title: Isolation and Antibiogram of Clostridium tetani from Clinically Diagnosed Tetanus Patients.
abstract: Clostridium tetani, the etiologic agent of tetanus, produces a toxin that causes spastic paralysis in humans and other vertebrates. This study was aimed for isolation, identification, and determination of antimicrobial susceptibility of C. tetani from clinically diagnosed tetanus patients. Isolation was done from deep-punctured tissues of the foot and arm injuries of 80 clinically diagnosed tetanus patients from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital. We successfully screened out five C. tetani isolates out of 80 samples based on the strain-specific characteristics confirmed through biochemical testing and toxin production. A disc diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibilities and C. tetani isolates showed susceptibility to cefoperazone, chloramphenicol, metronidazole, penicillin G, and tetracycline, but were found to be resistant to erythromycin and ofloxacin. During animal testing, all the infected mice developed symptoms of tetanus. The results showed that identification of C. tetani is possible using biochemical and molecular tools and that the strains of C. tetani isolated had not developed resistance against the antibiotics most often used for the treatment of tetanus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Hajra
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hanif
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad awais.anjum@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Awais
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Naeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Asif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jamal
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imran
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Bashir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Department of Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Departmnet of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
authors.forename: Muhammad Ishtiaq
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003017:Clostridium tetani / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013742:Tetanus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D013744:Tetanus Toxin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D013744:Tetanus Toxin