Antibiogram Pattern of Shigella flexneri: Effect of BioField Treatment

What is it about?

Shigellosis is a major public health burden in India and its neighboring countries due to infection of Shigella species. The current study was attempted to investigate the effect of biofield treatment on Shigella flexneri (S. flexneri) with respect of antimicrobial susceptibility assay, biochemical characteristics and biotyping. The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC 9199) strain of S. flexneri was used in this experiment. The study was conducted in revived and lyophilized state of S. flexneri. Both revived (Group; Gr. II) and lyophilized (Gr. III) strain of S. flexneri were subjected to Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment. Gr. II was assessed on day 5 and day 10, while Gr. III on day 10 after biofield treatment with respect to control (Gr. I). The antimicrobial susceptibility of S. flexneri showed 35% alteration in Gr. II on day 10 while no alteration were observed on day 5 (Gr. II) and in Gr. III as compared to control. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of biofield treated S. flexneri also showed significant (46.88%) alteration in Gr. II on day 10 while no alteration were observed on day 5 (Gr. II) and in Gr. III as compared to control. It was observed that overall 24.24% biochemical reactions were altered in which 21.21% alteration was found in Gr. II on day 10 with respect to control. Moreover, biotype number was changed in Gr. II on day 10 with identification of new organism i.e. Edwardsiella tarda (40015042) as compared to untreated strain of Shigella species (40010000). The result suggested that biofield treatment has significant impact on S. flexneri in revived treated cells (Gr. II) on day 10 with respect to antimicrobial susceptibility, MIC, biochemical reactions pattern and biotyping.

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Why is it important?

Shigellosis (i.e. bacillary dysentery) is a major public health burden in developing countries. Increased incidence of antibiotic resistance in Shigella flexneri (S. flexneri), constitute a major public health concern. S. flexneri is a non-motile, non-spore forming, non-lactose fermenting, Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic and rod shape bacterium, belongs to Enterobacteriaceae family. It mainly causes infection through contaminated food/water or with fecal matter [1,2]. Shigella spp. causes acute gastrointestinal infections by invasion to the mucosa (colonic epithelium), where it releases potent cytotoxin (shigatoxin) that causes severe local mucosal inflammation or ulceration due to low pH tolerant to acidic environment [3,4]. It does not produce gas from carbohydrates but ferment glucose predominately which is one of the characteristic features [5]. Manifestation of clinical complications in S. flexneri infected patients such as shigellosis (watery diarrhoea with mild vomiting), reactive arthritis and hemolytic uremic syndrome [6]. Shigellosis is predominantly a sexually transmitted disease, caused by Shigella spp. with direct oral-anal contact conferring the highest risk in HIV infected host [7]. Since, 2009 there has been an increase in UK-acquired infections amongst men who have sex with men (MSM). An outburst of S. flexneri amongst MSM has also described in North America in 2007 [8]. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, that more than one million deaths of the developing world occur per year due to infections with Shigella spp. [1]. From literature it has been also reported that Shigella species infect ∼450,000 persons annually in the United States [7], resulting in 6200 hospitalizations and 70 deaths [9]. National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) reported that high frequency of resistance in Shigella against many of the first line antimicrobial agents (multidrug resistant) have been reported in recent years [10]. Fluoroquinolone or ceftriaxone are the drug of choice to treat shigellosis. However, due to high tendency of multidrug resistance globally including fluoroquinolones and newer cephalosporins, particularly in South and East Asia [11], some alternative strategies are needed to treat against strain of S. flexneri. Harold Saxton Burr, had performed the detailed studies on correlation of electric current with physiological process and concluded that every single process in the human body had an electrical significance [12]. Furthermore, the energy exists in various forms and there are several ways to transfer the energy from one place to another such as electromagnetic waves, electrochemical, electrical and thermal etc. Similarly, the human nervous system consists of neurons, which have the ability to transmit information and energy in the form of electrical signals [13]. According to Rivera-Ruiz et al. electrocardiography has been extensively used to measure the biofield of human body [14]. Thus, human has the ability to harness the energy from environment or Universe and can transmit into any living or nonliving object(s) around the Globe. The objects always receive the energy and responding into useful way that is called biofield energy and the process is known as biofield treatment. Mr. Trivedi’s unique biofield treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) has been known to transform the structural, physical and thermal properties of several metals and ceramic in materials science [15-17], improved the overall productivity of crops [18,19], altered characteristics features of microbes [20-22] and improved growth and anatomical characteristics of various medicinal plants [23,24]. Due to the clinical significance of this organism and literature reports on biofield treatment as an alternative approach, the present work was undertaken to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on S. flexneri in relation to antimicrobials susceptibility, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and biotyping based on various biochemical characters.

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