI‒AgNPs3 conjugate. Gram+ and Gram- bacterial isolates, i.e., Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, were used to test the antibacterial activities of newly developed CHI‒AgNPs conjugates. In comparison to the control sample with bacterial cell count 1.5 × 108 CFU/mL, a notable reduction in the log values was recorded for the CHI‒AgNPs3 conjugate. The antibiofilm potential of CHI‒AgNPs conjugates was tested against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, the CHI‒AgNPs3 conjugate also showed substantial cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 (breast cancer) cell line. In summary, the newly engineered CHI‒AgNPs conjugates with antibacterial, antibiofilm, and anticancer potentialities are potential candidate materials for biomedical applications. Full article
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Review

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13 pages, 935 KiB  
Review
Improved Biosafety and Biosecurity Measures and/or Strategies to Tackle Laboratory-Acquired Infections and Related Risks
by Huasong Peng, Muhammad Bilal and Hafiz M. N. Iqbal
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2697; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph15122697 - 29 Nov 2018
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 19805
Abstract
Herein, we reviewed laboratory-acquired infections (LAIs) along with their health-related biological risks to provide an evidence base to tackle biosafety/biosecurity and biocontainment issues. Over the past years, a broad spectrum of pathogenic agents, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, or genetically modified organisms, [...] Read more.
Herein, we reviewed laboratory-acquired infections (LAIs) along with their health-related biological risks to provide an evidence base to tackle biosafety/biosecurity and biocontainment issues. Over the past years, a broad spectrum of pathogenic agents, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, or genetically modified organisms, have been described and gained a substantial concern due to their profound biological as well as ecological risks. Furthermore, the emergence and/or re-emergence of life-threatening diseases are of supreme concern and come under the biosafety and biosecurity agenda to circumvent LAIs. Though the precise infection risk after an exposure remains uncertain, LAIs inspections revealed that Brucella spp., Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Rickettsia spp., and Neisseria meningitidis are the leading causes. Similarly, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as well as hepatitis B (HBV) and C viruses (HCV), and the dimorphic fungi are accountable for the utmost number of viral and fungal-associated LAIs. In this context, clinical laboratories at large and microbiology, mycology, bacteriology, and virology-oriented laboratories, in particular, necessitate appropriate biosafety and/or biosecurity measures to ensure the safety of laboratory workers and working environment, which are likely to have direct or indirect contact/exposure to hazardous materials or organisms. Laboratory staff education and training are indispensable to gain an adequate awareness to handle biologically hazardous materials as per internationally recognized strategies. In addition, workshops should be organized among laboratory workers to let them know the epidemiology, pathogenicity, and human susceptibility of LAIs. In this way, several health-related threats that result from the biologically hazardous materials can be abridged or minimized and controlled by the correct implementation of nationally and internationally certified protocols that include proper microbiological practices, containment devices/apparatus, satisfactory facilities or resources, protective barriers, and specialized education and training of laboratory staffs. The present work highlights this serious issue of LAIs and associated risks with suitable examples. Potential preventive strategies to tackle an array of causative agents are also discussed. In this respect, the researchers and scientific community may benefit from the lessons learned in the past to anticipate future problems. Full article
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