Teaching Documents by Itto Maroui
Cours de Microbiologie spéciale destiné aux étudiants de 5ème année en Médecine Dentaire-Semestre 9.
Cours de virologie destiné aux étudiants de 1ère année en Médecine Dentaire - Semestre 2.
Cours de Bactériologie destiné aux étudiants de 1ère année en Médecine Dentaire-Semestre 2.
Conference Presentations by Itto Maroui
Présentation destinée aux étudiants de la Faculté de Médecine Dentaire de Rabat au debut de la pa... more Présentation destinée aux étudiants de la Faculté de Médecine Dentaire de Rabat au debut de la pandémie COVID-19 (mars 2020)
Papers by Itto Maroui
Article, 2023
Demand for probiotics has increased significantly in recent years due to the growing consumer awa... more Demand for probiotics has increased significantly in recent years due to the growing consumer awareness of their benefits and advantages. In this study, we investigated the probiotic potential use of three antifungal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains namely Lactiplantibacillus pentosus 22B, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 21B and Enterococcus faecium LC2V5 isolated from wheat and camel milk. A series of in vitro probiotic tests were performed to evaluate their functional and safety properties. Results indicated that consumption of these three strains does not present any health risk, as they showed no undesirable virulence factors (hemolysins and DNAse) or transmissible antibiotic resistance. All strains exhibited high tolerance to simulated oro-gastro-intestinal tract conditions since the number of viable cells was 109 CFU/mL after exposure to these digestive stress environments. Evaluation of cell surface characteristics revealed that the three strains showed high degrees of auto-aggregation, hydrophobicity and co-aggregation with pathogens. Moreover, the strains demonstrated strong antagonistic activity against all tested pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Furthermore, they were able to produce exopolysaccharides and ferment lactose. The studied strains showed also antioxidant activity by scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. In conclusion, the probiotic features demonstrated by the studied LAB strains suggest their suitability for potential use as probiotics.
African Journal of Microbiology Research, 2016
Original article, 2022
Nanotechnology offers a solution to bacterial antibiotic resistance, which poses a serious threat... more Nanotechnology offers a solution to bacterial antibiotic resistance, which poses a serious threat to global health. Green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is gaining increasing attention due to its environmental benefits. This study aimed to biosynthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by microwave irradiation through silver nitrate reduction using starch and microalgae biomass; characterize them using UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction; and evaluate their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus clausii, and Staphylococcus aureus using disk diffusion and broth dilution methods. Synthesized AgNPs showed a single peak related to surface plasmon resonance at 430 nm. Size range of spherical AgNPs was 40-150 or 90-400 nm for starch-or biomass-mediated NPs, respectively. Biomassmediated AgNPs exhibited antibacterial activity with the inhibition zones of 8, 12, and 10.5 mm against E. coli, B. clausii, and S. aureus, respectively; those starch-mediated showed inhibition of 7, 13, and 12 mm, respectively. AgNPs' minimum inhibitory concentrations were 6.25 μg•mL −1 toward both E. coli and S. aureus and 12.5 μg•mL −1 against B. clausii when using starch in biosynthesis, whereas they were 19.6 μg•mL −1 against both E. coli and S. aureus and 9.81 μg•mL −1 toward B. clausii when using biomass. Synthesized AgNPs have promising antibacterial potential.
Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy, 2016
Short communication, 2022
The current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that emerged in December 2019 in China c... more The current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that emerged in December 2019 in China continues to claim a thousand lives worldwide. This study aimed to report characteristics and inhospital outcomes of a Moroccan COVID-19 cohort, and identify factors which predispose patients to hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19. We conducted a cross-sectional study of symptomatic COVID-19 patients referred to COVID-19 ward of the Settat Provincial Hospital, during October 2020. A confirmed COVID-19 case was defined by a positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome using real-time RT-PCR assay performed on nasopharyngeal swabs. Patients´ demographic and clinical characteristics were collected and analyzed using SPSS V22.0. Univariate followed by multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with mortality due to COVID-19. In total, 269 patients were reported. The median age was 64 years [IQR 54-73], 48.7% were elderly (≥ 65 years), 51.7% were men, and the case-fatality rate (CFR) was 5.58%. Males had a higher CFR (6.5%) than females (4.6%). In deceased people: 60% males, 73.3% were elderly, and oxygen saturation values of 90% or less on admission were more frequent (86.7%) than in recovered ones (10.9%). Most patients (80.3%) had at least one comorbidity: 100% of deaths, 59% older than 60 years, CFR was 6.94% and the most prevalent diseases were diabetes (54.6%), hypertension (41.7%), and cardiac disease (40.7%). The most common symptoms on presentation were dyspnea (67.7%), fever (65.4%) and cough (58.4%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that only older age (AOR: 10.860, 95% CI: 3.382-34.86; p<0.001) and cardiac disease (AOR: 0.244, 95% CI: 0.074-0.799; p=0.02) were associated with higher mortality rates. Categorizing patients at admission according to risk factors identified by multivariate and also univariate analyses (mainly dyspnea) is essential to help in deciding the hospitalization priority and the strategy that will eventually reduce death risk.
Polish journal of microbiology, Jan 27, 2017
From 123 clinical and environmental Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, 24 strains were selected for... more From 123 clinical and environmental Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, 24 strains were selected for their similar antibioresistance, virulence and biofilm formation profiles, to examine their diversity and occurrence of clones within two hospitals and different natural sites in Meknes (Morocco). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, using DraI enzyme, didn't reveal a close relationship between clinical and environmental isolates nor between strains of the two hospitals. 19 genotypes were obtained, including two virulent environmental clones and three clinical clones virulent and resistant to antibiotics. Intra-hospital transmission of high-risk clones detected, in and between wards, constitutes a great public health concern.
Environmental and hospital-sampling allowed us to isolate and identify one hundred of Pseudomonas... more Environmental and hospital-sampling allowed us to isolate and identify one hundred of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) strains. The study of the degradation capacity of alkanes has shown that almost all isolates grew in the presence of long chain n-alkanes, while no growth was recorded in the presence of short chain n-alkanes, isoalkanes or cycloalkanes. The kinetics of growth in the presence of hexadecane, as a sole carbon source, enabled recording various optical densities (OD) depending on the strain of P. aeruginosa. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the presence of ERIC (Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus) primers has shown genetic diversity within isolates. The search for alkB and alkB1 genes, which are respectively responsible for the degradation of short chain n-alkanes and long chain n-alkanes, has shown the absence of alkB gene; however, the alkB1 gene, strongly present within the population of P. aeruginosa isolated, is absent in a few strains desp...
The ability of biofilms formation was studied by utilizing fifty Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains i... more The ability of biofilms formation was studied by utilizing fifty Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from both environmental and hospital samples. The support utilized for strains fixation was in polystyrene and contained two liquid media: Luria-Bertani and Mineral Medium supplemented with Hexadecane as the sole source of carbon and energy. The results obtained showed that the Biofilms-forming ability depend on both media carbon source and the P. aeruginosa strain variety. When the carbon source is hard to degrade or toxic, like hexadecane or derived substrates, the formed biofilms presented a high density; however, when the carbon is easy to degrade by the strains; like that one of L.B medium, the formed biofilms have a slight density. Furthermore, this density is also influenced by the strains although they belonged to the same species; at this purpose, the ERIC -PCR analysis, showed that P. aeruginosa strains studied are various because their profil ERIC present a percentage ...
Original article, 2016
The emergence and the rapid spread of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying carbapenemases represent a ... more The emergence and the rapid spread of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying carbapenemases represent a serious threat to public health due to their delicate therapy. This work was performed to establish the resistance profile and to detect carbapenemases producing in 123 P. aeruginosa isolates. Among these 55 are environmental isolates and 68 are from the two major hospitals of Meknes-Tafilalet region in Morocco. All strains were tested against 14 antipseudomonal drugs by disc diffusion method. On carbapenem resistant strains minimum inhibitory concentrations of imipenem were determined by the E-test method. The modified Hodge test and EDTA tests were used for the detection of carbapenemases and metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), respectively. PCR and DNA sequencing were conducted to detect carbapenemase-encoding genes and the enzyme types. 12% of isolates was susceptible to all antibiotics tested and Carbapenem resistance was observed in 33 P. aeruginosa isolates, 33.3% of them were multi-drug resistant. Among carbapenem resistant strains only two (6.1%) were positive for carbapenemases and also for MBLs. In addition to their resistance to almost all β-lactams tested, the MBLs producing strains were resistant to aminoglycosides. Molecular biology techniques confirmed the phenotypic results obtained for the two strains carbapenemase producers and demonstrated that each one of them carried blaVIM-2. The present study reports the first isolation of blaVIM genes in clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa in Morocco. Such isolates represent a serious emerging threat requiring strict hygiene measures to better control their spread.
Original article, 2019
Background Acinetobacter baumannii is a microorganism which has been classified by the World Heal... more Background Acinetobacter baumannii is a microorganism which has been classified by the World Health Organization in the list of the bacterial strains that pose the biggest danger to human health. This study was performed to determine the susceptibility profile to carbapenems and to detect carbapenemases production in 111 A. baumannii isolates. Among these 30 are environmental isolates and 81 are from the three major hospitals in Morocco. Methods All strains of A. baumannii were tested against diverse antimicrobial agents (13 antibiotic drugs) by the agar diffusion test. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of imipenem on carbapenem-resistant strains (CRAB) was determined by the E-test technique. Simple phenotypic tests were used to detect carbapenemases and metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) production including the modified Hodge test, EDTA test, and the cloxacillin test. The presence of carbapenemases-encoding resistance genes of CRAB strains was examined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results Carbapenem resistance was observed in 23 clinical Acinetobacter isolates showing dissemination of the multiresistance profile. Molecular biology techniques indicated that all these strains encoded the naturally occurring bla OXA-51-like gene and were proved as A. baumannii. The bla OXA-23 gene was detected in 16 strains (69.6%). The metallo-β-lactamase bla NDM gene was detected in five isolates (21.7%). GES-type carbapenemases were found in 15 strains, the existence of three classes of carbapenemases (bla GES , bla NDM , and bla OXA-23) was detected in three strains, while none of the CRAB isolates contained the bla OXA-58 , bla OXA-24 , bla VIM , bla OXA-48 or bla KPC encoding genes. Conclusions This study established baseline proof of three classes of carbapenemases producing A. baumannii in Morocco, showing the important role of surveillance in controlling their spread.
Research article, 2016
The pathogenic potential of Pseudomonas aeruginosa comes from the expression of many secreted and... more The pathogenic potential of Pseudomonas aeruginosa comes from the expression of many secreted and cell surface virulence factors, and its biofilm formation. This study aimed to investigate and compare the virulence profiles of 123 clinical and environmental P. aeruginosa isolated in Meknes (Morocco). Using suitable culture media, phenotypic screening evaluated the production of β-haemolysin, caseinase, lipase, lecithinase, pyocyanin and pyoverdin, as well as the ability to swim, swarm and twitch. Biofilm formation kinetics was assessed using microtiter test plates. Data analysis was performed using Statistic Package of the Social Science software (version 21.0). High percentages of strains expressed caseinase (99.2%), β-heamolysin (95.1%), lipase (100%) and lecithinase (100%). 95.9% of isolates produced either pigment. All strains were able to swim, warm and twitch, at different levels. All strains were biofilm producers, and the evolution of adherent biomass over time varies greatly from strain to strain. Significant positive correlations were observed between proteolytic and hemolytic activities; biofilm formation and twitching; as well as swimming, swarming and twitching motilities. Twitching and swimming were significantly higher in environmental strains, which were also quickly adhered and formed denser biofilms. Clinical strains showing significantly higher proteolytic activity were isolated from cardiology ward, and those with higher twitching and denser biofilm were from the thoracic service. Inpatient strains were significantly earlier producer of denser biofilm than outpatient ones. P. aeruginosa strains tested have a collection of virulence markers required to cause disease in different tissues. Such bacteria present a serious therapeutic challenge for treatment of both community-acquired and nosocomial infections.
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Teaching Documents by Itto Maroui
Conference Presentations by Itto Maroui
Papers by Itto Maroui