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The prevalence of hospital-acquired infections caused by drug resistant bacterial pathogens is a major health risk, leading to a considerable number of deaths and illnesses globally. Therefore, it is essential to develop new combinations of antimicrobial agents to effectively manage drug-resistant bacteria that are responsible for nosocomial infections. A current study aims to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from the seeds of Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek). The AgNPs exhibited a spherical morphology and had an average particle size of 29.75 nm. In addition, XRD examination verified the presence of a face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice structure in the biosynthesized AgNPs, while FTIR study demonstrated the existence of several functional groups such as phenols, alkanes, and amines. The biogenic AgNPs exhibited the most potent antibacterial effect against E. coli strain, with relative inhibitory zone of 18.43 ± 0.35 mm and a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 50 µg/ml. In addition, the most potent antibacterial effect of AgNPs combined with colistin was observed against Acinetobacter baumannii strain, while the greatest combined efficacy of AgNPs with norfloxacin was found against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, resulting in a relative increase in the fold of inhibition area (IFA) of 0.53 and 0.35, respectively. In conclusion, the potent antibacterial and synergistic effect of AgNPs with antibiotics highlights their potential application of this combination in controlling nosocomial infections in health care settings.

The drug resistance of bacterial pathogens causes considerable morbidity and death globally, hence there is a crucial necessity for the development of effective antibacterial medicines to address the antibacterial resistance issue. The bioprepared zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were prepared utilizing the flower extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa and then characterized using different physicochemical techniques. The antibacterial effectiveness of the bioprepared ZnO-NPs and their synergism with fosfomycin were evaluated using disk diffusion assay against the concerned pathogens. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigation of the bioprepared ZnO-NPs showed that their average particle size was 18.93 ± 2.65 nm. Escherichia coli expressed the highest sensitivity to the bioinspired ZnO-NPs with a suppressive zone of 22.54 ± 1.26 nm at a concentration of 50 µg/disk, whereas the maximum synergistic effect of the bioinspired ZnO-NPs with fosfomycin was noticed against Klebsiella pneumoniae strain with synergism ratio of 100.29%. In conclusion, the bioinspired ZnO-NPs demonstrated significant antibacterial and synergistic efficacy with fosfomycin against the concerned nosocomial bacterial pathogens, highlighting the potential of using the ZnO NPs-fosfomycin combination for effective control of nosocomial infections in intensive care units (ICUs) and health care settings. Furthermore, the biogenic ZnO-NPs’ potential antibacterial action against food pathogens such as Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli indicates their potential usage in food packaging applications.