Antibacterial Activity of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus casei on Burkholderia cepacia Isolated from Imam Ali Hospital

Nosocomial infections are the causes of the most common of morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospital stay, and increased hospital costs worldwide. Today probiotic bacteria, as antibacterial agents, attracted the attention of clinicians. The current study aimed at determining the antibacterial activity of Lactobacillus plantarum and L. casei species against Burkholderia cepacia isolated from Imam Ali (AS) Hospital, Amol, Iran.

In the current study, B. cepacia species isolated from Imam Ali (AS) Hospital were identified using bacterial culture and biochemical tests as well as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, and the antibacterial activity of L. plantarum and L. casei standard species against the isolated species of B. cepacia were assessed. Then, the inhibitory activity of L. plantarum and L. casei broth cultures supernatants in two active and inactive forms against B. cepacia was also assessed using the agar well diffusion.

In the current study, five isolates of B. cepacia were isolated from blood and eight from sputum samples. Sensitivity of B. cepacia against L. casei was mostly moderate (66.67%) followed by resistant and sensitive; but it was moderate against L. plantarum, followed by sensitive and resistant. Lactobacillus casei was resistant against all the examined antibiotics, except cotrimoxazole in moderate level; L. plantarum was sensitive to gentamycin, moderate to cotrimoxazole, and resistant against other antibiotics.

Results of the current study showed that L. plantarum and L. casei have inhibitory effects against B. cepacia.